My Dad is Indiana Jones. Okay, perhaps not as scared of snakes or willing to jump from safari Jeeps and swing in the trees, but he is just as much a hero in my mind.
My Dad is an Anthropologist; he works with the Indians that reside in the Andes Mountains of South America, closest to Bolivia. He’s written 5 books, taught as a college professor for over 30 years and used to take me to the coolest parties and let me sit in on his classes when I was a pre-teen. He has saved lives of countless people in those small compact villages, learned 7 languages and participated in their private ceremonies. Lived with them for months at a time and cried with them when they lost their children to disease or exposure. His 77 years have been full of amazing stories and a life of loving what he does.
When I turned 14, he asked me if I wanted to go to South America with him, experience something new. There was no way I could imagine the sites I saw. I put my feet in the worlds tallest lake, Lake Titicaca; ridden on a bus that took us on the South Yungas Road (road between La Paz, Bolivia to Chulumani, AKA: Death Road); I stood next to my father in the city of Copacabana, at the Basilica of Our Lady of Copacabana and felt my heart ache being in the presence of such beauty.
The gypsy spirit that resides in some people is born, for some, it’s taught. My father taught me to love the adventure in life. To be willing to experience new things, eat things that I would never have put in my mouth if he hadn’t pushed me and though the person he has created was always more independent than he had planned, he created a woman that skipped to her own drummer and was so much like him.
Through all the years of sleepless nights I caused him, through the horrible teenage years and learning to love one another again, I am proud to say, I am my father’s daughter.
Suzanne Bastien has been the editor of Crunchy Green Mom for over 6 years. On top of chasing around her blended family of 7 children, she and her husband are teaching a new generation of adventurers.
YesVideo COO, Greg Ayres {on the right}, with his father and brother.
