chronological wanderlust

I was recently looking at a map of Africa and the growing US presence there and thinking. I have some friends who spent some time in Ethiopia and seemed to really enjoy it, and they told great stories of their travels.

I was thinking that if one wants to see the world, there is an impetus to do it NOW. Why? Consider Afghanistan. I have friends who went there years and years ago...before the Soviet invasion and before our own debacle there. They have experiences similar to Lee and Gosias in Ethiopia. The thing is, if I wanted to visit, I couldn't. Not only because it's dangerous, but because they place and environment they saw no longer exists. It's gone. Forever.

As the world changes, our opportunities dissapear. Ethiopia may be a place where every street corner has a McDonalds soon, or where Somalia style anarchy and violence prevail. I want to climb Kilimanjaro. I want to spend a week in a palace in Venice and climb the Peruvian mountains. But, if I don't do it now, Kilimanjaro may be ice free, Venice could be bombed out and Peru could be Disneyfied. You just never know...