Destination: North America

Photography Website: Walking to Mexico by Jordan Bower

A GUEST POST by Jessica Voights

(Note: When I saw Jessie’s article about Jordan Bower on her web site, I asked her if she would share his wonderful adventure with the readers of A Traveler’s Library. No, it is not a book, but perhaps it will become one.)

Jessie says:

Recently at Wandering Educators, we featured a personal journey that resonates with me. Walking to Mexico is foremost a journey of connection. World traveler Jordan Bower has chosen to walk from Vancouver, British Columbia, all the way down the coast to Mexico.  I am so impressed with Jordan’s walk that I am constantly heading to his website, to see more photos and learn who he is meeting and learning from.  It’s all about sharing ideas and stories, faces and places.

I  love Walking to Mexico for several reasons: First, the photos that Jordan takes – and shares. He takes photos of everyone he talks with and the landscapes he sees.  Then, he prints the photos and shares them with the next people he talks with. It’s a circle of giving, of humanity meeting each other.

Jordan gets that travel – and life – is disconnected, due to distance, the internet, and our increasingly insular lives.  Or, as he notes, “our disconnection with the humanity in each other and in ourselves has left us bereft of the type of synergy that can develop into inspiration, creativity, and love.”

This journey is a tale of love, connection, of finding oneself and sharing that process with others. “What we really want, I believe, is a sense of home, a sense that our lives can be meaningful, a sense of being able to make a difference.”

And his journey raises the ultimate change in narration we need to make, in today’s society:  “Which is to say that what we really need is a new type of story.  We are, after all, just the stories that we tell ourselves, and it’s clear that the pace of technological and ecological change has outpaced the development of even our brightest storytellers.”

Jordan has encapsulated what the digital disconnect is doing to our society – and is trying to reach out and make a new sort of connection, using the Internet but also talking, listening, and learning. I’m listening and learning, myself – focusing more on slow travel for our family, and disconnecting to truly connect, again. If you’d like to read more of Jordan’s story, please head to Wandering Educators.

The photos with this post all come from Jordan’s photo-filled website. You can click on each one to learn some more about the story behind it.

We have featured some other long-distance walks, but this one is certainly unique.  If you were going to walk across the continent, what would you personally wish to accomplish?