To the End of the World

During a pandemic, it’s easy to drown in my sorrow. I’ve dealt with depression and anxiety for the past twenty years, which makes the limited light fade to black rather quickly and heavily.

After being stuck inside for the past several weeks, it has forced me to view my world differently. It’s been challenging to find the hope after witnessing the loss this virus has inflicted but I’ve chosen to reflect on what is important and what I want to do when this is all over.

I think of my hilarious and kind family and tears fall from my eyes as I realize how altered our lives are and how we’ll all feel the effects of Covid-19 through the next generation. Tasting the salt on my lips, however, also allows me to picture the ocean. I think of the Wall of Tears in the Galapagos Islands. I think of exploration.

Who better to explore the Galapagos Islands with than my supportive family? I start my journey by gathering my parents, siblings, and nephews and head to the little archipelago off the coast of Ecuador. Galapagos Islands is famously known as the place that inspired Darwin to create his theory of evolution.

I’m eager to wiggle my toes in the white sand of Tortuga Bay and contemplate how all the creatures on these islands had to endure harsh elements and adapt to survive. I hold my 73-year-old father close and tell him how much I love him as we watch the iguanas dart across the hot beach.

I laugh with my mother at the funny noises the sea lions make with their mouths on San Cristóbal Island and we do our best to imitate them. My nephews and I climb through giant empty tortoise shells and exclaim how we can’t believe tortoises can get so big and if they weren’t so slow, we’d love to ride one.

My brother and I hike Sierra Negra Volcano on Isabela Island and wander through cooled hardened lava caves, quickly playing a childhood game of Hot Lava. Then I snorkel with my sister and swim amongst the tropical fish, sea horses, and sharks in Las Grietas on Santa Cruz Island.

Throughout this adventure, we sample the local seafood and stuff ourselves with ceviche, seco, and exotic fruits, and finish every day with fresh ice cream.

From Galapagos Islands, we go to Machu Picchu, a 15th century Inca ruin in Southern Peru. It’s believed to be a royal estate abandoned by the Incas during the Spanish conquest.

On the early morning pitch black bus ride up the mountain to the citadel, I talk with my nephews about how an entire civilization was completely destroyed by smallpox and Spanish conquistadors. All that remains is a lost city in the middle of the Amazon jungle.

Arriving before dawn, we watch as the sun touches down over the 600 stone terraces and begin to see the extraordinary views. My mother and I are in awe at the sheer magnitude of such an undertaking and how it was even possible to build such an empire with no wheels or iron tools in the mid 1400s. I giggle as llamas peak their heads out at us and graze in the grass.

After hiking the splendour of one of the new seven wonders of the world, we continue our journey south to board a cruise to Antarctica.

Along the way, we spot whales in the Drake Passage and hike a glacier on the South Shetland Islands. We zip along in a Zodiac and spy on a colony of penguins.

I feel grateful to be with the ones I love as we catch glimpses of evolution, a decimated city, and a blank slate in the southernmost edge of the world.

Together, we head back up to Toronto excited to discover our new normal.