Dick’s Last Hurrah
Arriving on the ship for our Galápagos expedition, my dad’s cousin, Dick, takes a break, relaxing after our long journey to arrive here.
“I’m not getting any younger,” he said as we were sitting in his Chicago home, readying to fly to South America. “This may be my last hurrah.”
Dick, Ricardo or Cuz — he answered to all these names on our trip. And since, by his own admission, he isn’t as mobile as he used to be, he asked me to come along and help, offering to foot my portion of the bill. It was easy to accept. That was more than a year ago.
We’ve traveled together before, my father’s 90-years-next-month cousin. But this was our biggest adventure yet, a South American swing through Machu Picchu, The Equator and The Galápagos.
Just hours before our flight, we received notice that Ecuador was under a State of Emergency (again!)
Grateful doesn’t accurately describe how I feel. Sure, I love my Cuz, but taking me along on these adventures is beyond incredible.
We attempted this journey earlier. In January we were days away from departing when a State of Emergency was called in Ecuador due to drug gang violence. We called off the trip, postponing it until autumn.
Wildfires and a historic drought also hit Ecuador this summer and fall, but we were determined to go anyway. The evening before our departure, ANOTHER State of Emergency came across my phone from Ecuador. The British, then U.S. State Departments immediately warned about only essential travel to the country.
This was a pretty standard scene, Dick in his wheelchair that I’d push through airports, then park him while I figured out the rest of our ever-changing logistics. Here in Lima, Peru, we were assigned to several different departure gates just prior to our flight. There was a LOT of scrambling.
That’s when we talked about his advancing years and maybe this being his last hurrah. He is a world traveler, having visited all of the earth’s seven continents. A retired ophthalmologist who used to perform critical corneal transplants and plastic surgery, he isn’t phased by too many obstacles.
This didn’t phase him either, “I mean, we’re already packed,” he reasoned.
Dick’s mobility is fine for an almost 90-year-old, but guides liked to keep him nearby and help me help him move about. He handled the stairs and ramps pretty easily here while we visited el San Francisco, a basilica in the historic center of Quito, Ecuador.
I’ve written several stories about our expedition already. My favorite part was our week-long cruise around The Galápagos Islands.
Here’s a fun recap of our week in The Galápagos.
The only way to get onto and off of Galápagos Islands — as well as our expedition ship — were little inflatable panga boats. On our first night, we cruised around cliffs looking at all the incredible wildlife.
When things got hairy back home with news of my wife and mother’s medical emergencies, it felt good to have a family member there to comfort me and help talk through the difficult bits. Everyone’s okay now, but as I wrote in previous posts, I had to bifurcate my attention for part of the trip. It was sort of like Dumbledore’s Pensieve device from Harry Potter, splitting off a part of my fear and anxiety to examine later because I couldn’t do anything to help them from so far away. My Cuz may be almost 90, but he’s familiar with Dumbledore.
Due to a historic drought, Ecuador had radically reduced reservoirs which provide hydro electric power. With far less electricity, power outages were common across the country throwing everything into the dark, including here at a chocolate factory we were visiting. The “dark” chocolate was delicious, though.
It was such a cool couple of weeks, hanging out with my Cuz and we had some fantastic conversations — even when we weren’t stupidly sipping Pisco Sours way HIGH up in the Andes on low LOW oxygen. At some point during the trip, he turned to me and allowed, “Maybe this ISN’T my last hurrah. Maybe there’ll be some more little hurrahs.”
Taking a quick breather and checking email before the next expedition.
Is this the end? Is this Dick’s last hurrah or do more adventures await?
“Hurray!” I thought to myself. Sure, there’s no guarantee I’ll be asked along for more journeys with Dick or that he’ll even head out again. But it’s great to think there are people out there, like my Cuz, who realize that even though life doesn’t begin at 90, it certainly doesn’t need to end there.
For more of my travels with Dick, check out:
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— And, of course —
People Don’t Really Talk About How To Actually Get To Machu Picchu
Rodney Curtis is a recovering journalist and author of four books.
Check out Rodney’s books here.
Wow!!!
Thank you, Pat!
“Maybe there’ll be some more little hurrahs.” Some wise spirit, your Cuz.
Thank you. I loved this journey.
Ah yes, he’s a wise spiritual WONDERER. Thanks for your warm words, Bill.