By MARGARET PARTEE
When I travel, I take photos and scrapbook them into reminders of my trips. Naturally I have pictures of things like the Parthenon, the Pyramids at Giza, Machu Picchu – the sites that attracted me in the first place. But I also take other kinds of photos and that is what this is about.

I told our leader in Greece that I have photographs of ancient drainage systems (AKA sewers and toilets) and wheel ruts in stone from several continents! I really do because for some reason they fill me with wonder. One day as we were driving along our tour guide called out “LUNCH!” and we looked up to see a herd of goats causing a traffic jam. Photo op! And hey – look at that whole dressed hog, hanging in a shop window – like totally naked! Pork chops anyone? 

That was in Greece. In Oaxaca, Mexico I was startled by a hog’s head hanging in a booth in the market! Its eyes were open and it seemed to be smiling down at me. Hanging along a line adjacent to his head were his entrails. Eww! What do you do with that stuff?

Some of my stranger photos were taken from bus windows. Like in Egypt when we saw a huge bundle of grass moving along on two skinny legs. Actually there were two (we assume) little boys taking grass to their animals down the road. There is often gaily colored clothing hanging from a roof or over a balcony railing. Things like this deserve a place in my scrapbook and can invoke more memories than the sites I pay to see! 

Something that is fun is to run into is some sort of event going on in the city you visit. In Rome there was a bicycle race underway. There they were ripping along around the Coliseum – wouldn’t Julius Caesar be surprised – and racing through town to the Baths of Caracalla. We followed. In ancient Philippi we saw a troop of young actors rehearsing Sophocles’ Elektra in the great open amphitheater!

In Turkey kids were playing soccer adjacent to a Roman aqueduct. Other times it is a more personal type of event such as a funeral. We saw funerals in both Peru and Mexico. Men carried the casket through the streets, mourners followed carrying flowers and singing. They may be gaily dressed but always reverent. Once we noticed a man riding a donkey who pulled to the side of the road and removed his hat. Is that wonderful or what? I have photos of both.

In the old Mayan city of Palenque, Mexico where we spent the day, it was raining. And raining. And raining. We persevered. It was not a heavy rain but it was persistent. Little boys made a bundle selling ponchos. But one group of people opted to use ordinary black trash bags and pulled them over their heads with a pointy corner on top and made a hole for their faces. As they trudged single file up a hill, I snapped a picture that I subsequently labeled “The Druid Parade.”

Another thing I will never forget in Mexico was along a dusty road going to somewhere that I do forget. But I remember the BED PILLOWS lined up on end in the dust along the roadside. Can you imagine actually buying one of them? Talk about allergies. How would you ever get the dust out?

On a street in Peru, we saw a woman with a baby in a back sling, holding a toddler by one hand and a rope in the other with a llama on the end. They were wearing their vibrantly colored native clothing, complete with hats. You just don’t see that in Tennessee!! And in a small village high in the Andes, we joined a ragged procession, complete with drummers ambling through the town for a festival celebration.

Walking through markets (NOT supermarkets) in other countries is a feast for the eyes. Colors abound in the piles of fruits and vegetables and colorful clothing; in the mounds of fresh fish looking you right in the eye; and in the flowers. Oh the flowers are so beautiful and not just in the markets. As I wander about the sites I go to see I am always attracted to the wildflowers. 

There are fields and clumps of bright red poppies in many countries. The purple Jacaranda trees tower above you in Mexico City. The red poinsettias look like small trees. Bright pink/purple bougainvillea climbs and hangs on ancient walls in several countries as does lavender wisteria. Yellow acacia blooms, golden marigolds and of course the roses. Everywhere they bloom in abundance and appear frequently in my scrapbooks – yellow, pink, red, coral, white!

I love my random photos. They bring a smile to my face and a colorful addition to my scrapbooks.  How boring would life be without seeing things like this? One reason travel is so interesting.