by Ericka Kaplan
I met Rita Golden Gelman in Antigua, Guatemala, 18 years ago.
I was recently divorced, reeling and trying to figure out how to make a new
life for myself and my 5-year-old son. I don’t remember HOW I met her,
nor WHERE, but I have never forgotten what an impression she made on me. She
too was newly divorced and starting on a new path — what would be the
beginning of a nomadic existence that has lasted these past 18 years and shows
no sign of slowing down. What I remember most about Rita is that she was so
adventurous, independent and intelligent. She was an extremely dynamic, accomplished
woman — an inspiration and role model!
Rita decided to “do life differently.” With her
two children grown, she was free to pursue her life-long dream of travel to
distant lands, which now include Latin America, the Galapagos Islands, Israel,
Indonesia, New Zealand, Borneo and New Guinea. As a writer of over 70 children’s
books, her passion to discover new places and meet people from other cultures
fueled her first book for adults titled Tales of a Female Nomad: Living
at Large in the World. Each chapter is packed with stories about the people
she’s met who touched her life and the unusual experiences she had along
the way. She throws in delicious recipes, funny anecdotes and something more
— something “that makes the reader want to reach out and expand
their lives, to think creatively about the possibilities of life and to revisit
dreams that they had buried.”
Rita is back in Antigua for a few months, on a short break
from her nomadic life. She is trying on the role of “abuelita” (grandmother)
for the first time, sharing the experience with her son and daughter-in-law
who are adopting a Guatemalan baby.
While here, she has agreed to speak on Saturday, July 17 at
Proyecto Cultural El Sitio at 4 p.m. about her book, her life and her experiences.
She claims that “anyone can take small steps toward living a more open
and enriching life that embraces otherness. Talk to people who are different
from you; invite foreign families to dinner; call a nearby school and see if
there are foreign students who would like a homecooked meal. When traveling,
stay with families. Connect, connect, connect.”
From her preface in Tales of a Female Nomad she writes,
“I have been living and loving my nomadic experience since the day in
1986 when, at age 48, on the verge of divorce, I looked around and thought:
there has to be more than one way to do life. There is.” •
