BlueBee Odysseys: The BUZZzzz
September is National Honey Month. Honey Bees have been working very hard this 
summer. Honey bees fly more than 55,000 miles and tap 2 million flowers to make one pound of honey. The average American consumes 1.29 lbs of honey a year. Awesome!!
They take such good care of us. We also need to live and travel sustainably to reciprocate. If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have 4 years of life left. Albert Einstein
WHY TRAVEL SUSTAINABLY? A recent article in the blog Worldchanging commented 
on how Americans love environmentally unsound vacations and felt that a major factor was the devaluation of time. I agree but also think it is a lack of awareness. Americans binge on many things, travel included, sometimes boasting about a list of checked off places visited, their shopping excursions and maybe a brief description of a visit to a historical site but not sharing a meaningful encounter with local people and culture. They don't mention dealing with their carbon footprint either and travel does leave a significant footprint.
Blue Bee Odysseys offers cultural immersion with lodging in charming, locally owned accommodations with healthy food and delightful conversations with local people. One does not need to be fluent in another language to participate in conversation. Engaging with local people builds social capital on both sides. I am integrating much slower travel into the odysseys, focusing on the experience of being in a place. The slower travel is more sustainable in many ways. It provides many more in-depth experiences that may include trekking, shopping at local markets and sampling street food, supporting women's handicraft cooperatives, and participating in local gourmet cooking classes. My YouTube video of our Pasta Forno cooking class in Sicily demonstrates the fun we had in a delicious cultural exchange.
VOLUNTOURISM is not a volunteer vacation but a relatively new approach to socially responsible travel. You are a tourist first and then a voluntourist as you learn about and support a local community project in a variety of ways. Reciprocity has long been a core value for Blue Bee Odysseys, for my yoga practice (defined as Seva in the yoga world) and for my long career as a healer and clinical social worker. I will be slowly expanding voluntourism projects for Blue Bee Odysseys. I do not want to be involved in "poverty tourism" or risk any other type of exploitation. I have sometimes cringed as I read about travel organizations that offer a day assisting at an orphanage or teaching English at a school for children. My experiences as a psychotherapist have made me very aware of the dangers and destructiveness of sexual abuse.
Women's Yoga Adventures in Mexico at Lu'um K'aa Nab do include voluntourism. This project was started over 10 years ago with a micro-finance loan to obtain sewing machines for poor women in the colonia of Puerto Morelos. It has continued to evolve in wonderful ways under Sandra Dayton's selfless support and guidance. Most of the women are of Mayan descent and speak Maya. Some only have a second grade education. Some used to have abusive husbands but that has changed since their
empowerment in the project. Rosaura in the photo is one of these very impressive and powerful Mayan healers. They still sew beautiful Mayan dresses but now also give fabulous Mayan massages in their Jungle Spa, a concrete floor with screened walls and palm thatched roof. It is better than being at any Sheraton or Hilton for a massage. I have a YouTube video demonstrating how they share their beautiful hearts.
NEW ADVENTURES Diane Magliolo, Manlio Marchetta and Fausto Marchetta have 
been instrumental in the creation of the Sicilian Odyssey this year. They are cousins who share a mutual love of Sicily. Fausto and Manlio are native Sicilians, representing the true spirit of Sicily. Diane recently obtained her dual American/Italian citizenship and represents the soul of Sicily. The Marchetta brothers have assisted in the expansion of what can be offered on a slow travel odyssey of Sicily. Each future tour will be different, some with more of a focus on culture and history, opera and theater and some with a focus on trekking, organic farms and wine.
Manlio Marchetta suggested we go to Libya where there is some of the "best Roman architecture in the world." Professor Manlio Marchetta is the expert on that. I am also exploring Tunisia and Morocco, both of which have women's handicraft cooperatives that I would like to connect with.
Diane and I will be creating specific themes for some of the odysseys. We have a 
history of leading retreats that explore dreams, yoga, mythology, the expressive arts and other states of consciousness. These will be true odysseys in a Homeric sense. We are reconnecting with what originally drew me to exploring Sicily as a destination, the mythology, and in particular as it is portrayed by Athena, Demeter, Persephone and the Black Madonna as she emerged out of Africa. Demeter and Persephone myths will be explored in my Sicilian Yoga Odyssey next year.
Destinations in India will expand. I currently have a wonderful odyssey called Flavors and Wisdom of South India lead by a very knowledgeable Jennifer Nandi. I am also exploring slow travel odysseys in Sikkim and Assam, India with lodging at local guest houses or tea plantations and exploration of voluntourism projects. Slow travel in Kerala is also being explored.
Laos has numerous responsible tourism destinations that I am exploring. I want to return to Peru but perhaps with some different destinations and again with a focus on slow travel.
Norway and Iceland are in my sights as I have reconnected via Facebook with the Selsvold clan in Norway. Imagination has been said to be a trait of the Norwegians. There is a story called the Ragnar Lodbrok Saga. Kraka is the heroine whose imagination is able to transform the impossible to the possible. I like that. Dreamers of the world with names like Diane, Jason, Jessa, Fausto, Susan, Manlio, Inger, Eirin, Bhava, Tashi and many more people, like that.