Virginia Cowling

I wish I had been part of the roaming hippie generation, but I was born too soon --Oct 27, 1916.

My culture was late Victorian--we never complained about hated jobs, bad marriages, poor health. We just endured. As one of my peers commented when students were storming on the campuses. ¨¨Why! we never behaved like that! We didn't´ know we could.¨

We endured the jobless Great Depression, loss of friends and relatives in WWII and out of my horse and buggy childhood, zoomed up to the Space Age, TV, PC and Virtual Reality.

The habit of enduring came in handy when I found myself slogging through a swamp and picking off leeches in Indonesia, where I met James-.

So I´m a Late Bloomer, in that most of my travels occurred since I reached age 65 in 1982 and my long-ailing husband died.

Somewhere in those years, received a Bachelors degree in Psychology and then a Masters in Social work after which I worked in Psychiatric Clinics at the then new Medical School at the University of Washington and later was an Executive of a social service agency. We were developing new and exciting programs inthe WAR on POVERTY. These are no longer in existence since we gave up on that war.

I love my home in the middle of a 20 acre forest near Seattle, but now leave at the first drop of a leaf for warmer climates, quite frequently 3rd world countries, which are warm, interesting and cheap. One can be a big-time spender and philanthropist and not go broke. I usually travel solo, with backpack and guide book (though I recently switched to a wheeled suitcase.)

I have no favorites of the places I´ve seen. Each has been a rewarding and transforming experience. I usually go from one to five months. From Turkey to Thailand, the Cook Islands to the Brazilian Amazon, the Himalayas to Macedonia, I've explored the world from the age of 65. I am currently spending the winter in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and I've just taken up parasailing.

There are many more alluring places, but I can never see them all, and then I yearn to take the Space Shot to view the moon close up, but I cant afford the $85,000 ticket.

F. Virginia Cowling
virginia@siberut.com

James Owens

Under Construction.

James Owens
james@siberut.com