Zanzibar Part 3: full of adventure, full of discovery

Ithaca is a beautiful poem written by C.P. Cavafy in the late 1800s, I have read and re-read this poem hundreds of times. The poem speaks of the journey we are on and the one destination where we are all going to find ourselves eventually, throughout this journey we encounter everything. We meet great teachers, we find love, we find struggle and we learn from all of it; "it" becomes the journey itself and we become each day, each sight, smell; we become the journey, it is who we are. The words in Ithaca were words to me for a long time, but now I have set sail and I am discovering the world and all of its treasures. I want to share the poem with you and I do hope the same inspiration finds you and awakens your inner adventurer.

As you set out for Ithaka hope your road is a long one, full of adventure, full of discovery. Laistrygonians, Cyclops, angry Poseidon-don't be afraid of them: you'll never find things like that on your way as long as you keep your thoughts raised high, as long as a rare excitement stirs your spirit and your body. Laistrygonians, Cyclops, wild Poseidon-you won't encounter them unless you bring them along inside your soul, unless your soul sets them up in front of you. Hope your road is a long one. May there be many summer mornings when, with what pleasure, what joy, you enter harbors you're seeing for the first time; may you stop at Phoenician trading stations to buy fine things, mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony, sensual perfume of every kind- as many sensual perfumes as you can; and may you visit many Egyptian cities to learn and go on learning from their scholars. Keep Ithaka always in your mind. Arriving there is what you're destined for. But don't hurry the journey at all. Better if it lasts for years, so you're old by the time you reach the island, wealthy with all you've gained on the way, not expecting Ithaka to make you rich. Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey. Without her you wouldn't have set out. She has nothing left to give you now. And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you. Wise as you will have become, so full of experience, you'll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.