Two life-long friends from Spain stopped in Albuquerque Tuesday for a brief pause during a trip that will take them around the world in 80 days without using any type of air travel.
Tuesday was the 65th day of travel for Manel Vinyals, 40, and Jaquim Marcoval, 41, who started their journey Aug. 19 in London. Their trip, budgeted for $5,000, is scheduled to conclude Nov. 6.
The two friends said it has always been a dream of theirs to travel the world under challenging conditions using only ground and sea-based travel.
"There is an old saying in Spain - 'Every man in his life should write a book, have a child and plant a tree,'" Vinyals said through interpreter Derek Roff, a supervisor at the UNM Language Learning Center.
The two Spaniards met Roff because he is listed online as a speaker of Esperanto, an unofficial language that combines blends of several European languages. Vinyals and Marcoval coordinated their journey to meet other Esperantists and see how many people speak the language.
They started planning the trip about a year ago by first establishing their concluding date and expanding from there. The two packed cameras, video recorders, a laptop computer and a digital camera to document their trip for friends in their home town of La SÇnia, a city about 200 kilometers south of Barcelona. They have been sending updates of their journey to a local newspaper in Spain that is printing information about their trip around the world.
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During the trip, the two have utilized several modes of transportation including train, bus, ocean freighter and sailboat. Their journey has taken through 16 nations.
The two said during the past two months they have had the opportunity to meet and learn more about cultures and people because they used ground-based transportation and stayed in the homes of locals instead of at hotels.
The trip has them through Europe, into the Middle East and through China to Japan and then across the Pacific Ocean to the United States.
The two said Iran was one of the most interesting countries they visited. They said the people were very friendly and that they felt comfortable and secure the entire time traveling through the country.
They also said that China was a beautiful country with people who were great hosts that would not allow Vinyals and Marcoval to pay for anything. They added that they had more trouble with traveling and corruption in the government of Turkmenistan than in any other country.
The brief stop in Albuquerque included lunch at the Frontier restaurant and a visit to the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology.
Although the trip is more than two weeks away from its conclusion, Vinyals and Marcoval said it has been a great experience and that UNM students can learn that a little planning and money can take them around the world in less than three months.
They added that it has also been a good experience because it has proven to them that speakers of Esperanto can be found throughout the world and that a majority of the world's people are actually very friendly and helpful.
