Next Event Flyer

Subject	Date	Category	Presenter	Description
Botswana in the Green Season	Sat Nov 29	Slide Show	Evalyn Bemis	We have enjoyed traveling in several countries in Africa over the past 15 years, from Namibia to Kenya, but have always been there outside of the rainy seasons to allow for maximum viewing of wildlife and ease of getting around. For this trip we deliberately wanted to go during the "summer ", or rainy time in Botswana, in order to see the animals healthy, with lots to eat and many with new life at their sides. In most peoples ' minds, the Kalahari is a ferocious and unforgiving desert. In February, it was awash in green, with large playas of collected rainwater and abundant herds of oryx, impala, and zebras. In turn, that meant resident lion prides looking fat and happy. To the northwest, the famous Okavango Delta was not flooded but still well-watered. We witnessed packs of wild dogs hunting, lions and leopards on the prowl, and birds of every size, shape and color, including big flocks in a heron rookery.
Travel Bug Book Discussion	Tue Dec 02	Book Group	Aimee Gwynne Franklyn	Telephone by PErcival Everett Zach Wells is a perpetually dissatisfied geologist-slash-paleobiologist. Expert in a very narrow area—the geological history of a cave forty-four meters above the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon—he is a laconic man who plays chess with his daughter, trades puns with his wife while she does yoga, and dodges committee work at the college where he teaches. After a field trip to the desert yields nothing more than a colleague with a tenure problem and a student with an unwelcome crush on him, Wells returns home to find his world crumbling. His daughter has lost her edge at chess, she has developed mysterious eye problems, and her memory has lost its grasp. Powerless in the face of his daughter 's slow deterioration, he finds a cryptic note asking for help tucked into the pocket of a jacket he 's ordered off eBay. Desperate for someone to save, he sets off to New Mexico in secret on a quixotic rescue mission. A deeply affecting story about the lengths to which loss and grief will drive us, Telephone is the Percival Everett novel that will shake you to the core, as it asks questions about the power of narrative to save.
Financial Fridays! 5:00-6:30pm	Fri Dec 05	SPECIAL	Emily Estes	Join us and Emily Estes (Financial Advisor, Edward Jones) the first Friday of every month for an informal, but informative way to enjoy your evening! From 5:15-5:45pm Emily will cover various financial topics to help you live a life worth living. Stay after the talk until 6:30pm for the Q&A, casual discussion, and a beer! Remember Happy Hour is 5-6pm! Everyone welcome!
Buy a home for $1 in ITALY	Sat Dec 06	Slide Show	Melanie Lamb Faithful	Have you ever dreamed of living in a medieval Italian town? In wine country? At a price much less than you can imagine? We live this dream as Italian half-timers. And the "buy a house for a dollar plan " will be explained. There are so many options for people who are craving la dolce vita.
Gen X/Millennial book club	Wed Dec 10	Book Group	Jeff Grossman	The Millennial Gen-X Book Club is a once-a-month fiction book club for anyone in those generations. We skew towards the queer, the tender, and the strange. If you are interested in joining us, drop by on the night of, or direct your interest to Jeff through themillennialgenxbookclub@gmail.com December Book Selection: Pedro Paramo Juan Rulfo
Giving a Voice to the Unhoused	Sat Dec 13	SPECIAL	Jean Palmer	5:00-6:30pm Join us for a panel discussion with people sharing stories of their lives unhoused and housed in Santa Fe. Learn more about the issue of being homeless and what you can do to help. After a presentation by a panel of people with the lived experience of being homeless, audience members shared their biggest take aways. Some of the comments: “These were just a few of the many “stories” of people who are unhoused. The authenticity of each story touched my heart.” “Great! Thank you. Awesome presentation! Thank you! Lived experience is so important – it humanizes the issue”. “The presentations reinforced the humanity of people who are or were unhoused. So powerful to hear their stories”. “Homeless populations are not monolithic. Every story is different and we need to stay open and empathetic.
"From Camden to Kathmandu" Book Event	Fri Dec 19	Booksigning	Bruce Berlin	In a thought-provoking memoir, From Camden to Kathmandu: You Don 't Have to Know Where You 're Going to Get Where You Want to Be, Bruce Berlin leaves his budding legal career to embark on a worldwide, consciousness expanding search for his authentic self and life 's purpose. Berlin 's book is an inspiring account of personal transformation and spiritual growth. It contains many lessons we can all benefit from. A retired public sector ethics attorney, Berlin is a former US Institute of Peace Fellow, a social change activist and a Buddhist meditator.
Sailing & Painting the Pacific Ocean for 9 Years	Sat Dec 20	Slide Show	Roxy Podlogar	Roxy and her husband, Carl Podlogar, sold all their possessions and began living aboard their ocean-going catamaran, Sky Pond, in February 2016. They embarked on a circumnavigation of the Pacific Ocean from Vietnam, sailing in the "wrong direction " against the prevailing currents and wind to northern British Columbia, then south to Mexico, and finally returning to Australia in December 2024. This story highlights Roxy 's journey as she pursued her dream of becoming a watercolor artist while also striving to acquire a high level of seamanship quickly. It includes photos of their sailing adventure, paintings created in iconic locations, and short stories corresponding to their sailing route and the specific anchorages where she painted her landscapes.
On the Road With On the Road	Sat Dec 27	Slide Show	Carl Moore	Robert Frank 's The Americans redefined photography in 1959 and inspired Carl Moore to hit the road with Jack Kerouac 's On the Road. Like Frank, Moore sought to reveal America to Americans—capturing the landscapes, faces, and fleeting moments that echo Kerouac 's metaphorical vision. From Denver, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Los Angeles to a cross-country drive with his son from Santa Fe to New England, Moore, with his Nikon in hand, retraces Sal Paradise 's footsteps. The result is a vivid, contemporary counterpart to Kerouac 's masterpiece—where the photographs themselves feel restless, alive, and haunted by the same hunger for the open road. As Jim Sampas, executor of the Kerouac literary estate, notes in his Foreword, "It isn 't often that something comes in that excites me as much as this project. " These images remind us of the beauty and variety of human experience, the thrill of movement, and the quiet grace of stillness. Paired with passages from On the Road, they invite us to see Kerouac 's America anew—and to feel again the irresistible pull of the road.
Bolivia and Chile	Sat Jan 03	Slide Show	Diane Marron	This South American adventure begins in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, the driest desert in the world, then off to the Salar de Uyuni of Bolivia, the largest salt flats in the world, then a visit to the magical city of La Paz, the highest capital city of the world, and ending in Barranca, the “Soho” of Lima, above the shores of the largest ocean in the world. This journey encompasses the moonlike landscapes of the desert with its dramatic rock formations and expansive sand dunes sculpted by millennia of wind and water erosion; the colorful lagoons of the Altiplanos of Chile and Bolivia where wildlife such as flamingoes, vicunas and llamas thrive and where there is a special feeling one can experience of being on top of the world, perhaps because of the rarified atmosphere at 14,000 feet above sea level. This two-week journey into the sand and the salt and the sea, and to the lagoons and the geysers and the Piedras Rojas, and to the magic of La Paz and its culture, and stepping into the past in Barranca is the “altiplano” of my adventures and I look forward to sharing this with my photographs and videos.
Travel Bug Book Discussion	Tue Jan 06	Book Group	Aimee Gwynne Franklyn	Held by Anne Michaels 1917. On a battlefield near the River Escaut, John lies in the aftermath of a blast, unable to move or feel his legs. Struggling to focus his thoughts, he is lost to memory as the snow fall -- a chance encounter in a pub by a railway, a hot bath with his lover on a winter night. 1920. John has returned from war to North Yorkshire, near a different river. He is alive but still not whole. Reunited with Helena, an artist, he reopens his photography business and tries to keep on living. But the past erupts insistently into the present, as ghosts begin to surface in his pictures: ghosts with messages he cannot understand. Michaels brilliantly links the various threads by exploring the thin divide between the living and the dead and the ways memory can carry her characters between worlds. Her stunning prose sustains the book 's enchanted mood from start to finish.
Italian	Tue Jan 06	Italian	Elisabetta	Italian 5(c) - Advanced Tuesdays 3:45-5:00 Jan 6,13,20,27 Feb 3,10 Classes will meet for 6 weeks at the Travel Bug for 1 hour and 15 minutes each time. 4 to 8 students max. The focus is on learning to speak and comprehend. A "Pimsleur " subscription will be required (https://www.pimsleur.com/). Cost: $192.38 (incl. tax). Payment through check, PayPal, Venmo, or cash (non-refundable after the class has started). To determine your level, please contact Elisabetta to assess which class will be the best fit for you. Other non-Pimsleur-based classes also offered. Please inquire: 505-577-1014 or e.mazzantini1@gmail.com
Italian	Tue Jan 06	Italian	Elisabetta	Italian Beginners Class (1a) Tuesdays 5:15-6:30 January 6,13,20,27 February 3,10 Classes will meet for 6 weeks at the Travel Bug for 1 hour and 15 minutes each time. 4 to 8 students max. The focus is on learning to speak and comprehend. A "Pimsleur " subscription will be required (https://www.pimsleur.com/). Cost: $192.38 (incl. tax). Payment through check, PayPal, Venmo, or cash (non-refundable after the class has started). To determine your level, please contact Elisabetta to assess which class will be the best fit for you. Other non-Pimsleur-based classes also offered. Please inquire: 505-577-1014 or e.mazzantini1@gmail.com
Backpacking Through Wales	Sat Jan 10	Slide Show	Terry Owen	Have you ever thought of expanding your backpacking or hiking experiences to an overseas locale? There 's no better way to learn about a place and its people than on foot with a pack strapped to your back. Join Terry Owen for his presentation on his recent thru-hiking journey through Wales. He 'll cover planning, logistics, travel and safety, while also sharing his experiences, photos and video from the land of dragons and castles. It might be just the thing to get you to say, "why not? ". Terry is a retired U.S. Navy officer and deep submersible pilot, and subsequently completed an 18-year career at Sandia National Laboratories. An avid hiker, backpacker and climber for nearly 50 years, he 's journeyed to six continents but just recently expanded his horizons to include overseas backpacking trails, because he said "why not? ".
GenXMillennial Bookclub	Wed Jan 14	Book Group	Jeff Grossman	The Millennial Gen-X Book Club is a once-a-month fiction book club for anyone in those generations. We skew towards the queer, the tender, and the strange. If you are interested in joining us, drop by on the night of, or direct your interest to Jeff through themillennialgenxbookclub@gmail.com January Book Selection: The End of Drum Time Hanna Pylvainen February Book Selection:
A Year in the Outback	Sat Jan 17	Slide Show	Bill Earl	Have you wondered what the Australian Outback is really like. This is your chance to get a taste. Bill decided to tour and camp through a lot of Australia. He purchased a Land Cruiser and spent almost a year touring and camping. From the cities and coast of New South Wales and Queensland to the most isolated parts of the Northern Territory and Western Australia. This slide show will describe the “process”…Purchasing the car, outfitting, and touring. We’ll cover the how and why of camping and overlanding Australia. We’ll visit a bit of the Australian cities but focus on the beauty and isolation of the Outback.
Solo Traveling While Old	Sat Jan 24	Slide Show	Linda Durham	recent solo travels to Bulgaria, Turkey, Ukraine
Guatemala During the High Holidays	Sat Jan 31	Slide Show	Jack Shlachter	It 's Mayan, Not Yours! Leading Congregation Adat Israel, in Guatemala City for the Jewish High Holidays Rabbi Jack Shlachter is a physicist and ordained rabbi whose long career at Los Alamos National Laboratory provided him with the luxury of galavanting around the world to lead small congregations for the Jewish High Holidays. His travels have taken him to Vienna, Beijing, Warsaw, Bangkok, and most recently, Guatemala City. When home in New Mexico, Rabbi Jack serves as rabbi for the Los Alamos Jewish Center as well as congregation HaMakom in Santa Fe. The Jewish community of Guatemala is small by world standards; Jewish population for the entire country of 18 million people is estimated to be under 1000 or a mere 0.006%. Nonetheless, Guatemala as a country is strongly pro-Israel. The current president lived in Israel for ten years, speaks Hebrew, and received his college degree from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and Guatemala was the second country in the world to move its embassy to Jerusalem. Rabbi Jack will describe his experiences leading a small, non-Orthodox congregation in Guatemala City for the Jewish High Holidays in 2025 as well as a first-time traveler 's impressions of Guatemala.
Travel Bug Book Discussion	Tue Feb 03	Book Group	Aimee Gwynne Franklyn	Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshananthan Jaffna, 1981. Sixteen-year-old Sashi wants to become a doctor. But over the next decade, a vicious civil war tears through her home, and her dream spins off course as she sees her four beloved brothers and their friend K swept up in the mounting violence. Desperate to act, Sashi accepts K 's invitation to work as a medic at a field hospital for the militant Tamil Tigers, who, following years of state discrimination and violence, are fighting for a separate homeland for Sri Lanka 's Tamil minority. But after the Tigers murder one of her teachers and Indian peacekeepers arrive only to commit further atrocities, Sashi begins to question where she stands. When one of her medical school professors, a Tamil feminist and dissident, invites her to join a secret project documenting human rights violations, she embarks on a dangerous path that will change her forever. Set during the early years of Sri Lanka 's three-decade civil war, Brotherless Night is a heartrending portrait of one woman 's moral journey and a testament to both the enduring impact of war and the bonds of home.
Bali	Sat Feb 07	Slide Show	Ellen Kemper	"Around Bali " - Volunteering, sightseeing, and swimming around Bali. Six weeks and twelve accommodations later, Ellen Kemper traveled the island of Bali enjoying its culture, landscape, and seas.
Cruising the Chilean Fjords	Sat Feb 14	Slide Show	Marion DuBeau
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