ACADEMICS
Rocking in the new year in El Salvador While many folks spent New Year’s Day watching bowl games, snacking or sleeping in, a group from Monmouth College celebrated the first day of 2022 in a much more adventurous fashion, traveling via horseback to the top of a volcano in the Central American country of El Salvador. “I’ve got to imagine that was a first for some,” said welltraveled Monmouth biology professor James Godde of the equine companions for the 13 students who made the trip. “Many of the trips new location. I want it to be a new adventure.” I’ve led have been “One highlight of the trip was interacting with the people of over Christmas El Salvador,” said Wilbourne. “We spent New Year’s Eve in the break, and I try to streets of Suchitoto lighting off fireworks with neighborhood schedule a really kids. The trip was a great opportunity to put cool experience my Spanish into practice and connect on New Year’s with the locals.” Godde said some eyebrows were Day, like when raised over traveling to El Salvador, our group visited Machu Picchu (in Peru). I wanted to have a and that caused some students to stay super-cool experience in El Salvador, and this really was.” Godde atop home, along with COVID concerns. “While El Salvador wasn’t my first time out of the country, Izalco Volcano But he said those who made the trip it certainly took me the furthest out of my comfort zone than were impressed by the country, which any travel I’ve done in the past,” said Shannon Wilbourne is bordered by Honduras, Guatemala and ’22. “Professor Godde will be the first to tell you getting the Pacific Ocean. uncomfortable is what travel’s all about.” “We saw the really good side of El Salvador,” said Godde. “It The students had taken an “Academic Travel” Reflections can have a bad reputation—even scary—but we never had a course taught by Godde that emphasized ideas such as mindful single trouble. It’s not on a lot of people’s ‘to see’ list, but it really travel and making pilgrimages. It was similar in that respect to should be, because it was fabulous.” other Reflections-inspired trips that Godde has led to Colombia “I think the greatest highlight of the trip was scaling the active and Belize, which also featured visits to old churches, Mayan volcano Izalco, which is considered the second most difficult ruins and other sacred sites. volcano to climb in El Salvador,” said Wilbourne. “That hike is A slight difference was that this year’s group consisted of the most terrifying and impressive feat I’ve accomplished in my students from two Godde classes. His planned trip abroad with life. Before we even started our trek up the mountain, we had the students who took his class in the fall of 2020 was canceled to walk down 1,475 steps. After the grueling descent from the due to the pandemic. summit of the volcano, down sand and loose rocks, we had to Godde, however, kept his string of years traveling abroad make our way up those steps again.” intact. His Belize trip ended in the first days of 2020, two Other highlights of the trip were relaxing at Lago de months before the pandemic began. The El Salvador group Coatepeque, a crater lake in the western portion of the country, left the United States on Dec. 28, providing him his 2021 and spending the last full day in the country on the beach. international travel just days under the wire. His streak started “I’ve learned from experience to schedule the beach day later by leading a Monmouth study-abroad trip to Japan in 2006, the in the trip,” said Godde. “That way, I can tell the students, ‘If you year before he spent a sabbatical there. get through this, there’s the beach day at the end.’” “This was my first time in El Salvador,” said Godde. “One of my criteria when planning these trips is to try to find a brand—barry mcnamara
‘We spent New Year’s Eve in the streets of Suchitoto lighting off fireworks with neighborhood kids.’
The Monmouth College travelers pause for a photo at the Casa Blanca archaeological site in Chalchuapa.
SPRING 2022
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