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Local teacher to host talk about Southern Hemisphere trek

Sep 10, 2018 | 5:00 PM

A former community school teacher will soon be coming back to North Battleford to share her stories and experiences from her travels — a lesson that learning doesn’t stop when you step foot out of the classroom.

Alli Hawryliw will be at the North Battleford Public Library Sept. 12 to talk about her trek around the southern hemisphere.

Hawryliw was a teacher for 25 years at the North Battleford Comprehensive High School. After a quarter of a century spent teaching high schoolers, Hawryliw was ready to get away and enjoy retirement in early 2014.

“I [officially] retired at Christmas of 2013, but kept working until June of 2014,” Hawryliw said. “The day after classes ended I flew out to London to start a seven-month trip.”

That first trip was from London, England to Sydney, Australia.

Hawryliw went on two – soon to be three – overland trips since then, including most recently traveling from Cartagena, Columbia to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The trek included stops in Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, and Paraguay just to name a few.

Hawryliw said she enjoys the overland travel experience, because of the unique experience it offers.

“I like it because you see the country,” she said. “You don’t fly from spot to spot, you drive through small towns where you stop to have lunch with local people, and you meet lots of locals along the way.”

Traveling has always been a passion for Hawryliw, recounting several two-week trips across Canada, up to Alaska and into the U.S. with her children when they were younger.

“Traveling has always been something I like,” she said. “I like the language, the people the food and the culture, all of that.”

When asked about the inspiration behind her most recent travels, Hawryliw said quite simply, it was an adventure to somewhere she had never been.

“It was a new place to go, and I had spent the winter before in Central America studying Spanish, so I wanted to use that,” she said. “I just always like to see new places.”

Hawryliw said she is often asked why she is not afraid to go certain places she does, and her response is always the world is not a scary place.

“We need to understand that all people have the same desires in life,” she said. “Just because a place is portrayed as dangerous, doesn’t mean they are. There is a lot to be learned about meeting new people and just enjoying the adventure.”

 

Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1