CAST IT ALL TO THE WIND

A debut memoir of a 20-something’s adventure from California to Peru and back in the 1970s.

In the summer of 1976, Girvin, already a widely traveled, self-described “wandering hippie,” decided to embark on a once-in-a-lifetime experience to travel rough from his San Francisco Bay Area home, down through Central and South America to visit the ancient Incan ruins of Machu Picchu. He describes himself, at the time, as a 6-foot-tall, blondish, vegetarian nonsmoker who lived to travel, had many affairs with women, occasionally got high, and made ends meet with an “easy to replace” minimum-wage job in clothing retail. In preparation for the trip, he sold most of his possessions and packed a backpack with a two-man tent, sleeping bag, cooking items, flashlight, first aid kit, camera, and harmonicas. With $800 and a determined spirit, Girvin left the United States, first entering Mexico. Throughout, readers are treated to thrilling stories of liaisons with former girlfriends, wild train and bus rides, drug use, and even extortion attempts. He met many people along the way, including a Guatemalan man aiming to smuggle his family into the United States. Girvin also experienced spectacular sights, culminating in a chance to explore Machu Picchu more than a month after leaving the United States. This remarkable travel tale has been preserved because of Girvin’s commitment to writing in his journals every day during the journey, which sparked his memory as he wrote this book. There’s a fair amount of superfluous detail, which distracts from the occasionally terrifying yet exhilarating quest. Still, the meticulous prose does give readers a full picture of what traveling solo on a shoestring was like in the ’70s. As he relates feelings of loneliness and of being constantly on guard, readers will get a clear sense that while Girvin is proud of his accomplishments, there were some very trying moments when fear and despair almost overcame him: “I felt sad and alone and wished that any of my past loves could be there with me in Lima, below the equator, in the Southern Hemisphere, so far away from home.”

A detailed and emotional travel story that may inspire like-minded adventurers.