Walking to Argentina with a donkey

why we travel — By Bob Riel on February 27, 2008 at 1:49 pm

From Oregon to Argentina, to be exact. At least that’s the goal of Jonathan Dunham, who has already trekked down the West coast of the United States, through Mexico and Central America, and is now in Venezuela. The donkey (named Judas) has been with him since Mexico, when it was given to him by a family with whom he lived for several months. The NY Times recently profiled Dunham:

His quest began more than two years ago in Portland, Ore., where he was working as a substitute teacher in the public schools. One day, he decided to start walking south, down through the western United States. From Texas he crossed the border into the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, where he stopped for a while. He said he hoped to walk for two more years across the rest of South America until reaching Patagonia…

The precise motivation for Mr. Dunham’s travels is not entirely clear, even to him; perhaps it never will be, though at a minimum it is a journey of self-discovery and endurance. In the meantime, newspapers along his route have reported that he was walking for world peace or to set a world record or to spread the word of God.

“They always find something to say,” Mr. Dunham said of the reporters who beat a path to meet him and Judas.

Mr. Dunham has relied on the kindness of strangers along his way through Mexico, Central America and, now, Venezuela. He keeps away from big cities, aware that they are no place for a donkey like Judas. He often seeks out a church upon arriving in a new town or village in search of a safe place to sleep.