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July 16-19, 2004
Vail Daily
Vail, Colorado
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by Veronica Whitney
"Hi, BOB!" Polly Letofsky greeted her walking
partner of five years after returning from a walk to downtown Estes Park.
On Tuesday, BOB was parked by an RV where Letofsky was staying while in Estes
Park, one of the last legs of her five-year-walk around the world. BOB, which
stands for Beast of Burden, is a custom-made, high-tech stroller that can carry
70 pounds of gear and has accompanied Letofsky on her 14,000-mile walk to raise
breast cancer awareness.
Parts of their history together are tattooed on BOB's nylon body: dozens of
patches and pins from cities and organizations around the world and hundreds of
signatures from some of the people Letofsky has met during her Globalwalk. BOB
even has its own license plate from Minnesota, where Polly originally is from.
"I lost (BOB) in Calcutta for seven months and I had to go through Turkey
carrying my stuff. It was a mess," she said.
'Losing my mind'
After walking across the western United States, New Zealand, Australia,
Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, Letofsky faced what she calls the toughest
stretch of her trip: India.
"The toughest time was the center of India, the very center of the
Globalwalk," she said. "Two and a half years into the walk, I was
losing my mind in India. I was so confused and frustrated because I never knew
what was going on around me."
Unlike people she met in other countries, Letofsky felt in India she couldn't
rely on anybody.
"Everybody wears watches in India, but time doesn't mean anything to people
in India," she said. "That's why nothing gets done. They are still in
the 12th century there.
"If they don't know something, they'll make it up. So you never know when
they're giving you the right information," she added. "I was supposed
to be there five months and I bolted through the country in three."
Letofsky rolled her eyes and smiled when she described Indian people.
"They are very invasive people," she said. "They would knock on
your door in the middle of the night and say, 'Madam, madam, I have friend that
wants to meet you'," Letofsky said with an accent that reminds you of Peter
Sellers in "The Party," Blake Edwards' movie about an Indian movie
extra who ends up at the wrong party.
Sometimes, tensions were so high and she was so stressed out, she had to
constantly calm herself down, she said.
"I wasn't afraid for my life. I was scared I would hurt somebody in
India," she said. "I never felt like quitting, not even when I was in
India.
"Even then my thought process was, 'Well, this is awful, make a
plan,'" she said.
To deal with her feelings of despair, Letofsky wrote her journal.
"When I go back to those days, I can feel my anger," she said. "I
had to stop writing journals in India for my Web page because they were so
angry."
Still, Letofsky said she managed to make the best out of it.
"One time, as riots were breaking out between Muslims and Hindus outside my
hotel, I ordered room service and watched 'Friends' and 'Seinfeld,' my favorite
sitcoms," she said.
Sept. 11
Letofsky's bubbly personality only deflates when she talks about the Sept. 11,
2001, terrorists attacks.
"It was awful," she said her eyes filling with tears. "I was in
Malaysia, where people aren't emotional about anything. In the Asian society
there is no emotion. I was surrounded by government-controlled press. I couldn't
talk about it with anyone."
Even though she met thousands of people during her trip, Letofsky, who is
single, said she never fell in love.
"A former boyfriend came to visit me and we had a lovely time cruising
Europe," she said. "I met very interesting people but I was so focused
on other things. Maybe it helped that I was older when I left. I wasn't
21."
Her focus also kept her from looking back during her trip, she said.
"I love America. But I didn't have a craving when I was overseas," she
said. "Maybe a craving for the simplicity of it, good products and good
services."
Though Letofsky accepted rides at the end of the day from some of her hosts, she
still managed to walk every step.
"We always mark the exact spot where I stop - usually with a ribbon or a
pile of rocks on the road - then they drop me at that exact spot the next
morning," she said.
Following her frustrations in India, Letofsky was looking forward to being in
Europe. But when she got there, she was disappointed, she said.
"It was shocking after the world I've experienced," she said.
Veronica Whitney can be reached at 949-0555, ext. 454 or at vwhitney@vaildaily.com.
==========================================
Global walk for Breast Cancer Statistics
• Breast cancer survivors that have walked with Polly -1,800
• Number of sick days -0
• How many times Polly has had food poisoning -3 (Luxembourg, Missouri and
Australia)
• Pairs of shoes Polly has walked through -27
• Number of times Polly's been asked how many pairs of shoes she has walked
through - 8,400.
• Number of countries Polly has walked through -22
• Miles Polly had when she reached the Colorado/Kansas border -14,100
• Amount of money Polly has found along side of the road -$49.93
• Newspaper interviews and feature articles -886
• Newspapers that have gotten all the facts straight - 6
• Times that Polly had to call police -3
• Times police have been called due to horny men -3
• Number of maps used -761
• Number of Bibles Polly has been given -15
• Hottest temperature Polly had to walk in (in India, Malaysia, Singapore,
Australia, Greece and Turkey) - 110
• Coldest temperature Polly had to walk (in Iowa) - -10
• Most miles walked in one day -28
• Richter scale in California earthquake -7.2
• Number of forest fires Polly had to run through -5
• Number of men Polly met with breast cancer -5
• Number of boxes full of gifts that have been sent to Mom's house for storage
-36
Read Polly's journals on www.globalwalk.org
======================================
Welcome home celebration
Polly Letofsky is expected to start her way down Vail Pass at 8 a.m., July 30.
Friends, family and people she has met throughout the world will meet Letofsky
at Gore Creek campground for the final segment of her five-year journey. The
group will stop for a picnic lunch at Ford Park around 12:30 p.m.
Letofsky is expected to complete her walk at about 3:30 p.m. in the Lionshead
area of Vail Village. Billy's Island Grill, in Lionshead, will host Letofsky's
welcome home celebration with food and drink specials.
==========================================
To contribute
Make donations to the Breast Cancer Fund/GlobalWalk, 2107 O'Farrell Street, San
Francisco, California, 94115-3419. Or call 1-866-760-8223.
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