Picture joining a potluck birthday party attended by 24 women, each one bringing tales of her wild adventures along with exotic foods from places she has explored. Everyone is celebrating Jill and Stephanie’s birthdays. Both were born on January 1. As you wander through the crowd, you listen in on one conversation after another. At the edge of the field, Jill and Helen take bites of smoked salmon and gesticulate dramatically as they discuss voracious bears they have encountered. Nearby on a small hill, Constanza, Annie, Sophia, and Rosaly eat Andean potatoes while talking of the high mountains they have climbed. Lounging on a picnic blanket chewing venison jerky, Martha and Isabella compare adventures in the Rocky Mountains, and a short distance away, Aparajita and Ynes snack on roasted grubs, laughing about encounters with tropical leeches and giant cockroaches. Stephanie and Edie, between bites of sushi, describe their first underwater experiences. Not far from them, Pamela and Lorie dine on dal and rice as they chat about bird discoveries. Under a large tree, Helga and Alexandra sample tsampa and oatmeal as they swap stories of their long treks. Above them, perched on a stout limb, Kate and Margaret munch on mangoes and compare encounters with venomous snakes. Out by the pond, Kay and Eleanor drink grog and soak their bare feet in the cool water, exchanging tales of their sea voyages. Seated on a tree stump, Freya and Kira nibble on olives and chuckle about their experiences evading authorities intent on restricting their travels. Watching it all is Marianne, who paints the scene before her and smiles at the sight of Annie weaving in and out of the crowd on her bicycle.
This scene can only be imagined, because some of the women you will meet in this book lived long before others were even born. As you get to know each woman, I invite you to revisit this imaginary potluck picnic, as well as picture yourself as one of the next generation of women explorers and adventurers.