GPC Profile – Professor Guyton: The Most Interesting Man at GPC

GPC Profile on Guyton: The Most Interesting Man at GPC

12/5/11

647

Cummins

He’s ridden on top of trains in Ecuador, scuba dived with Moray eels, fished for Piranhas in an Amazonian river, jumped off cliffs 6,500 feet high in Turkey to parasail over the Mediterranean Sea, been attacked by a wild dog behind a pyramid in Egypt and galloped horseback through the Peruvian landscape. Professor W. Ernie Guyton is the most interesting man at Georgia Perimeter College.

“He’s crazy.” Says Professor Mark Zayac, a close friend, who’s sitting outside in the courtyard enjoying a sub sandwich. Zayac traveled with Guyton in the small town of Krocow in southern Poland and remembers how much fun they had together. “Traveling with him is a real treat. He’s very diverse and will show you things you wouldn’t expect to see.”

Virginia Felton, the administrative secretary for the Center for International Education, where Guyton serving as the Interim Director, also has positive things to say. “He’s always up beat, very easy and flexible to work with.” These are important characteristics for any traveler. As Guyton will confirm, anytime you travel you need to be flexible and be ready for change.  “You can’t be scared of change. Don’t let fear restrict your life experiences. You’re missing out on a world of adventure. Travel! Go, because that’s where the adventure is!” Guyton muses.

Guyton’s passion for travel started back in 1978.
“When I was 15 my Mom let me live in Panama for a month with my friend Eddie Stroop.” Stroop was 17, ran one of the locks of the Panama Canal, and was fluent in both English and Spanish.  “I remember one day riding our motorcycles into the jungle because Eddie said we were going to live off of nature for the day. We climbed coconut trees, picked wild almonds, ate fresh mangos and avocados. For a city slicker from Mississippi, that was pretty cool.”

Professor Guyton leans far back in his leather office chair, crosses his hands on the desk in front of him and twists his turquoise and red coral wedding ring.

Stoop had a heavy influence on Guyton and encouraged his love for travel and all things Latin American. “I looked up to him.” Guyton says as he closes his eyes. You can imagine him remembering the wild parties with rumba dancing and beautiful women.

Guyton enrolled in college in 1980, the same year the first Indiana Jones movie came out. Still deciding what to major in, he asked himself, “Is Indy’s profession real? I could go for that!”
He enrolled in a study abroad program at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, and soon found himself in Israel, near the Sea of Galilee, on an archeological dig.  “It was a lot of dirt and hot sun.” After finding only small pieces of broken pottery he found his calling as a “cultural anthropologist,” working with living history and people.

Now at the age of 50, Guyton has traveled to 54 countries and counting. His top three picks are Mexico, Peru, and Turkey.

When preparing for a trip overseas, Guyton always takes three important things with him: an Army knife, pepper spray (he’s only had to use it on wild attack dogs so far) and he reaches down to his left hip to pat the compass watch that hangs from his belt loop.  “This is for keeping your bearings when you’re exploring the jungle.”

So what’s in store for this modern day Indiana Jones? “I want to be shocked!” he says passionately. “I’m planning a trip to Southeast Asia. I need to break ground there.” He’ll start the adventure by meeting up with a friend in Vietnam.

Maybe the next thing we’ll hear from Professor Guyton will be the stories from the crumpled pages of a diary kept as he motorcycled across the Asian countryside. Whatever the future holds for Guyton, he maybe gathering treasures but he’ll never be gathering dust.