Sweet Home Chicago

I suppose I was slightly unkind in my lack of posting to let you all know I had survived Venezuela and made it home ok. I've been here in Chicago since early June with the exception of a little trip to Pennsylvania to visit some friends, and a trip to Mexico which I will soon be speaking about. The reality of being back is now setting in on me and opening up the opportunity for me to think a little more about the implications of a trip like this. I still do not know completely how this trip has shaped and transformed me, but I know that it has. I know that I have grown in patience, in joy, in vulnerability, in trust, and in faith. I look at the world not just at a side view or even an aerial view, but with all angles in consideration. This is both a physical and a mental reality. I however, find this reality harder and harder to live into each day I am home. I find it incredible how easy it is to get wrapped up in the routines of suburban life. Each day I work at reminding myself of all of the beauty that lays before me: of the friendships, the forests, the freedom of mobility, of family, my dogs, and even the cleanly cut bushes and flowers that accessorize both homes and offices. I at times find myself driving on interstate 88 thinking about my trip as if it was some sort of dream instead of a reality. My mind finds it hard to grasp that I have been to all of these beautiful places, done so many amazing things, and met so many incredible people. I miss deeply meeting new people each day, and not knowing where I would lay my head each night. I miss passionate conversation and unbounded freedom and I wonder why I can't have that here. But the truth is that I can have that here and that life here is not that much different than life down there, it is all just a matter of what I CHOOSE to do with it, whether or not I allow myself to be imprisoned by routine and boredom, or activated by adventure. Do not permit yourself to be fooled, no one but us decides how we live each day. Sometimes I catch myself on autopilot headed towards home and I entertain the idea of taking a random trip to the beach or to the mountains, and the moment I pull in my driveway I remember that there is a time for all things. This is my time to be home, to love my family, to kick it with my friends, and to allow responsibilities into my life. It is a time for birthdays, baseball games, motorcycle rides, rock climbing, and abundant food. I now have 3 weeks left of summer until my responsibilities switch and I begin my last year at Westminster College. And boy do I look forward to the challenge and adventure that returning to academic and athletic life will bring, but for now I smile with the people I'm with and anticipate the arrival of good friends. I hope you do the same.

Colombia: The Land of Salsa.

I spent the last couple weeks running through Colombia. People don't lie; it is a beautiful county. I spent my first part of my time here in Cali. The city is one that many say you can skip. But, I found the activity and the constant salsa dancing captivating. Every street I go to, someone is blasting salsa and the feet get moving. I have now spent 8-8 & 1/2 months in Latin America. Every where I go people try to teach me the local baile, but be assured, I am a terrible dancer. As this guy in Costa Rica once told me, "Dang girl, you go no rhythm". Yet although I am a miserable dancer, I do love to watch these people move. So here I am in Cali, cruising the streets, trying the local food, and then I hear a voice shouting in the distance. Perhaps this is my favorite little encounter in Colombia, very stereotypical. Now, being a white female in Latin America usually includes an excessive amount of attention. After having spent 8 months getting hollered at everywhere I went, I learned to just continue on. So, when I guy starts saying something as I walk by, it doesn't grab my attention. Now, I am am walking though this market, trying to get a feel for the area when I pass a guy asking me the typical, "¿Que buscas?" (what are you looking for?). I wasn't looking for anything so I continued on my way. Then when I was about three quarters of a block away, the guy is still yelling at me. Screaming that he has coke. So I'm this white American girl walking around this busy market, police on the corner, and this guy is just screaming in Spanish asking what im looking for and confirming that he's got coke if I want it. A big smirk hits my face and I couldnt help but laugh at how absurdly typical this would seem to be from what we see in our media. I continue on.

My next stop in Colombia was Medellin. I had just read up on some problems in Bogota and decided that skipping it was in the best interest of time and safety. I took the overnight from Cali to Medellin. The bus got in a bit early so I did my typical "hang out in the terminal until the sun rises". Sitting there, I started talking to this guy who was waiting on his sister and nephew to get in. We decided we all can split the taxi to the center of town. Her bus got in and he came over and informed me "there's another one like me" on his sisters bus and asked if I'd like to meet her. I think, "another one like me"? I informed him that I was ok and would just continue on to the center by taxi as planned and then next thing I know we were standing in front of this poor Israeli girl and I'm explaining this necessary introduction. We end up hunting down a hostel together. Bar, that's her name, and I trotted through Medellin together. We admired the artwork of famous Fernando Botero, saw the plazas, the parks, the markets, and of course, ate the food. We discovered we both were off to Cartagena and decided it best to make the trek together. I spent my last day in Medellin eating at some local places, walking around, and hanging out in this awesome park listening to live salsa. We met up in the evening and made the 13 hour bus to Cartagena together.

Cartagena is hott! It's hot and man is it humid. Cartagena is where I would meet up with Lindsey Boumgarden, who's been there teaching. I basically spent my 3 or 4 days there hanging out between Lindsey's pool and the beach. It was nice to catch up with her and see the incredible view of the city from her apartment. To be honest, I wasn't too fond of Cartagena and couldn't see the hype about it. It was super hot and humid, the beach wasn't very nice and was crowded with venders, and it was fairly expensive for around these parts. But, when I saw the view from Lindsey's apartment, I got a whole different perspective. It was cool. And the old center at night was quite a scene with its stone roads, horse drawn carriages, salsa and break dancing, and pretty darn good food. Needless to say, I enjoyed my time there. The next stop for me was in continuance with my presbyterian roots. I headed to Barranquilla to check out a seminary I had heard about a few years back. Unfortunately I was unable to make contact with anyone before hand, but I managed to hunt down an address. I took the bus then got off and walked some odd 10 blocks. I got to the address to discover the building had been torn down. I asked the guy working there if they had relocated and he gave me an address 40 blocks away. I start walking, hoping I'm not just being sent across town for nothing. About 20 blocks later, I grab a bus and eventually end up at what is the "Colegio Americano". I ask about the seminary and at first get nothing. Then someone takes me to an office where I meet the staff and a lovely woman named Linda who takes me for a "tinto", a coffee, to explain to me about their work down here. I learn a lot about the Accompaniment Program and about the struggles that still exist here. I ask about attending class and she, unsure of why I'd like to sit through a class during my travels, informs me of her 5 o'clock Old Testament that I could go to. I also am invited to spend the night at the Presbyterian Church's main office. Which was relocated to this beautiful apartment. I gladly accepted and enjoyed spending the evening with her conversing. The following afternoon I made my way to Santa Marta.

Santa Marta has been gorgeous. My hostel is lively and I'm running into travelers I met a little while back. Theres a pool, a bar, a restaurant, a kitchen, hammocks, a pool table, etc.. I spent the first day here at the market and the beach. The beach is much nicer than the one in Cartagena and I am able to enjoy the sunset before making my way back to the hostel to hang out for the night. My second day here I headed to Tayrona National Park. The hike into the beach was nice. I was with a few Swedish guys and we saw some monkeys, snakes, and lizards. Then we hung out that day hunting for crabs, swimming in the Caribbean, walking the beach, and meeting other travelers. We crashed in some hammocks and the following day we continued through the park to the next beach stop. This beach was gorgeous, but the camp site was expensive. I decided I would hike the hour back to the other beach to sleep, but when I had gone up to the little house where the hammocks were hung, I had no choice but to stay. I laid on the beach all day, surviving off of fresh mangos we would pick from the trees and spent the night listening to the wind howl. In the afternoon of the third day there, we hiked back and returned to Santa Marta. I woke up early the following day to pack and make my way to Venezuela, but in the end decided it best to wait and head out the following day. So I spent all day yesterday walking around the markets, hanging at the beach, and then spent the evening at the hostel relaxing in the pool, and playing some pool as well. Now here I am today, awaiting my bus to Maracaibo, Venezuela where I'll spend tonight and tomorrow; then fly out early morning Tuesday to Chicago.

I am amazed at how this trip is closing. People say time flies when you're having fun. I like to think of it as a nice tempo. Time and I have been trotting along here together without a sense of pace for awhile now, and it seems that we have cruised a bit fast. People keep asking me if I'm ready to come home. I don't know. There is no ready. I will always have a wanderlust. The reality is that I have witnessed some quite beautiful aspects of life. I have come to know some incredible travelers. I have stood before some of the most breathtaking scenery. I have pushed my body, my mind, and my spirit in ways I did not foresee. I have seen how truly beautiful life is. Now I sit here in my hostel, a place called The Dreamer. A quote from The Alchemist greets me each day I enter, "When a person really desires something, the whole universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream." Many of you ask me how I manage to do this and the questions rage from funding to confidence to fearlessness to insanity. I would love to take credit for getting me here, and yes I've worked hard, but many of you have conspired to help me to realize my dreams. Thank you. I only hope that whatever you desire in your heart can be achieved by all of us conspiring to help you realize that your dream can become a reality. And your dream doesn't have to be a one shot deal. My life isn't centered around this trip, or even travel. This isn't my first dream; it won't be my last; its not measured or compared. It's just a dream achieved. I love living by achieving dreams big and small each day and by seeing anything I desire as possible. Something changes about the beauty of this life when you start living in the ways of your dreams. Right now it's difficult to say how this trip will impact me overall and what weight it will bear, but I do know that it taught me a lot about vulnerability, about friendship, about how we live each day, about Spanish, and about how delicious beans and rice will always be. I walk on from this trip with an affirmation that the most beautiful way to live is by love and from love will branch out peace, patience, gentleness, humbleness, kindness, self control, and honesty which will bear the fruit of friends and family in every curve of the earth. "Let love be your highest goal".

I look forward to seeing you soon!

Dream. Explore. Discover.

Ecuador: What more could I have done?

I started my time off in Ecuador by catching a bus from the border of Peru to Guayaquil. From there I decided it best to head to Puerto Lopez where I could get some beach action. My goal in this part of my trip was to explore the world under the water. Yes, scuba diving! Now, im sitting in the bus terminal in Guayaquil waiting for my bus and one pulls up 5 minutes before my departure time. I board the bus. Strangely, someone has the same seat as mine. The bus driver takes a look at our tickets and moves the other guy to another seat. Then, 30 minutes into the trip, a guy comes around to check the tickets. He looks at mind and tells me I'm on the wrong bus. I havent made a mistake like this in all of my trip. I look at the guy, explain to him that the other guy had already checked my ticket without saying anything. He was persistent. I either payed the far again, a whole $4.25, or I got off the bus. I reasoned with him. "Look, you can kick me off the bus, but then you're going to have an empty seat. Let's meet in the middle. I'll pay half the fare." The guy thinks for a second, takes the two bucks and leaves it at that. The bus I had taken was to a town called Portoviejo. There wasn't anything too interesting about it. It was loud with all of the bus traffic, a bit dirty, etc. I knew I'd be heading out in the morning so I bought some water and went to a hostel for the night. Sleep was minimum. I got up early and headed to my desired destination, Puero Lopez. I walked around, found a hostel, dropped my things off, and went to find out about scuba diving and to walk the beach. The following day I headed to the national park nearby to check out an indigenous village and to lay out on beautiful empty beaches. I counted that day successful. The following day I went snorkeling and hiking at the Poor Man's Galapagos (Isla del Plata). The island was gorgeous and I saw some huge nemo fish and turtles while snorkeling, but the most exciting part of the trip was finding this huge group of maybe 15 or 20 dolphins playing around in the water. I had never seen so many dolphins before. It was quite incredible. I became even more excited about the scuba diving I would partake in the following day. I woke up early the next morning to discover that I had butterflies in my stomach. I was so pumped to finally go scuba diving. I had hoped to see big stuff like sharks and what not in the water, but the dive master had warned me it wasn't the right time or location, but I still had my hopes up after seeing piles of dead sharks on the beach the day before. The first dive gave me the opportunity to get acclimated to being underwater again. I had completed my certification a year before in a lake in PA. The ocean was a different reality and I had not quite remembered everything I had learned. I had had a difficult time staying at the bottom. My body kept wanting to float up, but within a few minutes my buoyancy was under control. Following that, the first dive went smoothly. I saw eels, stingrays, all sorts of huge brightly colored fish, big puffy prickly fish, lots of coral, squids, tons of starfish, and much more. Everything I saw amazed me. There was a whole other world under the surface of the water. I loved it. And I loved even more that it made me slightly nervous. This all was so unknown to me. It was exciting. The second dive went smoothly as well, but the dive master went low on air and so we surfaced a bit early. I ended the day by watching the sunset and soaking in the day. I was content. I live in a world full of beauty and I was becoming more and more aware of this reality. I then headed to Montañita which was a popular beach town. The vibe there was much different. Sort of like a Puero Viejo, Costa Rica. It was full of surfers, partiers, and all sorts of travelers. I found a hostel for $5 a night and crashed there. The dorm area was a bunch of mattresses accompanied by a single sheet and a bug net on the floor of the hostel's attic. The view was goregous. I spent my time hanging out with some other travelers I had met from Korea, Italy, Mexico, and some other European countries. We danced, hung out on the beach, played some soccer, and of course got a tan. I followed Montañita by heading to Cuenca. Jose Luis, a solid Mexican traveler accompanied me. We spent a week in Cuenca, waiting for my friend Lauren Parisi, who had been studying in Quito to come through with her study abroad group. I had set up some volunteer work with her coordinator and would be heading north to Quito with them. Although Cuenca was a beautiful city, and had some amazing food, it rained everyday and during the week, the city was dead after the sunset. We spent a lot of time eating, reading, and watching movies. It was a nice relaxing week after a lot of traveling. We also hooked up with a shaman during our time there and participated in a ritual which was a cool experience to say the least. When the weekend ended, I say caio to Jose Luis and continued north to Quito with Lauren. Our trip home was extended quite a bit due to an oil leak on the highway. We got to Lumbisi, which is just outside of Quito, around midnight and we both crashed. The following day, Lauren went to school, and I started my work by helping some local women in a communal garden. I then moved into the apartment where Id be staying the next couple weeks, and headed to Cumbaya to meet up with Lauren at school. I met some of Lauren's friends, then somehow got talked into going on a Chiva which is basically a party bus that goes throughout the city. Although it was 99% gringos, it was a fun time and a decent way to get to see the city. I also managed to see my first soccer game in Quito which was a ton of fun and they won! I spent the rest of my time in Quito/Lumbisi hanging with Lauren and her friends and working with 3 and 4 year olds in a school. The kids were a lot of fun although they did a lot of crying, fighting, disagreeing, and peeing in their pants. Haha. But it proved to be a lot of fun being with them for the time I was and I was excited to see their improvement in saying things like please, thank you, and sorry, by the time I head left. I also managed to teach a couple kids how to swing by themselves which was super cool and exciting for them. I had two weekends while I was in Quito. For the first weekend, Lauren, a few of her friends, and I headed to Baños to do some rafting. The rafting was a ton of fun and I even decided it best for me to stay for part of Sunday so I could do some canyoneering with a couple people I met the day before. My new friends and I spent Sunday repelling down waterfalls and hiking around some. It was incredibly exciting and beautiful. I then headed back to Quito in the early afternoon, but got in super late due to more traffic problems. The 3 hour drive took 5 and a half hours. My second weekend, I headed out to Tena, to spend some time in the Amazon. I got in, found a hostel for $6 and met up with a guy I had met in Quito a few days earlier. We hunted down an office and scheduled a tour for the next day. We spent the whole day hiking through the amazon. The guide frequently stopped, cut off a root, gashed a tree, or removed a leaf with his machete to show us all the medicinal properties of some of these plants and trees. I was amazed at how strong and quickly they worked. One root, which was good for tooth aches, numbed the whole side of my mouth within moments. It was incredible! The guide would also often remove fruit from trees and we would enjoy their fresh juicy insides. As we walked, the rain poured down over us. But I didn't care. If it wasn't raining, I'd be soaked with sweat anyway. Plus, the rain kept the bugs away. As we walked, we saw all sorts of huge trees, we even swung in their vines which was super fun for me. The hike also consisted of numerous overflowed rivers that we had to cross and some incredibly beautiful waterfalls. I was in heaven. When the day ended, I wanted nothing more than to sit alone, eat some food, and digest all I had experienced. The following day I made my way back to Quito and Lumbisi. I hung out with a friend there and said goodbye in the morning after being treated to a delicious onion and fish soup. I headed out Monday to check out the middle of the world, then continued my way to the Colombian border.

I am now in Colombia, sort of running to Venezuela. I fly home on June 5th and can't believe how soon this date is approaching. All I can say right now is that I love each one of you. Give big hugs to those you love and remind them frequently of how much they mean to you. ¡Viva la Vida!

Dream. Explore. Discover.