Where Things Are Now… Hard

Since things went South on my last two days in Buenos Aires, I’ve had some ups -- some really major ups -- but I’ve had so many downs that it will take me a while to recover from them once I return home. We had the theft in which some crafty Brazilian hacked into my checking and savings accounts and cleaned them out. Then the news from home that almost prompted me to take the next plane back to the Bay Area. Then the broken?/sprained? toe along with the sketchy outfit with whom I booked my trip to Machu Picchu. Then getting sick, a pretty awful birthday far away from home and loved ones, and now I’ve been diagnosed with an inner ear infection. Being quite sick and now the painful inner ear infection (I can’t hear at all out of my left ear) has prevented me from exploring Arequipa, where the sacred condor flies, and boarding a plane to fly over the famous and mysterious Nazca lines. I’ve been holed up in hostels for the last three days, laying in bed reading and watching videos on YouTube.

I’m in the home stretch of this journey, with only seven full days of travel and exploration before I board a plane bound for San Francisco. And I’m looking over my shoulder every minute trying to stay prepped and alert for the next potential disaster.

Believe me, I realize that, at home, each of these things might seem small, but being in a foreign country, alone and with little knowledge of the language, these things get amplified to a fever pitch, and when compounded one upon another, can get pretty overwhelming.

I have to admit that I’m sad that this trip seems to have taken a bad turn. There have been so many beautiful moments. But hopefully, things will turn around so I can finish this trip on a up note.

I think back to something I wrote in this blog in my first month, and that is that travel can be a pretty intense spiritual practice. Chop wood, carry water, but do it it a foreign country where you just don’t know much about anything at all. I feel that more so than ever right now as my body, mind, and spirit are being tested in ways that have blindsided me and left me feeling exhausted and wracked. The lesson… spiritual practice is hard and messy and ugly and heartbreaking, as well as beautiful, peaceful, expanding, and connecting.