Nomad just lost in place

O.K., Here I am back in the San Francisco Bay area. I guess it’s nice to be around familiar faces and places once again, but at the the same time I feel that I left a part of me in South America. I decided to return at this time to kind of prepare for my next adventure, which was to have been a 2 year commitment with the Peace Corps in Africa. When I write Africa ,what I mean is Kenya. Unfortunately, due to the current situation they decided it was best to rescind my invitation. I can say that I am a little bumbed since I have been looking forward to serving there since I found out about it 2 months ago. Now I will just sit and wait until they give me another assignment. I can use this time to reflect on the past 4 months of travel. Prior to Ecuador and Peru I traveled to Europe for a couple of months and saw so many interesting things that now I can learn more about some of the places I visited. I can say that I truly loved Germany , with it’s beautiful landscape and architecture. Italy, with it’s ruins and especially Sicily, where I met the nicest people and got to see The Valley of The Temples in Agrigento. I also found Pompeii and Herculaneum interesting as well. Croatia and Slovenia were two places that also left a lasting impression on me. But I have to say that Spain , particularly Barcelona, was probably the highlite of my trip to Europe. It was the one place I visited where I could have unpacked my bag with the intention of not using it for quite a while. I am sure that it’s a city that will play a part in my future travels. And speaking of future travels, I have this part of me that is already placing socks, shirts, and various items in their little spaces inside my backpack for my next adventure,even if only in my mind, for travel seems to agree with me in a way that is beyond my ability to put into words. But at this time I will just do my planning which is also fun. Who knows, If my P.C. assignment doesn’t  happen soon, then maybe Africa is still a go. Just not Kenya. With that , I will sign-off and head to do some reading about Morocco.

Darn! Is it 2 months already? Here I sit kind of bumbed since it is almost time to leave. My backpack is all stuffed and waiting for me to pick it up. I am doing my last sightseeing around Quito and the time seems to be flying by. I can say that I have had a super time here in South America. I have met the most interesting people from all over the world. My only regrets are that I stayed in some places a little longer because I was enjoying them so much, which meant that there were some things that I had to skip. I would have loved to do a jungle tour and even more I found out only yesterday about an animal rescue organization that is about an hour from Quito where I would have liked to volunteer for awhile. Since starting my trip and especially after going to the cloud forest, I have been more aware of the need to get involved in trying to have a positive impact as far as the abuse of wildlife is concerned. There is a bit of a problem with people capturing the wildlife for pets or to ship out of the country, but also this facility has these beautiful creatures that were used as entertainment and just plain abused. I managed to see some photos of several macaws that were removed from the nest and are now not able to be released back into the wild. Also, a Jaguar blinded by someone using a cigarette who will never know what its real home is supposed to look like. So, I guess I can say that this trip has been much more than just adventure travel. It has also had a lasting effect in a number of other ways. Hopefully, I can look to the future as a chance to contribute in some way, if not with my time, maybe some other way. But for now I suppose I will head back to the US and see what the next couple of months have in store for me. My next post will be from home.

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I left Cuenca with a slightly heavy heart. I found the place quite addictive. There was Louis , the owner of Clasico, the cafe where I not only enjoyed delicious food , but also got a number of free Spanish ... [Continue reading this entry]

I decided to head back to Ecuador after my trip to Machu Picchu so I boarded a flight to Lima. I fell asleep as soon I fastened my seat belt and did not wake up until the wheels touched ground. ... [Continue reading this entry]