Out of South America
Well I am at SFO waiting for a ride to Sonoma County. It was one hell of a seven month adventure. I need some time to digest it all. I’m disappointed it ended on a rather low note, but that doesn’t diminish the overall trip in any way. My lesson learned on the last one is that if at any time someone is not communicating well and you have not paid them then pull the plug immediately. Too many good operations out there to get yourself stuck with a bad one. I take the next six weeks “off” in California followed by a couple of more in Vermont before I head out again to Brazil and then Africa. I recently confirmed a camping with the pygmies in the deep Congo trip for January so after a short break in December, I head out to Africa once again. One year has passed today since this wild adventure began. It has been life-changing already. I’m not sure what to make of it all right now, but I do know I am doing the right thing for my life. I also know the next year is going to be even crazier… in a good, real good, way. I hope to get to a third continent over the next year, but if I only stay on South America and Africa, that will be OK, too.
I get emails from The Universe every weekday. You can, too, at http://www.tut.com . Anyway, the bottom of today’s email said the following and I like it….
Yeah, OK, so you wonder about those born in the poorest of countries. Are you so sure that they are alone, without love, and unable to manifest change? That at times they don’t pity those born into cities of glass where productivity is often worshipped more than kinship? That they are somehow there without a say in the matter? Rick, they’re where they most wanted to be, this time around, as are you, though this doesn’t mean you can’t both learn and find joy in reaching out to one another.
If there is one thing that is happening to me that I did not expect is my suspicion that things really aren’t so great and wonderfully better in America than the rest of the world. When I travel to so many countries and meet so many happy people and I am welcomed so warmly and then I arrive back in the US and the first greeting I get right off the plane is by three armed TSA officers literally demanding to see our passports and then treating a fellow passenger who is an American living in Peru very poorly and then I catch a CNN report in the airport where they quote someone calling some idiot with TB who got on an airplane (I do not know the story) “a terrorist”, I do really have to wonder about what country is really crazy. I’ve probably been to crazier countries than US such as Bolivia and Central Africa Republic, but I at least understand their craziness. It appears to me that things are just too good in US and that is causing us to go crazy. I suppose to the downfall of all the great civilizations shared this problem. Very sad to witness. Hope I can get back into living with it. Otherwise, I will just have to enjoy those crazy other countries and not watch CNN while on the road!!!!! Here’s to kinship over productivity… Salud!
Tags: Travel
vagabondrick
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