From Southern to Northern Hemis

I have left the cold winter of the southern hemisphere and find myself sweating as I write this. Even though it is 8pm. I am now in the beautiful green country of Colombia, Cartagena Colombia to be precise. I’m staying in a room with eight roommates in a hostel located in the oldest part of Cartagena. This city was founded as a port town for the west and I believe it is amongst the three oldest, dating back as far as the sixteenth century. There are a few buildings left from that time including a castle, or rather a fort. They built the fort along with a wall around the city after having been invaded by pirates several times. The wall seems to have done the trick ever since. Not that they have to worry about pirates now, but you know what I mean. It is still a very busy port though, and from what it looks like to me, the port is very touristy. I may stay here for a couple of days before moving on. There are a couple of factors that I am trying to work out.

As you can imagine, things have progressed a bit since I last wrote from La Serena, Chile in my sick bed. Luckily it was just a cold and I was over it within 5 days though nausea seemed to be my ever-present companion since my horrible bus ride from Lima to Cuzco. I believe it stemmed primarily from nutritional intake, or rather my lack thereof. When I am on the road it is difficult to eat healthy, if I even get the chance to eat. Because of my somewhat tighter budget I have placed myself on, I never stay put very long, (the story of my life). When I do eat, I cannot cook for myself since there are rarely stoves and the foods I need to be eating are all dangerous when not cooked in these parts, and that includes veggies. Sometimes in anticipation to a long bus ride, I avoid eating at all, whether intentional or subconscious, it is not a good thing to do. Anyway, enough about that, on with the journey.

After leaving Serena, I took a bus ride down to a very small mining community in the desert mountains about 5 hours north of Santiago. I met with Amy Deane, who is a professor in conservational studies and other wildlife and environmental areas, and is one of the world’s foremost authorities on the long-tailed chinchilla, which are native to the Andes and are very endangered. You may think, as I thought, why are we able to have chinchillas as pets if they are endangered? As it turns out, the ones sold as pets are a hybrid of sorts, and are not endangered like the long and short-tailed ones are. Amy and I hopped on a taxi and drove about 15 km out of town and into the mountains past the Chilean National Reserve for Chinchillas to a tiny wooden cabin about 12ft by 8ft in size where I met two other volunteers. The first is James, who is Australian and the second is his fiancé Iwona, who is Polish. Both are incredible people who have a love for nature and animals. Also, as most people in these situations are, they have great desires to make the world a better place in whatever tiny way that they can. Amy left us all there, completely isolated from the world with no plumbing or electricity. We boiled our water, which came from a stream nearby, and were lucky enough to have a little two burner gas stove for cooking. We were left with few instructions for the next day and Amy said she would return sometime the next day. The cabin was barely big enough for the three of us and I set up a tent the next day, which I lived in for the next week. We only really understood one instruction clearly, though we weren’t clear on the reasoning. So, being blindly obedient, I spent 7 hours raking rocks. Yes, I wrote that correctly, I raked rocks. I even ended up pushing myself too hard, as I often do, and found my right arm to be almost useless for the next several days. I was concerned that I had permanently damaged it, but I am happy to report, that it did fully recover after about 5 days. It turns out the rock raking, was for decorative purposes, so even though it was a project she wanted done, I always chose the more vital projects like planting varieties of the 12 types of plants that chinchillas use. Not that that was an easy task in the dry rocky ground. That was basically my next week. There were three other volunteers that came in right as I left, so I left partially to give them space and partially because it was time for me to move on.

My next trip was down memory lane, which also is known as the street Brown Norte in Santiago, Chile, where I lived about 24 years ago. I arrived in Santiago on the 10^th with the intention of staying at the hostel provided by the temple there. I was surprised and disappointed to find that the temple was closed for maintenance, as was the hostel. I did however, wander around the grounds and in the church offices there. That, in itself, was rather nostalgic as I had memories of visiting my Dad there. Much has changed, but the stairs look just like I remember them. The chief of security there, Alberto Rodriguez, remembered my dad and told me to say hi. I ran into him again the next day at my old chapel when I was visiting it. He just so happened to be there because they were holding a planning meeting for the first ever EFY in Chile, which will happen this coming Feb. This time when I spoke with Alberto he was much more candid with me. He spoke of my father, with what could almost be described as a reverence. Apparently my Dad hired him. He made it seem like he was hired by chance and that Dad was almost taking a risk by placing him in that position. He was so grateful that Dad gave him that opportunity and proudly bragged that he is still chief of security to this day and that it changed his life. He told me again to thank my father for him and to tell my dad to send him an email. So, Dad, look him up and send him an email.

It amazes me to think of the influence and affect we have on other people’s lives, whether we know it or not. We may never realize the impact some little thing we’ve done may have on someone else, for better or for worse. My dad changed this man’s life 24+ years ago. I get to be the one privileged to stand in awe as I see the meaning of that change through this man’s eyes. For this, and countless other reasons, I pray I can live up to the legacy that comes with being a part of this incredible family.

I also had the opportunity to visit my old school that I went to for my k-2 grade years. Nido de Aguilas was an interesting landmark to find. Everyone knew of it and hailed it as being the number one school in Chile, but no one knew where it was. It took me 2 hours of googling and traveling to find the place. It looks like a very nice private university you might find in the US, not a simple k-12 school. Very little was the same, but my old kindergarten building was still the same. Memories flooded my mind, both accurate and inaccurate I’m sure. Being a Saturday, only one building was open. It was a building that up until a year ago didn’t exist. It was a building containing an Olympic sized swimming pool. The facility was immaculate. I spoke with the manager for some time and then moved on. After that, I went to the street Brown Norte and followed it to where I should have found our old house, but instead I found two huge apartment buildings. I was disappointed, but that’s the way things go in Santiago. The shop where I used to get little ice-cream bars and popsicles when I was little was still down the street. I even bought one of the same types of ice-cream bars that I used to get, a Cola de Tigre. On Sunday I went to the same chapel I went to as a child. The very same chapel I was baptized in. Memories of riding my G.I.Joe big wheal in the parking lot, and carrying my Dad’s briefcase down the isles of the chapel to make me feel like a grownup after church swarmed me. The people were wonderful. My little miracle to share here is that I received a blessing from the elders and I have not felt nauseated since then. I left for Uruguay soon thereafter and spent the next couple of days in transit.

On a side note, when I began this journey, I had every intention of actually hitch-hiking around. By so doing I intended to spend hundreds less than I have, perhaps even thousands. Let me tell you my experience and why I have no longer even attempted to do so. When I left Illapel, I was bound determined to hitch-hike to Vina del Mar about 5 hours away. As I walked away from town, I thought of standing there and thumbing it, but I always feel like I’m wasting time doing that. Not to mention I have a hard time staying put, in case you hadn’t realized. So I hiked and thumbed as I went. All the while being ignored or waved off in some way or another. I was able to see how far I had hiked by the km markers. Nearly six hours later of hiking with my nearly 40lbs bag and getting ignored by car after car, I had gone 24 km. My shoes had sand in them which caused unexpected rubbing and towards the later end of my hiking I felt the burning of blister formations. I have warn through the insoles of my shoes from hiking hundreds of miles throughout these 3 months so it’s not surprising. I reached a point where I dropped to the floor defeated. How is it that not a single person would stop? I prayed for anything at this point. Having been humbled, I was willing to pay for whatever and asked God what I should do? I was given the impression to just go up over the next hill. As I approached the top, I found myself on the outskirts of a tiny town out there in the middle of nowhere. I saw a red pickup just like the hundreds I had seen pass me by, that pertained to the state road construction. Every single one of them had waved me on as if to say they couldn’t. Well, here I saw one stop and drop off a young lady with her bags. There also just so happened to be another young lady standing at that corner with her bags. They no sooner had dropped off the one girl, when they were actually asking the other if she needed a ride somewhere! She turned them down and they persisted, but she still told them no. I, of course got a little excited, so I waved my thumb at them as they got in their car and they waved their hands as if they couldn’t and drove on! Can you believe those guys?! God showed me the reason why hitch-hiking for me, would not work. Because I am a guy, guys will not pick me up, and because I am a guy, girls should not pick me up. It’s a lose lose situation for me because I am a guy. I would say a few choice words here, but I’ll just say I’ve learned my lesson for that country. Thankfully, about 100yds ahead of that frustrating realization, I found a bus stop and was able to go the rest of the way by bus. Unfortunately, because of that and because of other setbacks, I spent nearly $100 more than I had planned in Santiago alone. In case you were wondering, Chile is expensive.

In Uruguay I only spent a day to go to the temple, and that was about it. My mind was drawn to families while there. It’s actually been on that train for a while now. In quoting my own journal. One thing I’ve seen a lot of during this journey is farewells and reunions. I can’t count the number of times I’ve stared from the bus window and watched families shed tearful goodbyes as one of their loved ones boards the bus. I’ve watched the ones left behind, anxiously search the windows of the bus trying to catch one last glimpse of their loved one and wave one last farewell. Numerous times I’ve watched as someone walked off the bus only to be scooped up into the loving arms of one that’s been anxiously awaiting their return. I can almost feel the Embraces shared and the stolen kisses amongst families and spouses as I walk past them on my way to or from the bus.  I ask myself, why is it that we feel such a loss and heartache in the absence of those we hold dear? Why do we somehow feel complete, as we are welcomed into the arms of those we care for? At the temple I gave it alittle more thought and concluded that when we are sealed as families, husbands, and wives we are in a very real sense made one. The very atonement makes a direct reference to our being one with our eternal family. If we are one, then when one of us leaves or is missing in some way, then in a very real sense, a part of us really is incomplete. The emptiness felt is a very real, very tangible truth. However, by the sealing power and the covenants we make, we can be comforted in knowing that no matter how far apart we may be from those we love, they are never truly absent. We are one with Christ and one with every member of our eternal family. I know it because I feel it.

In regards to my travels, plans have been someone altered and are always in a state of flux. I have felt it wiser for many reasons to cut out Paraguay, Venezuela, and Brazil from my original itinerary. They are amongst the more expensive countries to enter and I know I will visit them in the future when I can truly enjoy them. For now, I do not have plans to do any work in them and therefore it would just be traveling, which I think would be a waste of my time. I am here to be useful in some way and I believe there would be too much time of not being useful. This change, has brought me to Colombia by plane and I am preparing my journey through Central America with my primary intent being to do work in the temples along the way and then to visit friends in Guatemala where I served my mission ten years ago. If I find opportunities to serve in other ways and feel I should, I will. I would love to return to many of these countries and be able to truly enjoy them for their rich history and other treasures. I honestly feel this cannot be done fully on your own, it becomes too self-serving. Vacation time alone can be needed, but it should never be too much, or you are merely wasting your time on earth. Time that God has given us to make this world better. Volunteering and working can always be fully appreciated whether on your own or with others. I am now at a point of trying to make sure I don’t waste too much of it. For this reason, I will say that the rest of my journeys will be my return to home. Whatever adventures I may have, will be because the opportunities have presented themselves in some way. Unless something happens and things are altered, I expect to be back in my home country by mid to late Sept. The funds I set aside for this are low and this should be a reasonable amount of time to accomplish the things I still would like to do.

I feel good about what I have done and I feel good about these alterations. I have had so many opportunities to share the gospel with so many. I have been privileged with the responsibility of being the first and only Mormon many of these people have met and feel I have left the impression my Father in Heaven would want me to leave. I don’t know from where my next entry will come, but hopefully not from Colombia. Until then, God speed.