For the first time in my young adult life I've not left the United States in a year. I still mark the years more by the school calendar, rather than the Gregorian, since school tends to align my compass and makes me feel like a kid. Regardless, it has been a year of remaining stateside, which is significant considering the wanderlust of years past. Having been to some places, I sometimes felt "guilty" to be so privileged to get up and go to another country, places where most host nationals are without the reciprocal ability to visit my country (one that [View Full Entry]

---

---

Months have passed where realities and dreams have for the most part been sorted from our jaunt to Guatemala in August. We're now into full swing with 2009, wishing all you peoples a healthy and happy new year! Long overdue: snapshots and impressions of Guatemala are finally up, heavier doses of the former. We pieced together a spontaneous trip to Guatemala for two weeks, with the help of wanderlust and the time afforded by transitions between graduate school and the real-world. In that short span, we'd cover some ground (and water) while adrift in this former "Banana Republic" and Civil [View Full Entry]

---

---

The concept of a "year" is quite simple, as it is the time elapsed in the Earth's orbit around the sun. Yet each year gone by seems to take us on that familiar but always different orbital travel, as we look out the window and see various constellations: some the same and some never seen before, because they either didn't exist or were just not visible to our previously untrained or obstructed eyes. This particular year was another ripening of the senses, and now that I'm in the 23rd Grade (if you keep counting like I do), the courses and practicals [View Full Entry]

---

---

Its been more than 6 months in the new spot here in Boston. Overall a refreshing experience, with new discoveries abound. Loving the scene up here, missing you all, so hopefully this is a decent way to send a mass-email with photos. Right now in the middle of a hellstorm of schoolwork, so this blog serves as part procrastination and part catharsis. Doing a 1-year Masters degree in School Counseling, the program challenges me to see things through new lenses and has me aspiring to be an academic McGyver. The eyes continue to open wider, so regardless of where I go [View Full Entry]

---

---

The Bolivian Altiplano rests near the top of the list of vast and punishing places on the planet that command endurance. Some of the curses (or blessings) of pleasure-seeking and reaching new heights are the pains that we endure and experience en-route. For those who enjoy occasional frolics into otherworldly environments, Bolivia brings it all. While she can do a number on the body, few will argue the statement that Bolivia is simply awesome. With Amazonian rainforests, salt flats, mining towns, and of course those hills called the Andes. Within the Andes and within Bolivian borders are [View Full Entry]

---

---

No excuses for the extremely tardy journal update on tales from South America in July/August 2007. Rest assured, we thrived and survived...but certainly not without some hard challenge and life's uncertainty staring us in the face a few times. The draw of Latin American flavor, Spanish language, ancient civilizations, Andean Mountain splendor, new cultures we've never experienced, and the imminent chaos innate in the developing world...were all plenty enough to send us packing to Peru. We had limited time in this prideful nation, which showed us several different faces: The Spaniard influ [View Full Entry]

---

---

Anything is possible. Fight the good fight. When one undergoes radical new experiences and is thrust out of their comfort zone, the first instinct is survival, then comes choices, and finally luxuries. It is this notion that has me holding on tight to the addiction of challenge and its style of teaching...forcing the pupil to look at his basic needs first. Usually I seek this out through travel and expeditions, whether far flung or right in front of me. It would be hard for me to continue to purposely chase another life experience as rewarding and demanding as last years [View Full Entry]

---

---

Never will be the same. Lenses changed forever. Hopefully some of the following words and images can at least provide a snapshot of Ethiopia as I see it. Saving the philosophy discussion for another day with you in the flesh...let’s celebrate the last blog where I bombard you with all that is "LIFE IN COLOR". Be warned: Much of what occurs in Ethiopia and what I will cover on this page is unclean, uncut, unsafe, and just plain tragic. I gained only a sliver of insight into the worlds 3rd poorest country but it would be yet another social injustice if [View Full Entry]

---

---

India makes a child out of you, a hungry and insatiable learner. With such rich spirituality and religious pursuits alongside diverse sets of people, your head is left spinning and curious. It wasn't until the 2nd half of my India experience that I realized I had a full blown love affair with the place. A perfect Hippie Olympics venue: Yoga, meditation, trekking, ayurvedic healing, massage, acupuncture, natural healing and therapy, herbs and teas, metaphysics, tantra, kama sutra, mantras, the pursuit of truth, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Jainism. My favorite aspect of this country is the [View Full Entry]

---

---

A country full of paradoxes. India refuses to disappoint those seeking a challenge and a smorgasbord of sensory overload. Having felt "battle tested" over the previous months of travel, India has thrown me into its stark contrasts in a humbling manner. The extremes are what first captures ones attention: Opulent wealth next to neglected poverty; Physical and spiritual beauty surrounded by filth and piling waste; Genuine truth alongside cheating and greed. Seeing through all of the smokescreens is key, then India becomes a joy and an adventure. After leaving Nepal I set on a course for [View Full Entry]

---

---