Confessions of an Amature Astrologist

I am a nerd. There, I said it. I'm a nerd. And I'm proud of it! 

While most people would consider the defining moment of their trip to Peru as Machu Picchu (which I will be visiting in two days) as the climax of their trip, I aimed higher. What is higher than the 13,000 feet and centuries of history, you ask? I came to Peru to see the stars. 

At home, I regularly find myself searching for meaning while gazing at the stars, but the light pollution minimizes the view drastically. But here in the Sacred Valley, the stars are so much more visible. As a Northerner, I'm used to the comforting sight of familiar constellations, my favorite of which is Orion, the hunter. And clearly I am not the only one who has favored this particular beauty as it's likeness is echoed throughout the ancient world. Specifically in the placement of the Pyramids of Giza and Mayan temples. 

Clearly the stars held meaning to ancient civilizations. And the Incas were no stranger to astronomy. They were extremely dependent on the stars to predict their weather patterns and growing seasons as well as mapped out constellations of their own that are still recognizable today.  That, my friends, is why I am here in Peru. 

I was fortunate to find a hotel nestled away in the mountains of the Sacred Valley that was home to a phenomenal Planetarium and Observatory. I felt even more fortunate to have befriended the director of the observatory. I met David when he was sent to help me after having complained about the speed of the hotel's wifi. David was kind enough to sympathize with my frustration, although that frustration now seems a bit ridiculous given the fact that we are an hour and a half from the closest city. 

Tonight we had the pleasure of having a private showing at the planetarium to familiarize ourselves with the southern hemisphere's sky. Then after we were privy to the use of the high powered telescope in the observatory. The moon was fairly bright and because of this we were able to capture some beautiful images of it. But it made viewing some of the smaller star formations and nebulas a bit more tricky. But what we saw was incredible. Binary solar systems, dense regions known specifically for their ability to form stars, and a clear view of Saturn accompanied by it's moon, Titan. 

In the last 24 hours I have gone from watching the Aquarid Meteor shower on a lawn chair as flecks of remnants of Halley's comet pass through the visible arms of the milky way, to the use of a high powered telescope to see galaxies 20,000 to 1 million light years away. I'm feeling pretty blessed to have the opportunity to come this far, and very lucky to have made a new friend that helped me to see space in a new way. 

Like I said, I'm a nerd. And it's a badge of honor to me to be able to point out the constellations. I enjoy understanding how they got their names and the significance behind them. But more importantly, I can appreciate them. I can get lost in the stars, because they make me realize how infinitely small we are. And sometimes, there is comfort in that anonymity on a universal level that makes all of the world's problems feel so small. 

I apologize for the delay. This was written on the 7th of May. Due to painfully slow wifi, it was delayed. Thank you for your understanding. 

Bizarre and Unusual Occurances

I am no stranger to bizarre happenings while traveling, or anywhere for that matter. Why would this Peruvian expedition be any different? 

The occurrences of today started casual with a visit through a Franciscan Monastery, the relic of centuries past and evidence to the Spanish conquest that obliterated the Incan empire. This particular monastery was the central hub of the Americas during the 17th and 18th century. While the actual chapel is still in use today, much of the building has been made into a museum, including the claustrophobia inducing catacombs that house the bones of an estimated 75,000 men, women and children. 

Breathing the air in this cramped, underground maze that could easily be straight out of a horror movie caused a panicked adrenaline that I infrequently feel, only matched by holiday shopping at Washington Square. As i began to lose my composure, my sister meandered the catacombs without a care in the world, falling behind the group regularly, leaving me, in my state of unreason, to believe she would be lost forever in the musty underground dungeon. For all i knew, those bones belonged to tourists who had lost their way. Queue the creepy, evil, disembodied laugh. And while I struggled to breathe and keep my cool, almost everyone else on the tour seemed perfectly at peace, with the exception of another lady who covered her mouth with her jacket sleeves.  I recognized the look in this woman's eyes. They begged "Get me out of here." In that moment the two of us had formed an unspoken, terror-stricken bond. Thankfully a fellow tourist recognized this and mercifully assisted us in finding the fresh air vent that looked up into the chapel. Shortly after, we made our way up to ground level and fresh air. 

After the real life version of my bastille nightmare, we wandered the streets of modern day Lima. We weaved through shops and alleys looking at fake jewels and silver and a surprising amount of trophies dedicated to just soccer.  I knew that South America had a love affair with soccer much like Oregonians do with microbreweries or the Ducks. But these trophies stood as tall as me, and somehow filled entire malls. I think everyone in Lima could receive one of these monstrosities and they would still have an excess. 

As we continued to wander we found our way to the back of a street performance. The group literally stopped traffic to perform musical numbers, both familiar and exotic to me. We dropped a coin into their donations and as we did, got physically pulled into the street by the performers. Lined up with children from the audience, my sister and I bent over preparing for one of the performers to take a running leap over us. And there, in front of hundreds of people, the street performers did something entirely unexpected... They smacked our butts with an inflatable baseball bat. The crowd laughed hysterically, why wouldn't they? Pull out some tourists who wouldn't care if they made fools of themselves because they'd never see those people again. And they were right! We played along and took pictures with them after the stunt. One scooped my sister into his arms and proposed, another jumped into my arms without warning. 

This is what traveling is all about. Opening your mind to new experiences. Sometimes they will end up bad, others will be amazing and enriching, and sometimes they will be downright bizarre. And while bizarre and unusual seem to be my forte, I wouldn't have it any other way. 

The Paradox of Time

I've often felt conflicted about my feelings toward time. There always seems to be too much time, but not enough. It goes by so quickly yet so slowly. Hours turn into days, days in to weeks, weeks into months and BAM! Before you know it you've missed out on opportunities that could have changed your life entirely. 

As I wait excitedly for my next adventure, this time into the jungles of South America, I know that this month that remains will be no different than any other time keeping. It feels endless, like time has stopped entirely just to taunt me. But also this trip will sneak up on me quietly and I will be there and back home before I even know it. 

And as fortunate as I am to have this opportunity to travel, it feels almost like bad timing. These two weeks that I will be gone are two good weeks that remain of whatever time that remains in the life of my little buddy, Pudge. It sounds ridiculous but those two weeks are precious to me. The time that I have left with him is important. 

So there you have it. The bitter sweet gift of time. It teases you with a taste of eternity, then cruelly rips it away. So make the most of the time that you have because there is an expiration date on opportunity. And nobody wants to spend the rest of their days mulling over what could have happened in that missed moment. 

They call me, Murphy's Law

Murphy's Law dictates that anything that can go wrong, will. Well friends, I am the personification of that notion. 

It wasn't until I saw the faces of the staff working the front desk that I realized how bad I looked. They looked at me in horror and in broken English asked if I needed the police or an ambulance. I don't blame them really. My hair had been knotted into what could only be compared to a birds nest after hours of salt water and heavy winds. I was dirty and sticky.  My skin was red like a cooked lobster. I had dried blood running from a cut on my knee down my calf. And my shirt was covered in blood that they must have assumed was mine. If I had seen someone looking like me stroll into a hotel after dark, I would have tried to call the cops too. 

Lets start by saying, I'm fine. I don't want to worry anyone (that's you Mom).  I actually had a great day. I met a very sweet family from Belgium who took me in while we toured Phi Phi and Money Islands. The hour long ride by speed boat to Phi Phi Island was exhilarating. We would regularly hit decent sized waves which caused us to fly up out of our seats, but the conversation was excellent. I made fast friends with the kids, Innes and Lora. 

They were adrenaline junkies like me. Snorkeling was interesting, but we could only do it for so long. When we just couldn't take it any more, we found a cliff that we could jump from. It was only about 30 feet high, but getting to it was quite the challenge. You had to climb up a natural rock barrier, trek through some jungle, avoid the cute but angry and thieving monkeys, then swim through coral to get back to the boat. 

Now I'm sure the part of the last sentence that caught you was the park about the monkeys. On Monkey Island, they are abundant like dogs are on the mainland, or for an analogy closer to home, like Hipsters are to Oregon. They are cute and not at all afraid of people, so when one sat a few feet away from me and reached towards me with his tiny, human like hand, I naturally tried to take a picture. His cuteness was merely the camouflage to draw me in. He immediately jumped at me and grabbed my phone and bit into it. I stood there horrified, wondering if 1. I would get my only means of communication back, 2. If it was broken, and 3. How I could be so stupid. I've seen Outbreak! I knew no good can come from contact with a wild monkey! But when the monkey realized it wasn't food, he shrieked and threw it at me forcefully. 

About midway through the day I started to feel the beginning of a sunburn come on. So I went to apply my sunscreen, but it ran out before I had fully protected myself. I decided at that point, I'd stay out of the sun as much as possible to make up for the lack of protection. And while this seemed like a great idea in theory, in practice it just didn't add up. By the end of the day, I'd been cooked. My flesh was aching from the burn. 

I was very ready to head back to the hotel by the time it was ready to leave at 4pm. It would be an hour boat ride back and I was sticky from the salt water and all I wanted to do was shower. But what should have been an hour long ride back doubled when our skipper beached us in the most glorious of fashions. The tide had rolled out, the water in the only river leading back to the marina was only chest deep and, in an attempt to stay as high on the water as possible, the skipper was "driving it like he'd stole it." But like every good movie where a stolen car is being raced through a city, there is the inevitable crash scene. The skipper took a turn too big and we found our way up almost entirely in the sand. 

We were rescued about an hour later by another boat. This one smaller and able to get through the shallow water, but because of the positioning, we had to climb onto it. I got a little cocky while trying to climb in and slipped and fell straight into waist high sand, and apparently hit a stick as well because a pain shot up my leg. When I was hoisted from the sand, my knee was bleeding. 

We finally made it back to the marina and crawled back into the van that would take us back to our hotels. But before reaching the first hotel, which was Innes and Lora's stop, we hit a dog. At first, the driver refused to stop. It wasn't until I put my hand on his shoulder and made him pull over that he finally did. I wasn't about to let that dog die, and when I got out of the van, Lora and Innes hopped out with me. 

We picked up the little guy and took him to safety. Innes gathered first aid supplies while Lora searched for a vet. I sat and held the scared and hurt dog, holding its wounds in an effort to stop the bleeding. We gave it food and water and disinfected and bandaged up the wounds, but we couldn't find a vet. As it got dark we got desperate, this dog was sweet and gentle and as cute as can be. We didn't want to leave it on the streets, so Innes decided that he would care for it and take it back to Belgium with him. 

I can say I've had better days. But this one was amazing. Despite all the bad things that happened, I made some great new friends, and together, we saved a dog. And in my book, that's a pretty great day. 

Seeking Sanctuary

I have often preferred the company of animals to people. People hide behind brave faces and walls. They keep their true thoughts and feelings to themselves as an act of unnecessary self preservation or fear. We all do this. We all have some sort of desire to show to the world an image that we ourselves have fabricated, of which others will approve. Animals don't do this. Animals are genuine in the moment. 

I was like a child in the pure elation I felt as I stood next to the beautiful giant, Lucky. She was our elephant at the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, Thailand. During the time in which she was under our care, I grew quite fond of my new new friend. She reminded me of a much larger version of my beloved dog, Pudge. 

Pudge, or if addressed by his full name, Pudge the Fish West, was a rescue. He was tiny when I adopted him. His mother had been hit and killed by a car and was all alone in the world. And to be honest, at that time, I was all alone too. He needed me, and I needed him. 

Now, to get to my point, I believe there are no coincidences. Everything happens for a reason. Every person you meet has some sort of lesson or message that you were meant to understand. Pudge found his way to me to provide an insight on love and compassion. And so Lucky, too, found her way to me. 

At the park, we were presented a video that explained the nature of the relationship between Thailand and the majestic creatures that they admire and yet destroy. At one point, their were approximately 100,000 of these beauties roaming the jungles, but today those numbers have dwindled to a depressing 5,000. What's worse is many of these elephants have been forced into servitude where they are beaten into submission through means we wouldn't use to torture even the worst evil doers. Lucky had been tortured. She had been blinded at the hand of some terrible beasts who owned her. And upon seeing the techniques with which these monsters used to crush Lucky's soul, both myself and the handsome Brit with whom I befriended could not contain the raw anger and sadness we felt for their treatment. 

My time at the park was extremely emotional. When leaving Chiang Mai I cried. I miss the connection with nature which was powerful beyond belief. I miss Lucky and how truly happy she seemed to be free of the tyranny she had once been forced to endure. I even kind of miss the company of my handsome, fascinating British friend. It was in that place, that sanctuary, that I realized that the insight I was meant to discover was my need to be open with others and to new experiences and truly drink in life. So to my friends seeking inspiration; feel comfort in the fact that the inspiration you seek is all around you, you just have to adjust how you view the world. 

Not all who wander...

My journey began just two days ago. It has taken me half way across the globe from my home in Portland to the jungles of Chiang Mai. From all around me I have my own private symphony of frogs serenading me with their calming lullaby. As the rain falls and the lightning brightens the sky, it does not feel all that different from home.

And while my trip, thus far, has only been the trek to this village, I feel delighted and exhausted all at once. I am fortunate to have met some fascinating people along the way. To me, it is important to travel with purpose, learn the culture and give back when possible. But when I was seated next to Rachel from Spokane on the flight from Tokyo to Bangkok, I felt overwhelmed by her sense of purpose. Her travels were focused on the rescue of kidnapped children who have been sold into the vast sex trade market in Bangkok.

I have heard much about the statistics from this disgusting practice, but never once had I imagined being able to do something about it. I wish Rachel and her group the best of luck as they work to liberate those who have been forced into that life. The work that they are doing is inspiring. To me, this proves that one person can make a difference, and everyone should try.

What makes me tick?

I grew up dreaming of adventure. While chasing my dog around the backyard, I imagined myself big game hunting in the Serengeti. At the ice rink, I saw myself venturing into the vast tundra. Frequently I would look at the stars and imagine myself exploring an alien planet. Even today I find my mind wandering to places where I slay dragons, find lost treasure, and even save the world from a rather serious zombie infestation.

And while my sense of adventure never waned, time grasped me in a way that stifled my ability to venture off to distant lands. Time has not been my friend. Adulthood has placed me into shackles of responsibility. Those shackles of a job, home, and an adorable prick of a pooch, have kept me locked to this boring adult reality that I was never prepared for as a child.

These constraints will keep me caged no more. I have lived more in the last six months than I have in the last six years. I've grown as an individual and realized the true capabilities of my physical and mental strength. And what's most important is that I have recognized my ability to do good in my community and throughout the world. With this in mind I strive to find a way to balance my need for adventure with my somewhat naive compassionate nature.

I hope that you, my friend, will be with me through this journey, and the many more to come. There's a lot of world out there, and so much good that is waiting to be done. I hope, through my stories, that I may inspire others to find the world out there that awaits and find a way to leave it just a little bit better than they found it.