Back To Ecuador

It’s been 65 days since a split-second miscalculation on a Peruvian set of stairs sent me back to the states with a freshly broken ankle and a super cute assortment of angry muscles, tendons, and ligaments. In that moment, the momentum that I had accrued from the last few years of constant travel was rendered inert as I was forced off my feet and into stillness. This unexpected pause, more of a crash than a landing, was a violent affair as my world came to a screeching halt with months of unprocessed emotional baggage in tow. The resulting derailment was a fast reminder that no matter how fiercely I take flight or how far away I find my body, I’ll never be able to outrun myself.

So I sat.

I sat with myself and all of the weird ways in which I’m human.

I sat with my friends and all of human ways in which they’re weird.

I sat with all of the feelings that were bubbling up in my bones, and everything that seemed to be spilling out of the one that decided to break.

Mostly, though, I sat with dreams of Latin America and the moments that found me there.

The vibrance of life in Latin America cannot be overstated. Its people, and the rhythm with which their world pulses, exist in such syncopated splendor that every moment, no matter how seemingly insignificant, feels like choreography. Drenched with song and dripping with ceremony, the melody that’s woven into every word, breath, and prayer is a thing of ancient lineage. In the countrysides, every slice of dirt, sea, and sky holds a story spun from tongue to tongue for as long as people have been people. The beauty of the cities, and my god are they beautiful, is bittersweet as the scent of sacrilege wafts up from the ruins of the ancient cities that they were built on top of. Still, the urban experience is flush with flavor and full of more life than anywhere stateside.

What a gift it is to witness life being lived so fully.

As I write this, I’m watching the shadow of the plane that’s carrying me back to Ecuador fade into the earth as we climb into the Sonoran sky.

I think I’ll fade with it for a moment.

This trip will be short but still long enough for learning. If you need me, don’t.

Vamos.