Ohhh, a shiny object!

Distracted once again. While researching bus fares in Guatemala, I happened upon an interesting link: teaching english in central america. Hmmm, now that could be interesting, take some classes in teaching english as a foreign language and spend a few months abroad every now and then teaching. Of course when I am going to fit this in between my plans of substitute teaching, NOLS trips, antarctica, ambulance medic, and international bum I am not sure yet. But march or april looks possible.

Hey, the heater kicked on just now! That means it has reached 45 degrees in the house. That would explain why I am typing with gloves on and a fleece vest, jacket, and parks and two hats. Good thing no roomates are here to complain about frosty breath. It has been raining/snowing here for nearly 20 hours in a row. Disaster conditions have been reported in Williams and Oak Creek. My search and rescue pager went off with a message to "stand by" so here I am, standing by, waiting for them to call me out in the freezing wet to fill sand bags or some such thing. But in the meantime, there is a language school in Seville, Spain that looks promising...

Re-entry

I used to have a talk with my kids on the last night of the trip; in those last few hours before they were returned to the chaotic world of parents, friends, phones & internet, school, and life we would talk about the weeks prior when they had known only the dozen people around them and their backpacks, their homes for that 2 week period. I tried to prepare them for the inevitable culture shock of returning to a world that moves at freeway speed rather than trail pace. Where a supermarket displays every concievable food right before your eyes as opposed to the food bag in your back pack, containing dried hummus, mangled pitas, pasta & furry cheese.

I am home. In Flagstaff. Alone. I've returned from big adventure, where is everybody? Nearly all my friends from Flag are gone for the holidays visiting family, on vacation, graduated and left months ago, and on and on. That's ok, I have 15 pounds of clams, several dozen shrimp, and a bottle of white wine to keep me company. Actually I did find one friend to come over and keep me from trying to devour the Sea of Cortez myself. Instead we both got stuffed on good mexican seafood.

So now I find myself planning the coming months and where I may be and be working. And how I can possibly scheme a way to Guatemala to meet up with a pretty Dutch girl I met at a road side bar in Cuba.

Possible mas viajo, verdad?

Doesn't mean you shouldn't ask

I am exhausted. Physically, mentally, emotionally, finacially, I am beat.

I have returned home, and people ask: "how was your trip?"

How can I possibly answer such a simple and well meaning question?

How can I explain what I have seen, what I have learned, what has changed me... I can hardly digest it all myself.

So the simple answer to the simple question; how was the trip? Profound.

For you, my loyal readers (I know you're out there...Loyal readers?...crickets chirp in the distance...) I will post in fragments, taken largely from my journal, kept regularly through out.

But first I have to go to Mexico. The family has descided to go to Rocky Point, Mex for the Christmas, so I will again be fleeing the country, if you can consider that suburb of the greater Tucson metropolitan area another country. But I am no longer quite so incommunicado, so drop me a line or give me a call or some such thing.

Hasta la revolucion, siempre.

The weather is here, wish you were beatiful

Sing every JImmy Buffett song you can think of. It's sorta like that. Only, different. The Bahamas are beatiful; the locals are complaining of cold, I'm sweating in the heat. Dove a wrecked Coast Guard cutter and assorted other wrecks yesterday, today it was a blue whole and a reef. Tomorrow I take a freighter to Cat Island to seek out this nations highest point. Much, much more to write about when I'm not paying by the minute. Blessin's ah da season to ya mon.

Incommunicado

I am outta here! The bags are packed, the tickets are booked, the geese are fed, and the open road beckons. Unless I happen to run across an easily acessible internet cafe in the Bahamas, this may be my last post until Dec. 20th or so when I am slated to return. If I don't just descide to stay and work in a bar on some tiny island ex-pat style, writing my memoirs and fishing... Oh yeah, I don't have enough mem's to oir yet, better go aquire some more. Hasta Luego, Bona Fortuna.