Jan 15 – 2007 – 8:55 am

I am sitting in a small lounge in the airport in Lima, Peru, sipping a cup of black coffee.  My forearms are peeling from a severe sun burn that makes me look like a leper.  I have been getting some strange looks from airport staff and the bartender.  The group, Aterciopelodos, a Columbian alternative band, is playing through the bar speakers and reminding me of my high school years in Bogota.

For the past 10 days, my wife and I have been traveling in Peru.  Most of the trip was spent in the Amazonas region, in the upper reaches of the Yanayacu River about 4 hours by speed boat from the jungle frontier town of Iquitos.  For me this trip was my response to a silent but powerful stirring in my heart to return to the part of the world that most represents home to me.  If for no other reason, then to smell the warm tropical air once again.

The silent magnetism I have to South America, its people and culture is one that has never been easy to explain.  I am glad to be accompanied by my wife Laura….  I think the experience has been good for her and has at least in part allowed her to see more clearly where I came from and in turn, perhaps, has allowed her to know me better.  I believe that as I leave Peru this morning I am taking with me the seeds that will inspire a great deal of personal growth.  This was the first overseas trip I have taken in 10 years and it has been a time of much quiet reflection surveying of my life.  It has showed me that I am facing a life of immense pointlessness that benefits very few people.  I want to have a life that enriches people and a career in web development helps no one.  It is somewhat disheartening the realization that with a career change, will come endless complications for me and most importantly, to my family, my wife and daughter and the unborn child that Laura is now carrying.

The knowledge and experience I am taking away from this trip is more than I can recount in this journal but I can say that the people here and in other places in South America need help to be lifted up and I am qualified to assist them.  Knowing that, I cannot live in good conscience knowing that I chose not to do so.  Now, the way forward is the only unknown variable.  I have a great business, a nice home and a family I couldn’t live without.  I suppose in time God will be opening and closing the right doors so I will not worry about the “HOW” at this time.