Have you ever…

…Lived in a world of utter extremes? Gone from scorching hot to freezing cold? Blissful to depressed to hopeless to laughing harder than you thought was ever possible? Where having a freshly made, still hot tortilla can make you smile all day, and a simple misunderstanding or missed opportunity is nothing short of devastating? Not really been sure if you LOVED or HATED something/someone/somewhere

…Manifested these extremes with only the simplest qualifiers? Where everything is either the most or the best or the least or the worst. Superlatives for the world. With nothing in between, except perhaps for the bizarre.

…Operated on HIGH…always? When everything is important, life altering, impactful…and you find love quick, frustration even quicker, confusion of course…

…Existed with seemingly no restrictions or consequences? And you and only you are responsible for setting these nebulous, impossible, irrelevant boundaries. And you and only you can enforce them. And only if you want to. And who cares if you push or even demolish them.

…Acted completely recklessly, stupidly, but never had more fun? And in doing so, recognized a lack of faith even when “Dios quiere” was the mantra that got you there
…Spent most waking moments battling entirely opposing emotions, each felt with equal force? So you can’t help but question you own sanity…always.

…Been closer to and farther from your dearest loved ones simultaneously?

…Felt foreign?…always?...been early? always?

…Tried to build meaningful and consequential relationships in a different language? When even superficial chit chat can be a struggle. And then succeeded in doing so? And then broke it…

…Realized the knot in your throat and the water behind you eyes at the sight of an impossibly beautiful sunset? From total, unpolluted, never-before-felt, purest of pure awe

…Experienced, in your own joints, the strain of trees as they reach for the sun?

…Climbed through the clouds in a school bus?

…Changed more in 10 months than 24 years?

…Explored?


i guess that's what peace corps will do.
(ps. just got my camera back, working on the video tour)