The New Adventure Begins

Cusco, Peru

Dec 10, 2023

Some of the most transformational movie experiences I have ever had were ones that I walked into without any foreknowledge of what I was about to see or experience. I hadn’t even seen the preview and didn’t know any of the actors. Perhaps it was on a recommendation from a friend or something I had read. Several of these films ended up having such a significant impact on my life that they would change my perspective on how I would then see the world differently from that experience.

It has been similar with my travels. At least this has been my own experience. There are far off places I have traveled to that I never originally intended to go that ended up completely transforming my life and sending me in a new direction, as if there were some higher order directing my path to where I was meant to go, places I was meant to experience and people I was destined to meet.

This first happened when I was 18 years old and sold my handful of possessions to move to Hawaii. Through a series of travel experiences and unpredicted people I would met along the way, I somehow ended up in Norway around the dinner table of my beautiful friend and her family during the season of the Midnight Sun in Scandinavia. A transformational experience I could have never dreamt up or orchestrated in my own small mind. And yet it shaped me as such experiences do and my friend and I remain connected these many years later.

Similarly, I have been drawn most of my life to Eastern culture, Japan and China, from my younger days studying Okinawan Karate and getting my first exposure to Eastern thought and philosophy. It was never planned that decades later through a series of unfortunate detours while traveling alone in China that I would “randomly” be redirected to Kyoto, Japan for the first time. My arrival there felt so familiar that I would end up living there for a year some 3 years later.

Like watching some of the greatest films, I watch the story unfold as I move through these journeys of people and places. Two years ago, following the pandemic, I set off for Costa Rica on another adventure with only a one way plane ticket for $131 and one bag of belongings. The plan was to stay just three months, a reset and reprieve from two difficult years in the U.S during the upheaval of life as we all knew it. I have now lived in Costa Rica for the better part of two years, with a season on a mountain in Boquete, Panama, surrounded by indigenous people just to add to the plot and keep the story interesting.

While I will always have a deep appreciation and connection to Costa Rica, ever since my first solo journey there some ten years ago, where I embraced the simple pura vida way of life, discovered surfing and yoga and deeply connected with a simpler way of life, the time had clearly arrived to move on to the next adventure where growth could continue.

Life and nature teach us that everything is in a constant state of change and nothing that we hold to will remain as it is for very long. Life is in and constant state of flow. In my case, after 15 months of living in beautiful solitude surrounded by nature, I found myself in the simple way of living that I had envisioned some ten years ago. Nonetheless, life began to make it clear that things cannot remain the same forever and it became clear that it was again time for a new chapter and a new adventure to be written.

Some months ago this began to become clear to me, the only problem was that I had no idea where I would go next. I had already set sail two years ago, leaving most of my possessions and familiarity behind. That anchor had been pulled up and the road behind is never an option to go back to. For quite some time, I anguished and lamented over which path I would take next. I was reminded again of the awareness that there is no right path or right choice, so I began to consider which path would make the story more interesting.

There was always the underlying call to Buenos Aires, Argentina, a place that had captured my interest and fascination years ago when I was learning the Tango while performing as an actor in a production of the musical “Evita.” I became so enamored and focused on learning the Tango at that time that I would frequent milongas on the weekends at the Argentinian Tango studio downtown. I promised myself that I would one day go to Argentina and legitimately learn the Tango.

Then there was the ever present call back that was always pulling me back to Asia, the gateway to Kyoto, Japan. This was the place my heart never left and I somehow know I will one day return.

Ultimately, as I was already located in Central America and on the edge of South America, it made the most sense to take the opportunity to explore South America before I left this part of the world. And so it was that South America won out and the next chapter of the story and the next adventure begins.

As I write these words I am on a plane from Costa Rica to Lima, Peru, where I will make my way Cusco, theland of the Inca civilization, one of the spiritual wonders of the world. I will explore a month there as I begin making my way down to Argentina and ultimately Buenos Aires.

Like stepping into the darkening theatre as the lights go down to watch a film I know nothing about, Peru and South America are completely unfamiliar to me. There are no expectations or pre-planned ideas. New places I will see, new experiences I will uncover and new people yet to cross my path.

The new adventure, the new epic film is about to begin.

Become a Paid Subcriber

Make a Donation

Field Notes

If you would like to become a regular subscriber, please consider foregoing the cost of one cup of coffee and a pastry each month ($8) and becoming a monthly subscriber.

Become a Paid Subscriber

Make a Donation