New Beginnings

For the past four months, I have been on what can only be described as my first large adventure in life. As a recent University Grad, I decided to take a break from life and see the world. I felt, what a lot of you probably feel. I felt trapped. By obligations, expectations, and my own ideas on what I was capable of. When all of these things finally came crashing down I realized that I was capable of more. I didn’t have to have an office job that I felt unsatisfactory.

The day the walls came tumbling down was in November 2010. I just had a sudden idea that I should go to Central America. And since September 22, 2011 I have been exploring this area. My goal: organic farming. My desire: to travel. My hope: to expand and grow. You can visit my initial plans, desires and intentions here:

http://adventuresbyanobody.blogspot.com/

As someone very dear to me wisely pointed out, I am not a nobody. And while my original intent was to demonstrate that even someone as average as me could do something like this, I am slowly starting to realize that this is not possible. Not just anybody takes the money they have and decides to spend it all going to countries that most people still consider “dangerous”. And while there are elements of danger to living here, I can say with total honesty that this has been the most rewarding experience of my life.

With the realization that I was not just a “nobody”, came the notion that I could no longer endorse a blog with such a name. However, I want it to stand by on it’s own. As a testament to the growth and change in my own self during this time. Sure you may think I’m a sanctamonious schmuck for spending much of my prized time writing about how much I’ve grown, but for those of you who know me well should know just how important the subject is to me.

For those interested in a quick update on my life here in Balgue, Isla de Ometepe, Nicagarua, I will say the following. I have been very busy. Busier than I thought possible. I also call this “working two jobs”. From 7:00am-12:00pm I am “volunteering” on a organic Farm attached to the Ecolodge, Totoco. I have been doing this for the past 2.5 months. More recently, that is last Friday, I started helping out at a restaurant in town. This restaurant, Cafe Campestre, has been hosting a permaculture course, and will continue to do so until February 17th. I work from 4:00pm-10:00pm.

This is a very important lesson. If you are going to work two jobs, make sure you love them both. Or at the least can handle both. While I feel I can handle working those hours, the problem is that I’m not a huge fan of serving food to people. Not because I suck at it, but because just generally it’s not what suits my interest. Perhaps in a weird Suzy-Homebaker sort of way, I always had this notion of “how cool would it be to start a restaurant”, blah, blah, blah. And while I still think it has the potential to be awesome, I’m not dedicated to it. Nor will I be for a place that isn’t mine and doesn’t have vegan food.

Except the hummus, which is delicious.

But truly the best part about working there is talking to the travelers who come. When I worked before the course, I enjoyed a conversation with a man from Saskatchewan who told me about how he was raising pigs on a farm. We discussed how you could tell the sort of pigs we had by characteristics. Like the dangly bits on the big pig here, which I always half-joke is the source of his evil.

Now however, I am meeting “permaculture people”. Which if you don’t know what it is, probably means you are so conservative politically that this blog is probably 90% irrelevant to you, unless you happen to be my relative. But these people, while some are stereotypically long-haired hippies, some are genuinely wonderful people who have made the connection that Hippocrates puts so well “Let food be thy medicine”. And that by improving the way we grow and eat food, perhaps we too can improve our health. If you want more information you can watch things like “Forks Over Knives”.

I also want to make one promise to you, my dear readers. I will tell you about my life here on the remainders of my travels. From Nicaragua to Colombia, you will hear my perceptions about life. In the next few weeks you can expect to hear about my final thoughts on Isla de Ometepe, conversing with locals, “Hola Guapa!” and more.

Stay tuned, life just got more interesting. And hopefully with less pigs!