I have been home now for almost a week and in some ways the whole entire journey feels like some sort of dream that I have just woken up from. Did I really just spend the last 8 months traveling through Latin America? Did I really see penguins in Patagonia, hitchhike through southern Chile, swim in a secret spot in Iguazu Falls, witness a midnight Incan ritual in the middle of Lake Titicaca, hike the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, or become the one of the first tourists to see ancient Incan walls with white-stoned llamas? Did I really see the endless Bolivian salt flats, go bike riding in the Atacama desert, float through the Amazon jungle, watch volcanic eruptions in Costa Rica, see giant ancient Mayan pyramids, or meet the new Vice President of Peru in the middle of an election day riot? I feel like I bumped my head, dreamed the whole thing, and woke up in my bed at my parents house. I don’t know how to answer when people ask me, “how does it feel to be back?” In a way it feels like I never left. Sure my house changed colors and my cat got fatter but all in all it seems like not much has changed.
Like in any crazy dream, it took a little time to compeletely adjust back to reality. It took a while walking through the Dallas airport thirsty before I realized the purpose of the shiny silver thing. It took a little bit of driving before I realized that I would not see random drunks peeing in the streets, children playing everywhere, starved dogs frolicking about, chicken busses careening out of control, or hear the constant honking of horns. I feel completely awake now but I find solace in the fact that the dream was real. I really did and saw all those things. I really lived out of a backpack for 8 months. I may be back to what people like to call “the real world,” but for the majority of 2006 that dream was my “real world.” Every time a person I met from my journey emails me, my face lights up as I am reminded that the crazy, unfathomable dream actually happened. I have now woken up from one dream and am ready to begin another. I don’t know what will happen yet but I am excited to experience it. For me, there is no reality.
*I know a lot of you may be curious about the details of my return back to Seattle. I decided on the 9th that I was going to come home so I bought a ticket that day and came home on the night of the 12th. I have spent the last week just surprising people (including my sister on her birthday). Nobody had any idea I was coming home…I led my parents to believe I was going to volunteer with Safe Passage for a month or longer. There will be more to come on One Way United. There are still some pictures that I will post of the trip and I will write more on my decision to come home, my final days, what this journey has taught me, highlights, and so on. But for now, I want to say thank you to everybody that supported us as we were living a dream. There have been so many people that have prayed for us and have been so encouraging before and throughout the journey. Thank you!
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