Stepping in and out of realities.

I am currently unemployed. Not the most ideal situation as society sees it. Americans should have a solid job with steady income and be responsible. I agree. Not just Americans but everyone that is able.

It's been almost 4 months now.... and to be honest- I've only sorta been trying. What I have been doing 110% is figuring my own shit out from the 30.000' level. As my previous blog post will demonstrate- I went and saw things, in Asia. I had a real experience outside of my own reality. I came back for the month of February sorted a few things out, started putting feelers out for the job market, was present for the birth of my new nephew Brayden Xavier, celebrated my own birthday, got certified for scuba diving and took off again.

Brayden Xavier Willet. Hungry, as usual.

During the month of March I flew standby to Washington D.C. and met up with my good friend Laura from Santa Barbara who was there for business- that meant free accommodation at a nice hotel and good company. We did touristy things and then after 3 nights we took a cheap bus (Check out Mega Bus for your bus travel needs around the U.S.A) to New York City. Summation Dance, my good friend Sumi Clements' modern dance company (along with Taryn Vander Hoop) was going to be performing their 2nd annual full length evening performance... I've not missed many of Sumi's shows since college and I was able to make this one also. The way these women move is just A-mazing. Make you think their limbs are all going to fall off, or better yet they sorta do fall off and the limbs keep doing the moves on their own. This was on a Saturday evening and that night was party time... especially since Erin Martinez and Kirstie Maryott were also there. Erin and I agreed that we would watch the sun rise from one of the Mahattan shores that day... well almost. We sorta watched it while we slept in a cab to Brooklyn to drop us off at our doorstep for that night.

Summation Dance with their extremities.

After New York came some much needed family time. I get it all the time in Anaheim, but its always the special occasion type of family time where everyone is somewhere for something special.. wedding, holiday, organized party as opposed to just hanging out. Granted this time it was for my cousin Edgar's graduation from Ohio State, but the subsequent week of hangout time was unplanned... it just happened. I went to Columbus, Ohio and it was great. All the guy cousins from my mom's side of the family (sans deux) got to hang out for the larger part of a week. Hikes, jogs, beers, meals, movies, t.v., lounging, chatting, scotch drinking... all of it. Like we were kids again at grama's house, but now with developed opinions, a bit of distance since they moved to Columbus, at times some b.o., and just pure good energy to pass time on. It was a house of brothers who just did whatever the day encouraged them to do. I hope that cousin time will happen more often as we continue to grow older. Our family has always celebrated and cherished time together (ALLLLLL of the Morenos... there are lots!) to the point where reasons to get together are made up... "Its the last day of the month!"

The Cousins. Everyone worked out that day.

Cousin time did not end there. We all took a roadtrip up to Cleveland to see where cousin Pedro was spending his time while a resident at Case Western University Hospital. Lovely town. Spread out. Very green at the time. Mikey, Pedro and I all decided to take off for Chicago after a few days in Cleveland. I already had a trip planned there as I was having a grad school reunion for all my classmates from Roehampton University in London. Everyone was all over the U.S. so Chicago was a good mid-way point. My spontaneous adventure never ceased to let me down. Chicago continued to prove a good time, except it was the only time the weather became inclement and by that I mean wet and colder than 65 degrees. Seeing all the MAISies (nickname for my masters cohort) was great. What surprised me a bit is that none of us are really doing anything related to the M.A. we studied which is International Service via service-learning curriculum. Not that its a bad thing, but just something that I noted- must have been that most of us returned to the U.S. right about when the economy went awry. After just over 3 weeks of bouncing around the east coast and mid west, I was ready to return home to Santa Barbara and find my feet on solid ground again... not to mention my own bed.

Reminiscing being on the tube and saying "cheers" in London.

After a couple weeks of being back home this idea of stepping in and out of my own reality is something that "flashed" before me. I escaped the fact that I was recently unemployed to Thailand, although much needed and very much appreciated. I came back and took off again. I scoped out some work, I visited cities that I may consider moving to in the future, but I am more than anything allowing myself to have a break and really have an opportunity to choose my own adventure. This adventure I am calling life. Many days in the last few months I have felt guilty. People will approach me and comment on seldom meeting an individual that is unemployed and in equally as bad a financial hardship as I am, but usually they are not loving life and wearing a smile. I am. I made that a conscious decision from the get go. I am not trying to screw anyone of anything, but this is my reality as it stands right now. Figure out what my assets are as a person, as a professional, as an individual on this earth, as a member of this community, as a friend, as a man and as every other label that I have going for me, because right now EVERYTHING is an asset.

I want the right job. One that I love and one that loves me back. I also want to be able to apply my training and degrees to whatever extent possible. All the while, I am looking to do a career shift into medicine. When it rains it pours and right now I am flooded, and I have not even started my 100% job hunt... but I have continued my 110% living life to the fullest. I frequently say that if I am to die tomorrow- I am good. I owe that to absolutely every person that I have come across because the way I see my life is through the relationships that I have built over the last nearly 30 years. It is through those that I will continue to thrive. So to anyone who reads this, thank you for the impact you've had on me and wherever I go next. For those that don't read this, well I hope I can express the same gratitude.

Cheers.

Showing some LOVE from the top of Figueroa Mountain
Santa Barbara County

To the land of the Quechua

As many of you know, I decided to break tradition this year and spend the holidays away from my family and friends (except for Danny and Pam) and travel to Peru for 18 days for both Christmas and New Years. This being a life-long goal, or at least since I started discovering travel and knew what Peru had to offer and since opportunity knocked, I opened the door with arms wide open. Not to mention that I would be traveling with two of my closest friends, one of which was kind enough to open the comfort and sincerity of her family to us and introduce us to her family in Peru... THANK YOU PAM!

Initially I did not know what to think or expect, but once I arrived in Lima for the first 4 days of the trip, I started t resonate a lot with my living in Guadalajara. The city is very similar and the area that we were "living" in with our adoptive grandparents for the trip reminded me alot of walking around many parts of Mexico. The people, the food, the authenticity and the comfort that a different pace of life brings were all a few of the things that made me feel like it was a place I could remain at for ages from the get go. We spent Christmas eve enjoying a wonderful home-made Peruvian meal with an amazing rice dish that we had to get the recipe for. Although there were no pinatas, posadas nor tamales, welcoming Chirstmas in a different style was great, although I did miss my gramas tamales. The next couple of days in Lima were spent visisting the local market and seeing what we could find to see and/or eat; picarones (donut like fried dough with syrup), cebiche (peruvian style with sweet potato and seaweed), tortas (aka cake, not big mexican sandwiches and random fresh fruit and helado (always room for some ice cream)!



Next stop was Cusco for one night before starting the Inca Trail. The one thing that stuck for the first Cusco night was a headache. The slight change in altitude to 3800 meters from sea level caused a bit of a lingering pain in the temple area as well as slight drowsiness and blurry vision. Luckily, Coca Tea was readily available- we were welcomed by one cup of tea when checking in, of course I had about 6 and then had to pee every 5 minutes.. and I was able to bring some back home with me.


The 4 day hike on the Inca Trail was nothing short of amazing. Not only do I generally enjoy the outdoors, history and meeting people, but I was also very pleased with the opportunity to reflect on life in the comfort of nature. With the guidance of the Pacha Mama ( Mother Earth in Quechua) I made it up to 4200 meters in altitude after 2 days of rain with a fatigued knee and a 20lb back pack to the enlightening city of Machu Picchu. It was surreal. Even before arriving to Machu Picchu being in between massive peaks that make up the Andes and standing ABOVE the clouds (this doesn't happen unless I'm on a plane) was a beauty, but standing at the Puerta del Sol overlooking the Incan City of Machu Picchu was a revelation. You take it in and look at it and it still seems unreal, especially after hiking 44km.



After Machu Pichu we take a train back to Cusco and its time to celebrate New Years. We take a shower (after 5 days of not doing so, it felt damn good- although my own scent, and the scent of others, was starting to grow on me, LITERALLY) I also didn't shave for 1 week prior to departing for Peru and I didnt take a razor with me on the trip... Dinner was so memorable. We were thinking a nice sit down dinner, something to bring in the new year, but after turning left out of our hotel and onto the rainy streets, we were greeted by an abundance of street vendors selling "sanguiches" and "anticuchos" (cow heart skewers) we ate a lot of them and were pleasantly plump!


The night proceeded to celebrate new years with some of the friends we made during our hike. Meeting point: The golden Arches- McD's (yuck), but a landmark nonetheless. After polishing off a Camelback full of Vodka Redbull, a few beers and 2L bottle full of rum and coke (this was amongst a few of us), we were definitely welcoming the new year staying up until 4am. there is a tradition in Cusco in celebrating the new year where you RUN around the town square 12 times with empty luggage for good luck in travels in the coming year, sounded appealing and we tried. Except for the 1000's of people trying to do the same so the run was more of a wander and so we did one lap and counted that as 12. hope its not only January that I am given good luck for, otherwise I gotta get traveling....


2 days later we were off to Lake Titicaca. This was amazing. seeing a different way of life in modern society that wants nothing more than to continue living life like they do. On floating islands made of reed. eating mainly fish and only solar powered electricity operating the bare minimum. while on the island we got a break down of their day to day lives and got to tour in their "Mercedes" of transportation, a large reed boat with 2 levels. In this region of Peru we were meant to try Guinea Pig, but we failed.. it was raining and wandering around the streets of Puno wasnt the most recommended thing to do according to Lonely Planet.



After the islands we head back to Lima for the last leg of our trip. It was a lot of winding down, but also trying to eat all of the Peruvian eats that were on the list that we created. I am proud to say that we ate nearly all of the typical Peruvian dishes and eats that there are... a lot of thanks to Pam's Grama, a great cook she is. While back in Peru we did a bit of shopping and spent some time on the roads of the city. If you think the 405 is bad or driving in Tijuana or Manhattan is bad, go drive in Lima. This is definitely the place for a driver with a big, stubborn ego... "I own the road" is the mentality that the 8 million people in the city have. Interesting experience.

Upon return to the states, it had not set in that I had just traveled to a revered place of the world. One of the 7 new wonders of the world. a place that many people will never see. a country rich in culture, food and topographical beauty. I had visited Peru and was excited that I would be able to share my experience with others. Equally as much as I enjoy hearing stories of friends and family who travel to new and unknown places, I wanted to share and will continue to do so as long as the memories are fresh. If any of you are considering a trip to south america, do not leave Peru out of your plans. You will not regret visiting a beautiful country with great things to offer. Now, where to next?