I’ve spent the day trekking barefoot through the Colombian jungle, and despite the bites, the cuts, the blisters and the bruises, I wouldn’t trade it for a single thing. My feet look like they’ve been to war with the soil. Mosquito bites speckled about create imaginative patterns like the stars on a darkened night. A spider seemed to have been searching for something inside me a couple nights ago and left a solar system of bright-red planets. The blister from the boat is like the sun, unmistakable and shining. Somehow none of it hurts at all.
Despite awaking to a dampened mood due to my romantic follies, my heart feels full. Captured by the beauty of the rainforest foliage, I feel reborn. Waterfalls washed over me and the river ran through, and whatever was sticking to me was carried away with the rain.
It’s hard to keep up with all the lessons I’ve learned. Some days I wake up feeling overwhelmed by the emotions of it all. I know I’ll have a better grasp on things when I have more time to reflect, but for now things are moving awfully quickly. I’ve always known I have a deep affinity for nature, and that connection makes me feel at home.
Exploring the Colombian jungle, jumping from rock to rock with no shoes on, swimming across the river and stepping over ant hills or walking through a bee hive… none of that really bothered me. Yet when I start to feel something emotional or romantic, my body locks up and words escape me like a wicked wave. All of a sudden the writer can find nothing to say, and I begin spinning in my head like a top in a twisted slide.
It wasn’t the devil I was expecting to face on this trip, but life rarely moves congruent with our expectations. I knew I wanted to connect, and now I’m facing the emotions that run alongside my social encounters. I’ve always been extremely introverted, so staying in highly social environments like hostels has tested the edges of my comfort zone.
The test has been stern because I feel things very intensely, no matter the emotion. Whether it’s happiness, sadness, love or heartbreak, it always hits me hard. This trip has been a vortex of emotions. One minute I feel joy, then fear, maybe throw in some love in the evening and wake up with a pinch of heartbreak.
Anyways, I feel like I’ve been writing a lot about my personal journey because it helps me work through it, but I also want to talk about all the adventures I’ve had because they’re have been some good ones, so I’m going to dedicate the next post to the more traditional travel blog model. Peace and love.
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Keep writing about your journey! I’m fascinated with your adventures! You are brave, and I respect you.
Thank you so much! I shall continue!