I�ve secured plane tickets and reservations. I�m going to the jungle in a third world country to see where my great grandpa grew up.
Actually, I�ll spend most of my time in the nearest major city, where my long lost cousins now live. But my travel mates and I are interested in venturing south to try to find the abandoned family plantation, which by all accounts of previous traveling relatives, is guarded by murderous armed banditos. So, we�ll see how close we get without being maimed. Cross your fingers I don�t get malaria, yellow fever, typhoid, hepatitis, giardia, or cryptosporidium. Seems like a lot of immunizations all at once, but hey, carpe diem.
One of the cousins I�ll meet was educated at Cambridge, which will help with the slight language gap. That side of the family is fortunate and full of impressive tales, but I�ll be even more excited to find the hilltop village where my Indigena great great grandmother came from. Naturally, she was a secret well-kept from my Criollo side. (criollo=European ancestry) I imagine her life was full of heartbreak, just because she was darker than her would-be European in-laws. I think about her a lot, and how brave she must have been. I know very little about her, but without this woman, I wouldn�t be here today, thinking the thoughts I think, because that�s her blood rushing through my weird veins that intersect like complicated interstate border crossings, woven tighter than an Indian rug. My soul is like this because of her, and I�ve waited a third of my life to unravel these mysteries. Maybe I�ll learn something. At worst, I�ll have some really fresh tortillas, and temporary relief for my travel bug.
Before I say goodbye, enjoy this random fact I've learned from my studies:
According to indigenous beliefs, everyone is born with a guardian spirit, often in the guise of a jaguar, eagle, or mountain lion!
How cool is that?! It's more bad ass than an angel wearing a halo, don't you think?
2:10 p.m. - 2008-09-18