Hail Colombia!

It's a magical theater, that's all I can say. One moment you are in your home environment and then puff, bang, you are in a picture you saw in your 8th grade social studies book.

Tonight is my first night in Cali, Colombia and, by tomorrow, will embark on a month's journey around the country to explore native plants, animals and the culture of indigenous people.

Of course I am wired after two days of long plane flights and from the excitement of having been lucky enough to pick out my guide Emilio from a throng of taxi drivers and local folks who had collected outside of baggage claim.

I know nothing yet, except that, as we sped away from the outlying airport through the darkness toward downtown Cali, I felt totally thrilled to have transported myself again to a different part of the world. I sensed a feeling of stress and toxic energy slip away that I had built so strongly these past months back in the USA.

Yes I know this is no shangrala here. I already saw all the signs of poverty indicative of this part of the world, but I am strangely unafraid. Instead I look forward to diving headfirst into a refreshing pool of ideas and experiences. Tonight I am in a clean hostel in the big city, but tomorrow we fill the car with supplies such as cameras, binoculars, identification books, and collecting jars and head out to explore some foothills of the Southern Andes. I am no Darwin nor work for National Geographic nor know the first thing about science. I am an explorer of boundaries though, so what the hell...... Livingston is that you?