Lately, now, I feel a strange mix of hope and exhaustion. Looking forward to being here and arriving in the beautiful city of Leon, Nicaragua,  I am well on my way, now deep into a project which seems to be constantly refining itself, evolving closer to the original vision, shedding off layers of addition, insertion, and ego.

Nativity scenes in parched tropical heat has me miss my family and longing for home. Constant movement, never knowing where I will lay my head, eat my next meal, wondering what its all for, are starting to take a psychological toll. And still, every day I am on the road, staying on the path, arriving closer to my “goal”, time growing short, again I start to value every moment, know it is here where my life has value.

I am now on the approach to a great pass, the Darien Gap, a first lesson and test, a catechism and training where there are no roads, for over 100 miles of forests, jungles, swamp, and an region know for guerilla armies, narco-traffickers, and indigenous tribes that have had very little contact with the western world. In preparation for the next great forest crossing into the Amazon (possibly) south of Bogota, Colombia, and on to Brazil, the Darien will hone more than my technical skills but also my faith as I prepare spiritually, psycologically, physically for a a challenging region without roads.

I leave Honduras after an attempted robbery, a lost/stollen/regained passport, tired, but with a new found hope in the project, a new approach to the prayers, and also the hope that I will be home soon.