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An issue arises in unguided travel, there’s nobody to tell you the names of the marvelous things you see. No doubt they’ll soon have an iphone app that can visually identify plants, animals, and landmarks (I hear the droid can look at random things around the house and tell you their online cost and where the nearest vendor is). Anyway, until apps get even cleverer, I’ve resorted to naming things myself.

Around Machupichu there is an exotic, red-leafed plant that caught my attention. In order to keep the memory from fading I need a way to refer to this plant, even if only in my own mind. I named the plant Sylvester. I reckon I’ve got just as much right as any other human to name things. I’ve got names for all sorts of stuff: waterfalls, constellations, cloud shapes. You should name some stuff too, like Adam did. Make the world yours, it’s fun. You may, down the line somewhere, find yourself at odds with the Audubon Society or the National Observatory. Should this happen, it’s ok to let them think their name has more clout than yours. They’ve been naming things for a while. But at the end of the day, lest you become tempted to deny your authenticity, remember what Dr. Suess said, “Be who you are and say what you feel. Those who matter don’t mind, and those who mind don’t matter.”

Who can be trusted? It’s an important question when you’re traveling, especially when you consistently seek out the cheapest lodging in town (often dormitories which house occasional grungy travelers but primarily native temp workers). An ongoing issue for us is the importance of conveying trust to the people we meet. When you walk in to a hostel dormitory, head straight over to a locker, and put your stuff behind a fatty padlock, you are effectively screaming distrust to everyone in the room. And it’s a shame. Extinguishing trust is a crappy way to initiate relationships with new roommates. Witnessing is what we’re all about, and I’m totally stoked that we regularly have opportunities to talk about Jesus. I feel, however, that without trust, witnessing is painfully handicap. Jeremy and were discussing this problem, and he had a good idea. When we do feel the need to be protective and whip out the padlocks, it is helpful to make a joke out of it. “Hey I trust you guys (Jeremy might say to our new companions), but this joker is always trying to rob me.” And he would point in my direction. Obviously this doesn’t convey complete trust by any means, but it draws a laugh, and lets people know we would prefer to assume the best. We’re trying.

We’ve been staying in an amazingly hospitable home in Lima for the past few days. Our friends Josue and Caleb have neither running water nor sewer, but they’re clever enough to live comfortably without those luxuries. Both brothers are studying theology at the Adventist university in Lima, Josue is spending an extra year studying Public Health. I was asking Josue about his plans for the future and he said something that really inspired me. “I think I will work here in Peru or another third world country (he’s well connected, super witty, and speaks perfect English…he’s got options). I don’t want to try to live a ‘comfy’ life while there are so many people who need me here. It’s about where you are needed, not where you’d be most comfortable.” What a magnificent attitude!

I can’t believe how mountainous this part of the world is. In a lot of Peru there just isn’t any flat ground. And yet they farm… anywhere and everywhere, often building terraces, often just planting regardless of pitch. I’ve seen yucca growing on cliffs that would be rated 5.7 in the Yosemite Decimal System. I’d need my harness and a belayer to feel safe harvesting, but the folks here don’t seem worried about it.

Tomorrow (Monday) at noon, we board a bus that will arrive in Bogota -also at noon- but on Thursday. I only memorized my times tables up to the 12X12, but I’m pretty sure 3X24 is a ridiculous number of hours to spend on a bus. By the time we arrive in Bogota we’ll be swatting the great great grandchildren of the flies we were originally swatting in Lima. I’m wondering if they’ll stop to clean the bathroom. I have a method of dealing with this problem though; if I eat enough white bread I can usually get constipated enough to keep to myself. ‘Til next time…