Each Day a New Adventure

I’ll never forget the day I stepped outside that airport. What am I doing? Why am I in this country I barely know anything about? Why am I alone? Will I make friends? It was my first solo trip, the first time I had ever been anywhere by myself without knowing a single soul beforehand. The air was dry, drier than the meat I ate for lunch this afternoon that had been cooked for the third time. I could feel the dust entering my lungs as my breath got shorter, each step I took I could feel more strain in my breathing. I would feel the change in altitude any minute, I knew I’d need to get some sleep. Will there be hot water? I saw snow in the distance; it would get chilly at night. What if I’m freezing cold and won’t be able to take a warm shower? What do people eat here? The questions raced through my head, one after another, piling in like a dumpster full of trash. Trash, that’s what these ridiculous questions felt like rolling through my mind. Why didn't I do more research before coming? Why didn't I buy a guidebook? I should have studied the language more before I came, no one will be able to understand me. At this point, I can’t avoid the questions, I let them happen as I navigate the airport, so far so good. Immigration was a breeze, now I needed to find the person who was holding a sign with my name. I bet they spelled my last name wrong, no one ever spells my last name right. Are they picking up other people too? Will I regret that I decided to spend 6 whole weeks here? I found him, the guy with the sign. There are other names on it, I’m not the only one doing this volunteer trip solo! I step back and look around, I’m surrounded by the Andes and the mountains are soaring. I saw them towering higher than the clouds on the plane; I've never seen anything taller than the clouds in my life.
That’s when it hit me: I’m somewhere new, I can be myself completely and do whatever I want. The overpowering feeling of excitement replaced the former overwhelming questions. Six weeks later, I came back to that same airport, looked around, and took a deep breath into my now acclimatized lungs of the Peruvian air. Clearing bamboo in the jungle, waking up with a monkey in my bed, trekking 5 days to Machu Picchu, building houses for police dogs, making lifelong friendships with people from around the world; these are the types of memories I never expected to happen. I’ll never forget the day my life changed, the day I saw those mountains and became the person I am today.