¨Where is the gold at the end of your rainbow?¨

One year ago today, I made possibly the best decision of my life. Jumped out of an airplane with a parachute in California, packed my bag, and a few hours later, walked out of the airport into the Amazon Jungle in Manaus, Brazil. It`s been a year to the day that I boarded that plane with a one-way ticket to South America, and only now, still learning to salsa in Colombia, I don`t view this as an accomplishment, where I could ¨close¨ some metaphorical ¨door¨ on this ¨chapter¨ of my life, but rather as a huge humungous door (possibly made of chocolate), that is just beginning to be pried open.
366 Days (thanks Feb. 29th!), 9 countries (will be 10 in 2 days), 2 languages, 2 bad haircuts resulting in needing to shave my head, llama steak, fried ants, grilled rabbit, guinea pig, fried intestines (all edible), and llama fetuses (not edible... i think), 0 robberies or violent situations, 1 near arrest/detention (damn Paraguay), 3 names (Jonathan, Jonny, and sometimes Jhon-a-ton), 1 advanced scuba diver certification, only one piece of clothing left that I began my trip with, wonderful new friends, more doors open in my life than closed, experiences enough to fill a few books (in progress), and no regrets.
This year has given me, among everything else, innumerable perspective. Certain unnamed people were and still are confused or opposed to the path I choose to follow. I have a hard time responding to this. ¨Where is the gold at the end of your rainbow?¨ somebody very close to me recently asked. My only reply is that I am not looking for gold. If I was, I`d be working in a lab. Lines do not have to be the easiest distance between points A and B, and I have found far more interesting things at rainbow ends than gold.  I smile and watch the sun set over the Carribean, it rained a bit earlier today and there is a bright rainbow hitting the hills to the south. Reggaeton music is blaring, fishermen come in with full nets, children are playing futebol, scuba divers are testing equiptment, birds are chasing other birds which are chasing snakes which are chasing their tails, beautiful women are dancing salsa on the beach only because there is music playing, and every day is a new starting point.
This is so much better than gold.