Sometimes, thousands of miles from home, a voyager gets tired, bone- tired! And with an infection that got going while the brave and experienced traveler waited, this time too long, to start his antibiotic regime.
Well, the antibiotics are working now, but a certain tiredness remains. A certain lethargy. It is easiest to stay in bed, particularly in a room with great views, and to doze off to sleep, and then read for a while, and then doze off again.
It’s 3:15 p.m. Perhaps he’ll go out in a little while, but he also wants to write.
It’s amazing how when you are in a foreign country, and perhaps particularly one where you speak the language fluently, how the newspapers, the television, your interactions with all the people around you, occupy your consciousness, and even flip not only the language of your thoughts and speech, but also the way you look at the world.
This is not permanent but it is highly useful, for you will retain just enough of this experience to innoculate you from any sense of nationalistic hubris, just enough to remember that the people in this land are human beings just like you and me. Humans who want to be happy, and healthy, and free from fear and anxiety, and violence. And who want be loved, and to love, just like you and me.
Maybe it will be a good idea to go out and spend a little more time with the people here, in their world, a little later this afternoon.
Captain Jim
Bogotá