Loosening Up Tight Ends, by Ryan

When I was about 10 years old, the milk lobby implemented a huge, promotional campaign. The commercials on TV ran something like this: “I used to be kind of unhappy and I wanted more friends.” Then the images would turn from black-and-white to color, and the speaker--a young person like myself--would say with a confident smile, “then I started drinking milk.” After seeing 37 of these promotions, I decided to start drinking milk. I didn’t care too much for milk; I wasn’t unhappy; and I had quantity and quality when it came to friends. The apparent benefits, however, were just too grand. I became a regular milk drinker. Similarly, the intention of this trip is not to remedy some discontent. For me, the apparent benefits of making this trip happen are just too grand.



The final month before our trip was pretty busy. I quit my job, brewed my first homebrew,



helped my mom prepare for her move to Peru, packed and stored our belongings,



sold the El Camino,



participated in Trivia Night at Griff’s, celebrated Keven and Sally’s birthday,



attended Babaji’s bachelor party in New Orleans and wedding in Mississippi, celebrated my dad’s birthday and sold the Saab.

At the moment, it’s 9:15 pm and I’m on the rooftop of a hostel in Antigua, Guatemala. There are some Germans laughing to my left, a clothesline straight ahead, more Germans to my right and a guy talking about Bourbon Street downstairs at the non-hostile, hostel bar. Sheer’s first blog entry will cover the beginning of our trip, I just wanted to paint a little picture. Thanks for reading!