Would I go again? I am arrested by this question. It seems so simple but it is not easy to answer. The entire adventure stretched me beyond what I thought were my stretching boundaries. The time in the remote village of Aucho including the journey to and from, I was well beyond my comfort zone. For me, Motel 6 is roughing it, and Aucho is well past Motel 6 comfort.
Picture a child, safely secure in parent's arms, being held over water. This child is afraid of the water and is trashing its legs, squirming, trying to crawl back into the safety of the its parents chest. Yet the parent, gently and firmly, lowers this child in the water, continuing to hold on to the child as it protests the entire process. Yes, this was me. As we prepared to leave, my mind was screaming ABORT, ABORT, ABORT. As we journeyed through the beautiful mountains, switch back after switch back, through small villages, I took pictures in the beauty of the scenery and the people. I fought motion sickness as I tried to maintain exterior calm as we traversed, what I considered, a narrow mountain road in the dark. Yet the journey to the village was nothing to my anxiety of being in the village itself. It was much too late to abort, I missed the point of no return when I boarded the plane in Minneapolis.
The village presented challenges I did not know how to cope. Yes, I am a princess. I am unabashedly accustomed to running water, most importantly a toilet. Imagine my delight in securing a porta-potty. Although it took a day to get set up. I am accustomed to a bed with a mattress, off the floor. And I rather do enjoy electricity and it benefits. The village offered none of these luxuries. My anxiety of going and staying in the village for three days nearly paralyzed me. Time to abort was long gone as I traversed the mountainside in an old Land Rover singing silly songs.
The village experience is both the most stretching and the highlight of my trip. The sight of Machu Picchu does not surpass the time in the village. Would I go again? Would I again? I honestly do not know how to answer that question. I want to say yes, but I am wiser now to the conditions. I want to say yes, as the people endeared themselves to me without even trying. I want to say yes, because I now know I can do it. But I hesitate to answer affirmatively. It was hard, it was challenging, it was rewarding. Perhaps, yes I will consider going again if opportunity presented itself. I will leave that in the hands of God. I went on this adventure in faith that God called me to go. He held me securely in his arms as I thrashed about in discomfort. I was never away from His safety although I would have preferred being snuggled into His chest rather than being given the freedom of seeing and doing new and wonderful albeit scary things. If I go again, it will once again be a faith adventure.
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