A new mindset

Its not every day one wakes up and decides they want to travel to a foreign country on their own. All alone.

Never would I have thought to travel with no plan in mind. The only thing I could think of doing to prepare myself was to make sure that I at least had a place to stay. So I looked online and was able to find a hostel owned by Francisco Rivera.

Meeting this man made my heart and mind go to a place of more life. I was feeling dead. Dragged, sad, unimpressionable. I was feeling hopeless. I had just broken up with a lover and family issues were getting more and more strained. So leaving for 2 weeks to another country did not sound too bad.

When I met Francisco, I knew that I would be taken care of. The owner of the Hostel had just moved his location to a new place so everyone in the old hostel were moved to another building. I will admit, I thought it was a bit fishy and for a brief 2.5 seconds, feared for my life. Many questions began to cloud my line of vision and my mind got more and more interrupted. But alas, I decided that i would take the trust route and trust that he is a man of power, dignity and he was someone i could put my trust in.

With that in mind, I arrived at the new location. Right there, upon entering, i met the prettiest lady in the world. Seriously, i had never met someone so pretty before, and I knew, right away that i had to introduce myself.

The hostel was set up in an “apartment” like way. There were 3 bedrooms, a kitchen a balcony and a nice outside area on the top floor. We had at least 15 people there at the time. I had never really been in a situation where every other day, someone new joined the clan.

It felt so good getting to know new people, getting to reach out. While i was there I got to introduce myself to new people.

San Juan is a very safe place to be. I walked around the entire city practically and even had the courage to get on a bus going “anywhere.” I would stop in different cities and check out the sites.

My favorite part of the hostel was being able to cook food. I bought many things from the grocery store and cooked them at the hostel. I didn’t want to spend too much money eating out. I did not arrive with much and would leave with even less.

On day, while i was on the bus to “who knows where”, I just started balling my eyes out. I’m not sure why i cried at that moment or what prompted me to such tears. All i know was that my heart was very sad. I came to terms with many realities that day. Many issues that I was dealing with made me see life in a new way. It was scary to think that people hide for many different reasons, but the most prevalent reason is fear. As i sobbed on the bus, and almost missed my stop, i tilted my head up to heaven and sent a silent, whisperlike prayer up to the supreme being above. And then I sensed something saying “it will be ok.”

I walked back to the sleeping quarters and got to sit and talk to the new friends i had made. I took a deep breath and realized that things would be ok. Life will go on!

Francisco and I had a great chat one day. He created an organization that helps people life themselves from current poverty. Its an organization i would like to get involved with. He is also going to try to help me promote my book.