Reach Out - Peru [Part 1]

Some schools of thought say that when we serve others, we are served. Imagine using a lit candle to light an unlit one. The original candle loses nothing and both candles benefit from a brighter room.

This is what two weeks in Peru felt like.





Big thanks to Reach Out Volunteers for affording me the opportunity to be in service to a rural community in Misminay, Peru. Less than a few hours from Cusco - our volunteer teams helped a few local families renovate their soot-ridden kitchens. By the week's end, a group of international strangers turned their slightly uncomfortable hellos to embraced farewells - all goose-bumped with gratitude and refusals to say 'goodbye'. By Incan standards - we were now forever linked - promised to meet again in this life or the next. We became each other's hermanos y hermanas.

Pacha Mama, otherwise known as mother earth, has been impressed by our working boots, and by honoring the food, shelter and sustenance she has provided, we are forever humbled by her generosity. Prayer and mediation in reverence to the works of the stars above us is our obligation to our father. For he has blessed us with an endless source of energy, of which can only be harnesses through love. I give thanks.



As we wake each morning, we break bread with our brothers and sisters as our initial act of love for Pacha Mama. Kindness and compassion sets our day before us. The mountains will bring us nausea, dizziness and pounding headaches, yet our mission to serve one another is unwavered. For our time is short and honoring our room is infinite. Relationships grow and legacies are left.

For those whom I had the priviledge of working for and with, my heart give thanks. Lasting impacts have surely been made, as my blood shall never flow the same again. This is love received.

Led by a modern day Inca, his drive to organize, translate, and educate our days among the natives was his service to the neighborhood he grew up in. His name will be forever whispered among the people but perhaps never known by those outside of them. Humility rages as his hand softly laid upon his heart kindly shares that English, Spanish, nor Quechua is his native language, rather the subtle vibrations within chest is.

Plagued with altitude sickness and enduring hikes, I've heard the toughest journeys often lead to the most beautiful destinations. We are beginning to understand.

My expression of emotion is attempted through these words, for this shift in understanding points me to a new list of goals and desires. I am in humbled service.

Gifts of discovery, centuries of knowledge, and joys of group pictures - where else can we shine brighter. Each breath we miss, we are grounded, and each breath we take we are grateful. Laughter and sympathethic presence while sharing our host's tastey meals is our bond and our intrinsic reward through sleepless nights and pain.



Living privileged is a privilege. Do not forget. Continue to share your light for when your wax runs lows, the room shall continue to burn bright.

A big thank you to Reach Out Volunteers and all the volunteers who put others before themselves.

Panama City, Panama

After a sparked interest with the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and simultaneously giving birth to wanderlust - the universe sent me an advertisement. ASCE was hosting their 7 day national conference in Panama City, Panama. And instantly I wanted to go. Historically, an uncommon reaction to international travel. Panama holds significance to my family because it was the first country my parents lived in as a married couple. They often shared stories of big business, ocean-front living, and kind locals.

It was less than a few weeks before I had planned, number crunched and booked my first international solo trip. And because the Conference was offering a plethora of continuing education credits, I was able to have the trip endorsed by my employer. No vacation time used, and most costs covered. Check! And so as the stars aligned, I was in Panama City in late 2014 for the first time since I was an infant.

The conference wasn't too different from a typical conference - early morning breakfasts, educational and discussion forward presentations, and plenty of opportunities to network during and after each day. But what I especially liked was the opportunities to venture out of the city to visit various marvels of this historic Central American city.

Day 01 was consumed by checking-in to the conference hotel, and checking-out the City as far as my feet could take me. Surrounded by high-rise modern skyscrapers, lush green landscapes, and docked yachts, Panama felt a lot like Miami. I even found a Hooters that posted a banner: "Bienvenidos Florida State Seminoles!"

Breath lines

But unlike Miami, Panama City abutted the Pacific Ocean. And one of most fantastic experiences I had during this day was witnessing the ocean visually and audibly rising and falling as if is it was breathing. This breath-work felt nourishing. Another capturing site was the continuous bike lanes and unique recycling bins. Environmental consciousness and bikes make me smile. The recycle bins separated organics!  If people know why they have to separate their garbage, they may understand the impact of their garbage.

Casa Viejo

Casa Viejo

The city also maintains its old city, otherwise known as, Casa Viejo. Casa Viejo was first settled on in 1673. ¡Que viejo! Filled with narrow brick streets, the old city is an ongoing work in progress.  Some structures were broken and battered - others were refinished and made into quaint and authentic restaurant attractions.  I didn't stay in Casa Viejo for any longer than a meal and a few photos - but returning a few days later w new friends was enchanting.

Our ride and view to the island research facility

Day 02 was a small group visit to the Barro Colorodo Nature Monument which is located in the Gatun Lake section of the Panama Canal. By the way, the Panama Canal monumentally changed the course of international trade and global economics - forever. It's impact cannot be overstated.  More on this later.

BCNM - Raining in the Rainforest, appropriately

The 21 square mile Monument has been managed by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute since 1946 and has been a protected national biological reserve since 1923. This research facility, carved into the rainforest, carries its existence to preserve and observe its surroundings. Being in a place that is highly revered for its natural state rather than its potential for economical development was refreshing!

BCNM - Gatun Lake

Our welcoming tour guides were kind and patient, but firm about the rules of our visit. This was a research facility before it's a tourist attraction. Respecting the rainforest and its inhabitants were of the up most importance. And the monkeys reminded those who forgot. Hanging out too long, capturing too many photos and smiling in amusement was grounds to be aggressively confronted by the indigenous locals. It felt like we were the rodents being shooed out of the house. I enjoyed gaining this perspective.

Old trees carry rich stories

 

Research markers

Route to the BCNM along the Panama Canal

BCNM Trail

Day 03 was our visit to the Panama Canal. What a machine.

The man-made Panama Canal is the interface between North America and South America and has reinvented international trade and commerce - forever. Ships route through the Canal when transitioning between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in lieu of tracking south of South America, drastically cutting travel times down. Time is money, sí? Highly political, highly expensive, and a tremendous civil engineering project - the Canal has been named a Modern Wonder of the World.  First attempted to be built by the French in the late 1800s - disease, danger, and dollars shut the French operation down. The US arranged its acquisition and completed the project within the first quarter of the 1900s. The Canal is currently owned and operated by the Panamanian Authority.

Aside from changing the course of trade history - the Panama Canal is a civil engineering feat! The unique challenge is raising and lowering cargo ships along the surface of the land by filling and emptying locks. This could technical, so here's a easy animation.

Panoramic view of the Mira Flores locks

Escort up front

Escort out back

Seeing the Panama Canal via the official Visitor's Center was cool, but getting to go backstage and onsite of an ongoing expansion project was what got thousands of conference attendees buzzing.

Toyota Hilux <3

Despite my years and experience in shiny shoes, operating expensive software, I like the dust, the hard hats, and the acceptance of foul language on construction sites - actually i prefer it. It makes for being more present. 

We were briefed by one of the superintendents with broad level updates and enough nerdy engineering language that had the crowd oscillating between "ooohs" and "aahhhs".

When we meet cool new people - we take a picture

Day 04 was the last full day of the conference. Attendees were beginning to wind down from the educational stimulation and spent more time networking over drinks and dinners. Hand shakes turned to hugs and Facebook friendships were confirmed. I saw dreams in the eyes of students, I sensed ambitious traction from the young professionals, and felt that I picked up a few seniors mentors. 

Being the lone attendee from Miami - I was adopted and made an honorary member of the ASCE LA Section by a group young engineers from Los Angeles. They rolled dozens deep and moved around like a school of tuna.  The personalities, the respect, and the love inspired me to return to Miami with a new approach to serving on Miami's Board of Directors. LA Section, my humble thanks.

But as many of us introverts require - it was time to retreat with the intention to recharge. I kindly declined a few lunch invites so I could find a quiet and remote area within the City where I could either knock out a few sun salutations or simply sit in silence.

Trip Advisor emphatically pointed me to Templo Bahia.

I read bit about the religious temple and broadly understood the religion to be an evolution of today's major religions. The religion is based on humanitarian, moral, social and educational values. And is roughly 100 years old. No objections there - so I called for a cab.

Located atop the hills of Panama City, my ride took me through the sloping streets of the local neighborhoods that hadn't resembled Casa Viejo or the new city.

When I arrived at the entrance of the temple, the landscaping instantly went from an entropic design to an artful one. The local vegetation swayed with the slightest breeze as if whispering to its visitors - please shut the fuck up. :)

... TO BE CONTINUED

The Birth of Wander

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

My father was a traveler. He was born and raised in Pakistan, but he found his education and career abroad. From Abu-Dhabi to the UK to the Americas, dad would exaggerate and brag about traveling through 8 continents! [and yea...we're still looking for that last one.]

But unlike him, I wasn't a traveler. I wasn't curious. I never thought about getting lost in a foreign city. Probably because I didn't have the money or confidence to wander onto unknown lands. By trade, I'm an engineer. By nature, I analyze the fuck out of everything. A conservative mindset ensuring safeguards against uncertainty resulted in paralysis by analysis. The only time I would travel is when others planned and I followed.

But through a few recent experiences - as shared on previous posts - entering unfamiliar realms of experience proved to open fascinating doors of which I didn't even know existed. Simply stated, I started looking up at the sky more than down at my phone. Infinity became interesting.

Small but ride-able waves prior to presentation day

When I was asked to travel to Cocoa Beach, Florida for work - on a Saturday - my initial reaction was dread. I wasn't trying to spend my weekend preparing for and presenting before a State agency in hopes to gain a $1M grant for the municipality. But embracing the idea that I didn't know what I didn't know, I approached the project with intuition instead of anxiety. 

The presentation and project description was straight forward. The municipality wanted to rehabilitate a few seawalls, and there was a State agency, the Florida Inland Navigation District, that promoted such infrastructure projects by granting grants. Our job was to illustrate our efforts with a short presentation, answer a few questions from the Committee and smile. Luckily, I had the company of a colleague who had been through this process before and only needed me to serve as the technical lead of the project. [Thanks Judy!]
 

After delivering the presentation, I could have packed up and headed back home, but a past surf trip with the boys in Nicaragua had me itching to surf again. And since Cocoa Beach is one of Florida's better surf locations, I decided to reach out to a local surf instructor to revisit the sensation of the ocean energy beneath my feet. Unfortunately, by the time I was free to ride, the surf had flattened and was no longer ride-able.  Then that cliché of life being a journey, not a destination, surfaced. I felt excited to have just intended to surf. Sure, it would have been to dope to catch a few waves, but there was an absence of disappointment.    

And so, while my soul smiled, my stomach growled. An easy sandwich and accompanying celebratory beer was in order. Cheers to [not] surfing! I took a near by stairway to the Tiki Bar located just above where I had planned to hang-ten, and there I sat with a few laid back locals who seemed to be patiently waiting for tomorrow's possible waves. Conversation was light and the beers were cold. It's interesting how catching a buzz seems to be easier when the mind isn't resisting. After one beer, a few hours and a few pictures, I thanked my new friends for their vibes and cashed out.  I returned to my hotel, packed up, and headed home. 

On my drive back, I recall feeling reset. A trip was blissful for the first time.

So when I returned to Miami, I booked a seven-day solo trip to Panama City, Panama.

Man in the Mirror

In 2014, I decided to turn the volume way down on a private sector corporate grind by joining the public service workforce. And I soon found myself with a surplus of cognitive energy.  Having been trained to focus, grind, complete and repeat,  I was challenged by the boredom of public sector red-tape. I had even been asked to put my proverbial feet up and work less. I was enduring a work culture shock and it wasn't long before I knew I needed to channel this surplus elsewhere.

So I started volunteering my time with organizations that appeared to be in service of others. [I would later find that this intention runs in parallel with vedantic yogic philosophy.] One of the organizations was the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). 

ASCE is one of the largest non-profit civil engineering professional networks in the country - broken into Sections and Branches. Its Vision: Civil engineers building a better quality of life. My interest laid in applying my engineering skill set without having to track how profitable I could be. And I wanted to grow my professional network. [After all, you never know who you'll meet.]  So I cold-called the sitting president of the ASCE Miami-Dade Branch and was offered a position on the Board of Directors as the Younger Member Group Chair. [The Branch carries approximately 900 active members, 30 who are in leaderships roles, and 10 who make up the Board of Directors.]

My duty was to host social events with pretty simple rules: 1. Obtain sponsorship from a local civil engineering firm. 2. Advertise and host a Happy Hour.

So I got right to work by setting an intention - to bring local (and commonly introverted) engineers together, free and clear of a corporate environment, so as to promote  more casual business relationships. Our younger members spent enough time professionally crafting emails and artfully obeying company policies. It was time to let go and find out who people were beyond their job titles and roles.

Toward intention, my focus was finding unique and memorable venues that would serve as a catalyst to people having unique and memorable experiences. For example, one of the venues was a hidden gem of a brewery on the outskirts of the newly booming arts-district, Wynwood. Today, the Wynwood Brewery is a pioneer in Miami's craft beer scene. Go see and show some love to my boy, Javier.

Over the course of a year, we hosted hundreds of members, raised hundreds of dollars across various charities and best of all, had members asking us when the next social would be! Engineers excited to socialize? Not so stereotypical. At the end of my term, I was awarded the Branch's Young Engineer of the Year Award - which caught me way off guard.

I didn't see my work as the Younger Member Group Chair as admirable or worthy of an award. I was only working with my easily accessible and free intuition. I wasn't grinding through someone else's SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) - as commonly found in engineering.  Flowing through creativity and intuition felt frictionless.  Light bulb.

I realized throughout my career, my own creativity and intuition were not given priority - for one reason or another. I followed those before me without trusting my own instincts.  This light bulb was the conscious birth to self-reflection.

"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense." - Buddha