jespah lara - the desert

once upon a time i was on a family vacation in peru and we were traveling along the coast on the panamerican highway. at one point we stopped and got out to walk around for a bit. there was the ocean front, the road, and desert. i climbed up a hill to a plateau that was about 100 above the road. there i could get a sense of the immensity of the desert. it was vast, but i was right next to the ocean so i didn't affect me that much.

later on in the trip my mother and i went on a dune buggy ride. that time we really got deep into it, though not really. at all times, i knew that if i walked in the right direction i would hit the ocean in five miles or less. it just seemed that way because at one point we were surrounded by nothing but sand. in every direction all i could see was sand, and that was a very scary and liberating experience. it was a juxtaposition of many competing emotions. i felt alone, connected, i felt afraid, yet calm, i felt trapped, yet free. ever since then i have always wanted to return to the desert and spend extensive time there. it is easy to see why so many prophets spent so much time wandering in the desert. the extreme of night and day, hot and cold, light and dark would surely bring on intense spiritual feelings.