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I left my wallet in el sugundo....

no, not really, just can't get that dang song outta my head....

bye colorado, bye minnesota, bye to all you great peeps, bye mountains & trails & exercise & (glimpses into) my old life - it really was  a stellar time. now that it's so close, I'm hell-a nervous to get back on the road. but whatever. I know this feeling is only temporary. just give me a few days and I'll get over it.

for now, I'm hiding out in LA (til sunday). great city. 5 minutes into a bus ride and the dude who strikes up a random convo with me casually slips in the line "it's been over 20 years since I was in jail". ummmm....probably didn't phase him much (clearly didn't phase him much) but I decided to throttle back my urge to make small talk with anyone who speaks english.

I'm staying with kathy, my best friend from high school. shes wicked smart (has her name on the door to her law firm - she'll kill me for writing about that one), is a super talented scuba diver (instructor of muliple things, no less) and still laughs at the same stupid stuff that I do. it's the classic "its like we never left" when we meet up. she's also blocks from the beach (course, here I am online, getting the last of my computer fixes, not taking advantage of this location), has a pool, and the sun hasn't stopped shining. in fact, getting here yesterday, I felt like I was in a freekin fairy tail or something - cool breeze, sun, trees covered in flowers, perfume smells like they pump it over the entire city, birds chirping....I have urges to strap myself to a tree and not go to bangkok - it's gonna be such a contrast.

but like I say, I'll get over it. just being honest here....I had such a great time immersed in comfort and familiarity and things I know oh too well over the past month - I got to relax on so many levels. but really I still havent fully admitted to myself just how much I crave, I need to have that world shook up and instead of familiarity I need to live in a life of unknowns and mistakes and things that dont totally remind me of home. my most favorite quote from paul theraux is 'travel is not a vacation'. in the middle of it you wonder what the heck am I doing am I NUTS?, but away from it you want desperately to get it back. I'm close. just put me on that plane to bangkok and I know I'll feel the energy kicking in again but for now, I'll gladly soak up the comforts of LA.

soooo....drum roll please......this is my last entry for the first leg. hope you enjoyed reading! I had fun trying to summarize my life and make it public :) I started another journal for the next leg so hope you stay tuned. my loose itinerary: thiland/se asia, a side of australia (see you soon petros!), india, nepal, turkey, eastern europe. also lining up volunteer work - the selfish ways of south america cannot continue...

if you haven't already, check out my 'trip art' journal (click on 'nancy lehet' above to access the main directory) to see art and observations from south america. I'll keep up the art in asia and beyond - can't wait to see how it all changes based on the new things seen and done. I said before and its still true - I wont be a completely different person from this experience (how much do we really change anyhow) but my art HAS to be different.

below are a few pages from my sketch book and a map I started somewhere in argentina. I'm illustrating in a way I never have before (cool, it's starting)...and I know this direction will show up in paintings someway someday - that feels good. long term plan is to turn this trip into a series of paintings - the egg of this idea is somewhere in these images...give me another year and it'll start to get clearer.

K. gotta hit the beach. have a great summer y'alls!

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