Embracing The Obvious

"Most people spend their lives standing on a whale fishing for minnows" - Filipino axiom

In the contest to see how asleep at the wheel I could possibly be, I have spent the last few weeks despairing over how difficult it was going to be to connect with people on the ground in the same way that I was able to do in Ghana.

Recently a lot of my internet time has been devoted to learning about the intricacies of blogging, each time I looked at this blog, I winced a little bit.

Yes, Central and South America are appealing destinations, but how could I possibly connect with people there? I don't speak Spanish or Portuguese, so I am limited in my ability to communicate online to people from those regions who speak English. Very Limiting.

I began to think that my success in Ghana was a wonderful fluke. A nice little victory, mostly propelled by the people at http://www.ghanacommunity.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9796

Then it occurred to me that the path that worked last time might not work this time.

Have you ever laughed at yourself when you discovered the absurdity of agonizing over something, then discovering that the answer is so blatantly obvious that you are ashamed to admit that you struggled to find an answer in the first place?

The fact is that I live in the most multicultural city in the world. I don't need no stinking internet to show me the way. The answer lays with my fellow denizens and my privileged access to their various enclaves.

My goal in the next few weeks is to infiltrate the South and Central American hubs here in Toronto and start talking to people. If I expose myself to enough opportunities, the way forward will reveal itself.