Desert trees.

My last week in New Mexico has dawned. The farm hand/tree slave era at Santa Fe Tree Farm nears its close. Yet in many ways, my journey has just begun.

I’ve created this blog to document what I taste, see, feel, smell, and hear for the next year as I wander to India, Nepal, and everywhere in between. I hope through this journalistic and photographic venture to understand a little more about the world and to savor its flavors, whether bitter or sweet.

While searching for a blog title in an old thesaurus, I came upon the word peregrination. It was strange enough that no blogger had chosen to include the word in their site’s name. It was superfluous enough that no blogger had wanted to even associate with the word. In short, peregrination was perfect.

Although a bit off the beaten verbal path, peregrination is subtle. It connotes travel by foot. I will be doing much of this. Perhaps even on the tallest peaks in the world. Furthermore, a peregrination is a journey that completes itself where it began. Travel has two parts: leaving and homecoming. To appreciate where we have come from, we must appreciate where we are going.

This year, I want to taste where I go; I want to taste a peregrination. Soon I will leave for a month in Indore, India, to learn yoga at the Paramanand Institute of Yoga Sciences, absorb monsoon rains, walk through crowded marketplaces, and try as many lentils as my digestive system can handle.

I am ready for the first bite.