January 20th, 2009

I've known the Waygoer for about a year now. In that time he's spent about 2 months in New York and the rest -- going places as he does. We'd had some conversations about the countries he'd visited in the middle east, the far east, central america... we'd even spoken about festivals and how interesting it would be to make a documentary around one of the stranger ones, say the guatemalan day of the dead. But I still didn't expect him to call me in late December and ask me to go with him to Bolivia to film the Diablada.

So my goal for this blog is to follow the adventure of traveling with the Waygoer, while at the same time shooting my first documentary. It's audience is our friends who wish to come along on the journey, and myself if I ever want to retrace the minute details of my states of mind and observations. For these details are the most likely to be imperceptibly lost, yet they carry the most meaning -- the promise and desperation of existing in a specific space and time -- a place where now is everything.

Today is the last day when the trip is uncertain. The Waygoer has decided that he would get to Antarctica if that should cost him his life. He's been stuck at the edge of the world in Ushuaia waiting to be picked up, putting our venture on a knife-edge. If he's able to get on a January 25th boat, he'll be able to take a flight to Buenos Aires 12 days later, get a Bolivian visa, trek through Paraguay and meet me in La Paz around February 15th. If not, tomorrow will perhaps be the last post on this blog...