It’s beginning. I leave for the SeaTac airport in appoximately 5 hours. I’m already foreseeing that not much of that will be sleep. It’s always amazing to me that as much as I prepare for every new travel adventure, I never feel as ready as I should be. What if, in the ten days I’ve been home from Mexico, I’ll have already forgotten all my Spanish that four months in Mexico gave me? What if I can’t understand the Ecuadorian accent? How will our journey be perceived by those with whom we hope to meet? How can we as outsiders learn to see and hear with compassion in such a short time, with such brief contact? Living in Mexico, I learned a lot about what it means to let the voices of those most marginalized be heard. That is what I would hope for our journey. That these communities along the Rio Aguarico might trust us enough with their story. Why should they though?