Written by Guy A. Thomas (Aramithaus Compostela).
I had a tough start to life. My dad left when I was 3 and I lost my mom at 8. I had a stepdad who stuck around and kept us out of foster care, but he didn’t know much about being a father. He turned out to be my best friend in the end.
I left home at 20 years old. I would have left sooner, but my stepdad moved in with my ex-girlfriend’s mother, and me and my brother had the house to ourselves. I had just graduated high school and my brother had just started high school. We had the place for 4 years before my stepdad moved back in. It was mayhem, to say the least. No one got arrested and no one was injured too badly is all I can say about that. Truthfully, that’s a story for another day.
I left my hometown and moved to Daytona Beach, Florida. I spent 6 months or so down there. I did nothing productive, but I was there for the 50th anniversary of Bike Week and 6 weeks of MTV’s Spring Break. Like I said, nothing productive, and I am happy I survived and didn’t get myself into any trouble.
I ended up back at home, tail between my legs and nothing positive happening. Then I got the call that changed my life. My friend Steph was going to Colorado State University, and her parents bought 2 bus tickets — one one-way for her, and one round trip for a friend to go with her. The night before they were supposed to go, her friend had a family emergency and couldn’t go. She called me that afternoon and asked if I wanted to go to Colorado in the morning. I immediately said yes. I borrowed $100 from my aunt and borrowed a tent and a sleeping bag from my friend Ross. I packed a small duffel bag with a few days of clothes and figured I could at least get a chance to camp in the Rocky Mountains. I ended up staying 7 years before I came home for a visit. I spent all my money in a brew pub the first night I was there, and I ended up sleeping in the bushes in City Park and eating out of garbage cans for a little while. I loved the energy there and I knew it was the place for me, no matter how hard a start it was. 13 years later, I had a home with my girlfriend, we owned investment racehorses, we had riding horses, I owned a company with 60 people working for me, I had spent a couple of years in college. I had the American dream.
Unfortunately, I was miserable. It wasn’t for me. I am a free spirit. And staying in one place all the time and not traveling drove me mental. Eventually we split up, and I went home to Massachusetts to rebuild my life and reconnect with family and friends.
When I got there I had an incredible opportunity. I had been building houses in Colorado for the past decade. When I got back, my best friend Dan was building his own home and he needed some help. So I lived in a camper on the property and we spent the next 10 months building his house. A long time to build a house, I know, but it was a very unique house, as my friend is a unique human.
After that I lived in my car for a time and did some couch surfing when I could. I eventually got my big break. I answered an ad in the Boston Herald for a commercial driver/art handler. Unbelievably, I got the job.
That started me on a whole new course in life. Suddenly I was traveling for a living, making great money, and I had 4 months a year off to do some quality goofing off. I became the ultimate bachelor. I lived in a conversion van and traveled professionally and in my personal life. I would go wherever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I had no responsibilities and nothing to tie me down anywhere.
After several years of that I got burnt out on the job. I then ended up back in Colorado when my brother Jay called me to ask if I wanted to join his construction crew up in Summit County, Colorado. I jumped on the chance. I spent 4 years remodeling rich people’s houses and condos up in God’s country. I will say that working up at 10,000 feet above sea level is a challenge. But I had a 4×4 conversion van and millions of square miles to explore. It was a pretty great time.
But nothing lasts forever, and I grew restless. I decided to sell everything I owned and set off to see the world.
I had $7,000 to my name. I had a backpack, and everything I owned fit in it. As a matter of fact, me and everything I owned weighed 185 pounds. I had officially become the ultimate minimalist.
I had no real plan other than to look for signs and follow my heart. Some friends of mine were going to Greece in about 6 weeks, so I bought a ticket to Paris and I was going to work my way down to Greece to meet them. I would then work my way up Eastern Europe and over to the French Pyrenees. I thought I would like to walk the pilgrimage — the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. It’s a 300-mile Catholic pilgrimage across Spain. It sounded good to me. So while I was waiting for that to happen I got pretty bored. I had already quit my job and didn’t have anything to do, really. I called my friend in Costa Rica, Sarah, and she said come on down. So I went.
It was then that all the Peru signs started. She gave me a book on ayahuasca that took place in Peru. Everywhere I turned after that I saw signs about Peru. I stayed for a month in Costa Rica, then went back to Massachusetts to see my friends one more time. I had no intention of coming back to America. I wanted to see the world. When I went back, everywhere I turned I saw more signs pointing me towards Peru. It was crazy how obvious it was becoming. I finally made the call. As I got on my phone and booked the first flight I could get on that day to Lima, Peru, the hair on my arms stood up. I didn’t know why, but I knew I had to go. I called my friends I was supposed to meet in Greece and said I wasn’t going to make it. When I landed late at night in Lima I got a ride to my hostel and checked in. I went to bed, and when I got up I took a shower and walked out into the lobby. As I walked in from one side, a girl was walking up the stairs from the other. The second I saw her, my heart jumped out of my chest and my knees got weak. I thought, what the hell was that? She and I looked at each other, and with the most beautiful smile I had ever seen, she said, “Are you going on the walking tour?” I said, “Are you?” She said, “I am the tour guide.” I said, “I’m going.”
She was the first person I met in Peru, and I ended up marrying her a year and a half later. But again, that’s a long story for another day.
She had a degree in international business, and a few weeks after we got engaged, I proposed at Machu Picchu, she got a job in Elizabeth, NJ. It was her dream and she was going. I was out of money and went back to Massachusetts to regroup. We got married under an old maple tree in my friend Ron’s backyard. It was a great day in my life. But as I mentioned earlier, nothing lasts forever.
I ended up moving down to NJ to be with her.
And a few years later I went back to my old career, driving tractor trailers around the country, going to museums and picking up Monet and Picasso type paintings and delivering them to other museums.
After 7 years of trying to make it work, my wife left me. I was and am devastated. It pushed me to a point that I ended up seeking mental health therapy in an intensive outpatient program. It was the best decision I have ever made. I learned emotional intelligence and the ability to handle my mental health issues in a constructive manner instead of a destructive manner. And now here I am. Living on the road in hotels, working and beginning the process of telling my story.
I have a lot to tell. What I just told you was the briefest of versions. The things I mentioned have almost unbelievable stories of their own. I have so many things I have done that need to be told. They have all given me a perspective on life that is quite unique…
So until next time, my friends. Peace.