As a junior in college I decided to go do a year of Peace Corp and ended up in Peru. The area was in the jungle and pretty rural and although I had a separate place, there was no indoor plumbing or shower. These were outside behind the small house I lived in, outdoors, the village built a sort of outhouse for me, being foreign and all. As to baths these were outback and I used a large plastic bowl and poured water over my head to bathe. At first standing naked outside was horrifying, but eventually I did it, and got over the idea I was naked.

There as a man I called the local war lord, he was the man who pretty much ran everything. If I didn't get his permission, then nothing could be done. I learned lots of Spanish, and a good amount of the Indian words. Things were going good and I thought I was making a contribution.

One day the war lord came upon me when I was bathing outside. He took his penis out of his pants and I knew what that meant. I went in the house and laid on the bed and he got his business done. There were no words, none were needed. He had made his point.

After I returned home and finished college I went on to work in the local school district as an administrator. It was a long time before I allowed another man into my life. But it did not last, we just could not come together. Somewhere deep inside of me my soul is still there, in the jungle beside the river. That is where I feel I came into my own, where I grew up and gave my soul to a man.