2010 was great for business. I have a healthy balance between recurring revenue (sell something once, and it keeps paying you for the lifetime of the account), and revenue from what I put my hands to (or rather, what I put the team’s hands to). The point is, revenue comes in, and it doesn’t matter where I am (in theory, at least!).

The other side of the coin is expenses. The condo. A vehicle and a motorcycle — what to do with those? And galavanting across the world can’t be cheap, right? Five days later, a creative interpretation of a lease document, and an $80/mo storage unit (imagine two people trying to fit a full-size motorcycle into an elevator to get it to the unit on the fourth floor!), and assets are covered.

My expenses in Guatemala? $100/wk for room and board in a quaint little Central American home, thanks to a kindly woman named Juanita. I’m paying a little more than that per week in tuition at one of the fine Conversational Spanish language schools in Antigua, blocks from where I’m staying. My monthly expenses will be less here (tuition included) than they are at home, living on a budget that flexes with my mood and my craving for sushi.

I’m starting my tenure at La Union (http://www.launion.edu.gt/), a somewhat large and well-known school in the area, and may spend some time at Don Pedro de Alvarado (http://www.donpedrospanishschool.com/) — supposedly attended by Mel Gibson, Kevin Costner and Hillary Clinton, wheeee — and have a couple other self-assigned errands before coming back.

I’m not sure where this trip is taking me: a mission to heal the world, or just to brush on on ye lode espanol to be able to communicate better with people in my neighborhood. But I’m pursuing this until I hit a dead end, or feel that I’ve accomplished my purpose. Or until I get tired of burritos — like that could ever happen…

If you think of me, please pray for safety and fun, that i’ll get done what i need done, and that business here will continue to flourish in spite of my diminished hands-on involvement.

Peace, love and tacos.

from my sister, Aimee

Multiple Minds