Prelude

As I relaxed in my new hot tub under a late spring starlit sky in Big Sur, I wondered how I pulled it off. How did I evade certain jail time in a Central American country? How did I get a well known rock star to be suspected of a major crime? How had I convinced two guys who had been friends for decades to join me in a completely insane adventure that threatened their freedom as well as mine?

Had I really helped some wonderful gringo ladies advance the cause of education in a deprived social setting in Panama? Had I really helped a radical priest start a social phenomenon in San Francisco? Did my buddy really lick chocolate off a policeman? Had I truly discovered the Dodgers next superstar in Nicaragua? Had I really seen a pig surf?

Or had I just lived a two continent, ego driven adventure, that did nothing but make me feel like some big shot? Did I really blow a half million dollars that I really did not earn?

I slid down into the hot water and tried to remember the last five months. It was a blur mostly, but what came to mind made me laugh.

I hope it makes you the kind reader laugh, and I'll let you be the judge of my actions. Let us start when lightning struck me.