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Andean Adventures: An Unexpected Search for Meaning, Purpose and Discovery
Revised and Updated Second Edition
Life is all about Surviving the Lessons and Growing from Them.Shot at, arrested, threatened and endangered - Author Allan J. Wind survived incredible and unexpected dangers as a global humanitarian volunteer and lived to share the powerful lessons he learned on his travels.
If you're struggling to find inspiration and motivation because of the challenging events in the world, this book reminds you that there are many remarkable stories of people who do care and whose generosity is changing the world.
Service is a calling - and a challenge for us.
Words have power. Let the words of Andean Adventures take you into a world beyond what you may have ever seen and experienced.
From Brooklyn New York to the Andes Mountains, you'll get a front seat to the incredible stories as the author traveled and lived in Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru.
"Doctor Alonzo" - as he was newly nicknamed - found himself surrounded by indigenous peasant leaders and communities in raucous tribal celebrations, social movements for change, wonders of nature and marvels of human kindness and romance while hitchhiking to the very tip of South America and its glaciers and penguins.
Along the way, there were unexpected dangers - near-death illness in the jungle, getting shot at in a police-military crossfire, an arrest and detention behind bars by an anti-American colonel looking to jail some gringos, tear gas and police truncheons from Nazi-influenced fascists in Chile, terrorist car bombs in Peru and an expulsion order by a drugs & thugs U.S. Ambassador in Bolivia when he got in the way of illicit spying.
"Doctor Alonzo" candidly shares his story of discovery and adventure among the peoples of the Andes. With simple honesty, "Doctor Alonzo" tells the tale of his own enlightenment to inspire others to be of service and for the next generation to dedicate themselves to the principles of working to build a better tomorrow.
Here you will find storytelling interwoven with a memoir of public health, community development service, and spiritual discovery overseas in Peace Corps and nongovernmental organizations and USAID, sharing with self-deprecating humor, his unusual experiences across the Andes and Latin America. Full of anecdotes and some remarkable stories from different South American countries.
You will find reflections as well on the role and place for foreign aid, on religion, and on other topics many of us spend time questioning and dealing with. For some, a provocative discussion and meditation on searching for meaning and purpose after college. A story of successes, failures, redemption, challenges, faith, and perseverance.
Available in ebook, paperback and Audible Audiobook, as well as a Spanish translation edition titled "Aventuras Andinas" .
Why not take a look inside through the "Look Inside" feature above?
If you'd like to be uplifted and transported to other exotic lands in the first of a series of adventures, click the BUY NOW button and let's begin our journey together.
Life is all about Surviving the Lessons and Growing from Them.Shot at, arrested, threatened and endangered - Author Allan J. Wind survived incredible and unexpected dangers as a global humanitarian volunteer and lived to share the powerful lessons he learned on his travels.
If you're struggling to find inspiration and motivation because of the challenging events in the world, this book reminds you that there are many remarkable stories of people who do care and whose generosity is changing the world.
Service is a calling - and a challenge for us.
Words have power. Let the words of Andean Adventures take you into a world beyond what you may have ever seen and experienced.
From Brooklyn New York to the Andes Mountains, you'll get a front seat to the incredible stories as the author traveled and lived in Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru.
"Doctor Alonzo" - as he was newly nicknamed - found himself surrounded by indigenous peasant leaders and communities in raucous tribal celebrations, social movements for change, wonders of nature and marvels of human kindness and romance while hitchhiking to the very tip of South America and its glaciers and penguins.
Along the way, there were unexpected dangers - near-death illness in the jungle, getting shot at in a police-military crossfire, an arrest and detention behind bars by an anti-American colonel looking to jail some gringos, tear gas and police truncheons from Nazi-influenced fascists in Chile, terrorist car bombs in Peru and an expulsion order by a drugs & thugs U.S. Ambassador in Bolivia when he got in the way of illicit spying.
"Doctor Alonzo" candidly shares his story of discovery and adventure among the peoples of the Andes. With simple honesty, "Doctor Alonzo" tells the tale of his own enlightenment to inspire others to be of service and for the next generation to dedicate themselves to the principles of working to build a better tomorrow.
Here you will find storytelling interwoven with a memoir of public health, community development service, and spiritual discovery overseas in Peace Corps and nongovernmental organizations and USAID, sharing with self-deprecating humor, his unusual experiences across the Andes and Latin America. Full of anecdotes and some remarkable stories from different South American countries.
You will find reflections as well on the role and place for foreign aid, on religion, and on other topics many of us spend time questioning and dealing with. For some, a provocative discussion and meditation on searching for meaning and purpose after college. A story of successes, failures, redemption, challenges, faith, and perseverance.
Available in ebook, paperback and Audible Audiobook, as well as a Spanish translation edition titled "Aventuras Andinas" .
Why not take a look inside through the "Look Inside" feature above?
If you'd like to be uplifted and transported to other exotic lands in the first of a series of adventures, click the BUY NOW button and let's begin our journey together.
Audible Audio
Published July 13, 2024
About the author
Allan J. "Alonzo" Wind
11 books239 followersAllan J. "Alonzo" Wind is currently a Senior Advisor and Scholar for the Foundation for Law and International Affairs (FLIA) and routinely conducts policy analyses. He is Affiliate Faculty at the Carter School of Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University.
He served from February 2022 – December 2023 as the International Medical Corps Mission Director in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt), supervising a staff of seven expats of different nationalities and over 75 local Palestinian staff, in Gaza and Bethlehem. He was elected in 2022 to the Executive Committee of the Association for International Development Agencies (AIDA) and served on the UN OCHA Humanitarian Country Team and UN HF Advisory Board.
Mr. Wind is a retired Senior Foreign Service Officer from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), having worked for 22 years on diplomatic assignments with USAID primarily overseas in Peru, Nicaragua, Angola, Nigeria, Iraq, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Mr. Wind previously worked for fifteen years for different nonprofit private voluntary organizations in Ecuador, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, and the UK, among others, also serving as the Global Programme Coordinator of the International Save the Children Alliance Secretariat. Mr. Wind also serves on the Boards of Directors of different NGOs, including Hunger Relief International, supporting their efforts with the neediest in Guatemala and Haiti.
He graduated from the University of Chicago. He is originally a New Yorker, and as a high schooler he was a "subway rat" attending the famous Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan. There he studied creative writing for two years with his teacher, the famous Irish American writer Frank McCourt. He has always been an avid science fiction fan and sometime writer, and notes that writing science fiction and creative writing under Frank was invaluable for future U.S. government work.
He served from February 2022 – December 2023 as the International Medical Corps Mission Director in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt), supervising a staff of seven expats of different nationalities and over 75 local Palestinian staff, in Gaza and Bethlehem. He was elected in 2022 to the Executive Committee of the Association for International Development Agencies (AIDA) and served on the UN OCHA Humanitarian Country Team and UN HF Advisory Board.
Mr. Wind is a retired Senior Foreign Service Officer from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), having worked for 22 years on diplomatic assignments with USAID primarily overseas in Peru, Nicaragua, Angola, Nigeria, Iraq, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Mr. Wind previously worked for fifteen years for different nonprofit private voluntary organizations in Ecuador, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, and the UK, among others, also serving as the Global Programme Coordinator of the International Save the Children Alliance Secretariat. Mr. Wind also serves on the Boards of Directors of different NGOs, including Hunger Relief International, supporting their efforts with the neediest in Guatemala and Haiti.
He graduated from the University of Chicago. He is originally a New Yorker, and as a high schooler he was a "subway rat" attending the famous Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan. There he studied creative writing for two years with his teacher, the famous Irish American writer Frank McCourt. He has always been an avid science fiction fan and sometime writer, and notes that writing science fiction and creative writing under Frank was invaluable for future U.S. government work.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 12, 2024
Struggled to Finish
I really wanted to like this book, partially as a way to relive my own time in the Andes. However, there is little to no description of the natural wonders or varied cultures of the area. Instead, we are reliant on the author's assertion that South America is not a monolith and are treated to his experiences with various aid organizations, which are frankly quite boring and smothered in arrogance.
A particularly entertaining moment of the book was when I had forgotten he had been reproducing his diary entries from his time in the peace corps (apparently verbatim) because they were so similar to the writing in the rest of the book. Once this section has ended, he admits some embarrassment over the arrogance of his younger voice, but this doesn't seem to have dissipated when age.
I will give the book points for the introduction to Baha'i, though it perhaps goes too far, by the author's own admission, into the realm of proselytizing.
I really wanted to like this book, partially as a way to relive my own time in the Andes. However, there is little to no description of the natural wonders or varied cultures of the area. Instead, we are reliant on the author's assertion that South America is not a monolith and are treated to his experiences with various aid organizations, which are frankly quite boring and smothered in arrogance.
A particularly entertaining moment of the book was when I had forgotten he had been reproducing his diary entries from his time in the peace corps (apparently verbatim) because they were so similar to the writing in the rest of the book. Once this section has ended, he admits some embarrassment over the arrogance of his younger voice, but this doesn't seem to have dissipated when age.
I will give the book points for the introduction to Baha'i, though it perhaps goes too far, by the author's own admission, into the realm of proselytizing.
August 16, 2024
This is a diary of sorts of a college student partying, failing classes, and finding his way during his time in the peace corps.
August 28, 2024
🔥❤️🔥🔥❤️🔥‼️
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 11, 2024
It's not exactly what i was anticipating, not a horrible read.
October 17, 2024
This book was interesting. My thoughts regarding this book are very much a dichotomy. On one hand, I enjoyed the personal anecdotes, but then there were times I thought there was too much descriptive information given. I enjoyed the fresh look that Allan presented in his descriptions of the countries and people that he met on his life's journey, but at times I thought the story was too glib in the details. Allan mentioned his spiritual discovery and how he has read many books on the subject, but he doesn't explain what actually caused his thinking to change regarding religion.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews