Goodness me, no, I was not aware of what undiscovered issues I might be encountering in a far away land.

The distinctive style of the country where my ancestors and myself came from, worked and lived, dwells, at all time, in my mind as the beat of my heart hit me so hard and repeatedly from neck to waist that I can hardly breathe( I have a spiritual weak heart ); but I learnt earlier on in life, when I was a boy, that my country was not the limits of my world since I was born with a strong independent streak. It pained me greatly to say farewell to the world in which I was raised but I had a chance to reflect on the economical and political developments of my homeland which was, in my opinion, lowering its arms to political coteries which advocated public ownership of industries, resources, and transport, following the excitement generated by the nationalisation of the oil in 1975. 

Many embraced nationalisation of the oil as an inherent admirable motion of the government at the time without giving any due consideration to the corollaries of such motion and, indeed, multifarious commune thought it was the right thing to do at the time. However, it was a false economy and inevitably it proved to be unsustainable since, thereafter, the government introduced the devaluation of its currency prompting a reduction in economic activity which resulted in lower output and investment in the country. Sure-footed, I thought this direction taken would end up in tears for many and in the midst of the jubilation no one was prepared to listening to the possible consequences of such a historical deed; inescapable when people allow into their world something they are not sure they want and when they discover what it is, the grass had grown far too much then under their feet in order to do anything about it. Albeit, the signs that these powerful changes were coming many chose to disregard them, but I just could not ignore them and I have no option but to alter substantially my feelings and my way of life in order to give voice to my needs and views of which I was then keenly conscious. In retrospect it was the conceivable invasion to my values such as freedom of thought and speech and the spirit of intellectual scrutiny, at point of issues, which very often make inaudible rational arguments without giving any respect to the basic rights of people to liberty and justice, that sparked my lifelong passion for travelling. Yeah! They impelled me without compelling me to rethink arrangements, affiliation and alliances which I considered to be committed to, and all that jazz I no longer felt I was comfortable with, but I have responsibilities of my own to fulfill too and as that world continued at pace I knew that it was not going to step aside for me.  Indeed, I had a feeling, a sense, a vague, an indefinable notion about what I might one day achieve, play or a way in which I could do something worthwhile and fulfil some of my baseball player's potential before I embraced the decision of going abroad. However, talking about getting away was not easy but I spotted an opportunity to remedy my inconsistency with my environment and fled the boundaries of my flat land of conformity to follow a dream that I suddenly saw in on an offer.  Goodness me, no, I was not aware of what undiscovered issues I might be encountering in a far away land but saying yes to an opportunity that would open up my life in many ways was as unsettling as it was exciting; nevertheless, that decision was extremely detrimental to my chances of playing professional baseball in my homeland or even Major League in the U.S.A., but there again, no-one could assure me in advance that a certain outcome of my risky enterprise, like the one I took, came with guaranties.  Now that I had an opportunity to let others know how I felt then, I don't know if I had done the right thing since no-one seems to be concerned. Disappointments, there have been many but I have learned to live with them and there is no arguing that my tolerance and endurance have been my silent witnesses.  Nevertheless, I think it would have been a great mistake if I had constrained my ambitious, restricted my expectations and found some way to be glad of what I had then since my appetite was not just for fine food, fellowship and finery in life,... I was hungered for challenges too".

Pedro Figueras