Pi, or Pete's House of God

What began as a logical step to complete a master's program quickly turns into an adventure of unexpected self discovery. The wrong bus in a foreign country sets off a series of events through unknown regions of Central America that eventually leads to a small town in southern Oregon. Chance meetings with awkward and enlightened characters, such as Aloha and her tonal therapy, Greg the Dog, Kentucky Steve, and others, illustrate the subtle intersection of the past, present, and future. These points in time collide, culminating in a dubious epiphany that gives insight to the potential futility in the quest for pi. One person's life develops as an amalgam of his own experiences overlaid with seemingly random and disconnected events and interactions with other people. The story begins at a point in time in the protagonist's life while he is undergoing an unconventional therapy. This psychological therapy is hopefully the final experience that will bring a sense of peace to a troubled young man who veered off his carefully planned course in life. Time bounces back and forth over several years as the main character struggles to discover who he is as a person and what the future may hold. We find him as a wide-eyed graduate student embarking on his thesis research. Heading the suggestion of his advisor, he heads to Mexico during the Zapatista uprising and winds up on the proverbial Gringo Trail. In one small village on Lake Atitlán, Guatemala, he bumps into an old friend. They set out to Costa Rica, where he takes residence in the mountain town of Turrialba and becomes a river guide. Years later, after his solo quest back to the United States, he ends up in southern Oregon working with an unorthodox non-profit organization dedicated to a mélange of new age-related activities. He ultimately loses his heart to a woman who unintentionally spends years affecting his ability to understand who he is and what related meaning exists in his life. Full of mental turmoil, he