At three o'clock, we were summoned to the same room as in the morning. We were surprised with the news that Eduardo, Mario, and Hernán had resigned from the retreats. I knew that this implied a penalty; it was within the contract, so I was surprised that someone would think of resigning and assuming that fine, which was not cheap at all. It also made me uneasy that the ones who had just left were precisely my neighbors and those who had openly identified as gay. "Could this have anything to do with their resignation? Had they truly resigned or were they actually expelled?” I asked myself a thousand questions, but I remembered that my friend had told me that there was no problem regarding issues of sexuality, gender, race, social class, etc., in attending the retreats, so I opted to let the subject pass and focus on what was important.

Carlos gave a lecture on the importance of obedience. The topic struck me as strange, but he justified it well with what had happened in the morning. Then, we had a group bonding activity where we were divided into pairs. I intentionally sought to pair up with Santiago, the rugby player, with whom I shared a table at lunch. He transmitted good energy, and I could confirm it during our hour and a half conversation in the workshop. He told me he had married very young, practically with his first and only girlfriend. He confirmed that he was 36 years old and that at 16, he made his now-wife, Eliana, pregnant. This fact forced him to take responsibility for that child and marry Eliana as soon as he was able to provide for a home. He didn’t feel obligated because she was his girlfriend, and he had always been in love with her, but he did confess that at this point, he was exhausted because he had missed out on many things during his adolescence and youth for being married and having the responsibility of a child. His eldest son was 20 years old, and his second daughter was indeed a product of the marriage and came much later, after being sought and planned, and she was 11 years old. Everything I discussed with Santiago left me with the impression that he was experiencing a crisis close to 40, with many un lived experiences due to his life history. I could identify with it because I have several friends in the same situation, and what they have told me is that they are at a point where they want to live all those things they couldn’t in their youth. There is even one of them who has hinted at threesomes with his wife upon learning of my bisexuality and frequently asks me about gay topics. That wasn't Santiago's case, but I did notice he seemed anxious to live and experience things he hadn’t been able to in his youth. This left me a bit thoughtful and, why not, eager to tempt him to see if he would fall for it. The guy was very attractive, and his attitude made him much more interesting. I admit that my time with him left me wanting to get to know him more. Additionally, I don’t know if I mentioned that...