> Some OSS projects suggest using things like pyenv to help. I don't know, it just seems to make things even worse for me because now even 'which python' doesn't tell me anything because it directs to some shell script shims that I can't parse or understand.

Quick tip:

    pyenv which [python,pip,...]
    pyenv help

The shimming of Pyenv can bite you sometimes, but for the most part it has the tools necessary built in to help you figure out your env.