Title Change?

When I announced my need to sublease my apt while I'm gone to my coworkers, one of them raised an eyebrow. Apparently her almost two hour commute has started to take its toll and she is ready to move closer to the city soon. And the timing is perfect. Her ultimate goal is to buy a place. My apt in the city gives her the advantage of being able to see what's available with little effort. So "the 226 vacancy" will no longer be so. And I'll know the person keeping it filled. All the better. Plus, she has no need to bring her furniture so I can keep mine where it is. Saves me having to move everything to storage. Win, win, win.

She came by the place last night to give it a look and meet the roommates. Everyone seemed to gel well. And I'm pretty sure the spanish labels all over the house weren't a deterrent. So one problem solved. Now should I change the title of this blog?

Just In Case

Travel insurance is expensive. Seriously. I've never gotten it before because, well, I'm cheap. And I figured my employer-sponsored health insurance would cover any problems. But now that I'm doing the Galapagos Islands, the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, and a ridiculously priced trip to Antarctica, I am suddenly worried about recovering the cost of a canceled tour. And my current health insurance doesn't cover emergency evacuation (think helicopter transport from some iceberg in Antarctica). So I'm forced to consider the costs of various plans. To cover four months of travel, prices start at $650 and go up past $1500. Ouch.


I'm almost wanting something to happen just to get my money's worth out of this.

No Hablo Español

79 days to go and my Spanish sucks. I ordered my toppings in Spanish at Chipotle the other day and the woman behind the counter asked me "what?" with each topping.

- tomate, por favor
- what?
- tomato

- maíz
- what?
- corn

- crema, por favor
- what?
- sour cream

- cheese
- anything else?
- nada mas
- what?
- no, that's it.

My coworker ordered his entire meal in Spanish.

English Only?

Tonight I grabbed a few drinks with a friend of a friend who is also going to South America for several months at about the same time I am going. She is flying to Buenos Aires at the beginning of October and flying out of Lima in April. Apparently she, too, felt this was a good time in her life to do an extended trip. During the course of the conversation we declared we would meet up some where along the way. This makes the fourth acquaintance from DC I will meet up with in South America. That is a lot of time to speak English while I am there. Am I defeating the purpose of this trip?

On the up side, each person I plan on meeting there speaks Spanish. I guess I can attempt to speak only Spanish to them as well. But am I bringing DC with me?

Fiesta Foreva

A few nights ago DL mentioned a going away party before I leave. This was actually brought up after seeing a brochure for Chik-fil-A party platters (just an excuse for chik-fil-a, i think). The thought of a going away party had never crossed my mind. Is four months of travel really worth a party? Leaving for grad school, peace corp, even six months around the world: all good reasons for a party. But an extended vacation?

OK, any excuse can be found for a party. I guess anything can happen while I'm there. Like possibly finding a design job and deciding to stay for a couple of years. Who knows? Maybe a party is a good idea — in case four months turns into two years. In which case I'd regret not having a party to say goodbye...

Good Advice

I did a happy hour yesterday at my favorite dive bar, Fans, with a former coworker who has since quit his job (thus the "former" label) and traveled the world. He imparted some good advice: you can't see it all. He's right. South America is a large continent. There's no way I can see everything I should see in four short months. Hell, I could spend four months in just one country and I wouldn't be able to see everything I should see. His suggestion: if I ever find myself in a situation where I have to pick one site over another, tell myself I will be back. And it's true. There will be plenty of time in the future to revisit a country.

One other piece of advice he had was to always pick social interaction over a "must-see" site. I agree with this with some reservations. Meeting people in other countries and really getting to know them and how they think can provide immeasurable insight to ideas and beliefs outside my "box". It can also lend great stories to share in the future. But it would be difficult to convince myself to spend a late night in a bar with a group of peruvians knowing I might miss my ride to Machu Picchu the next day. Hopefully I'll have the opportunity to do both.

Another Superlative

The Northern-most capital city? Reykjavík (seen it)
Southern-most city? Ushuaia (will see it in January)
Highest elevated capital city? La Paz (will see it in December)
Driest place in the world? OK, not a city. But the Atacama Desert is the driest place in the world and I just discovered it's a mere 180km into Chile from Bolivia. I actually just discovered, um, it. Never heard of the Atacama Desert before this morning when I noticed a question about it on Lonely Planet's thorntree.com. But after seeing pictures, realizing how close it is to where I'll be, and begging my friend to drive me over there, I now find myself trying to figure out how to fit one more country into my travels.

Four Months

...and counting.

I've Got Reservations

Turns out the boat I originally wanted, but was full, now has an open space. So I reserved that space and put down a deposit. I'll be sailing (motoring) around the Galapagos Islands on the Encantada. And it is $300 cheaper than the other yacht. Booya

Extended Stay

After talking to a couple of the outfits in Ecuador that work with various Galapagos yachts, I realized none of the trips would fit my schedule without making me take some time away from the countries I planned to visit later in the trip. Granted I could have dropped a lot more money and found one to accommodate me. But these 8-day yacht cruises (in my price range) were already hovering around $1200 (ok, so not really in my price range). Add to that the $380 round trip ticket to the islands from mainland Ecuador. Plus a $100 Galapagos park entrance fee, and I was already well over budget. So spending more on a yacht wasn't a solution. What to do?

Call Delta and see how much it would cost to add a week to my flight schedule. There was a service charge of $180, but the ticket price went down so I ended up only paying $125 to switch my dates. Now I can take the yacht I can afford, at the time it's available, and it won't take any time away from seeing the other countries. Problem solved.

Well, not exactly. After changing my ticket, I contacted the company I had been working with to reserve a slot on the yacht I wanted. Turns out they had upgraded the boat in the past two weeks and the price had jumped $180. Now I'm looking for another boat I can afford...