it is time...

i'm off to the airport!!!! SOOOO excited!!!!

and probably going to completely pass out on the flights because i haven't slept... =)

t minus 30 hours

oh my GOSH today was difficult. didn't really think about much else other than my trip. definitely walking around with a stupid grin on my face because i leave on tuesday!!!!!!!

i had a couple really good conversations with people about traveling in peru and ecuador - one was with a friend from columbia and another was with someone who had traveled through parts of south america. super encouraging and made me get THAT much more excited. also, i hadn't realized that there is a decently large population of chinese people down there - meaning i might actually blend in better than i thought i would. and though i don't speak spanish, i could probably get by on cantonese or mandarin without much difficutly. and i ironed a canadian flag patch onto my daypack - so i should not be mistaken to be american which is good.

so i did my practice pack yesterday and everything fit. and then i just sat there for a bit figuring out how many hours were left. and then i just got WAY too excited and had to unpack everything again so that there was still something that had to be done before i could go. the plan was to pack everything up on monday night and just distract myself with other things for the last evening. but what with all the talk about traveling and south america that had happened last night and today, i couldn't help myself and just got it all packed.

my big pack (50 L) and my day pack (20ish L). bear is not coming with me.

I'M READY TO GO!!!!!!

just gotta do one more day of work first...

four more sleeps and the new plan!!!

so after spending a few hours on the phone and talking to three american airline customer service agents (one of whom had NO idea what customer service means) - i finally have my flight into south america confirmed. i've decided to cut out bolivia completely and just spend two months wandering around peru and ecuador; i figure if airlines aren't flying in, it's probably in my best interest not to try to bus in from peru. i'm QUITE choked that i won't get to ride down the death road on my birthday and i've heard good things about la paz and was going to find me a jungle tour i bolivia, but apparently there's enough in peru and ecuador to keep me busy.

here's the new plan:

1. arrive lima (peru) october 1
2. hang out in lima for a day or two
3. head down to nazca and see if i can go up in a hot air balloon to see the nazca lines - a friend was telling me about the hot air balloon option as it is more appealing than the tin can airplane option; anyone know anything of this?
4. head over to arequipa and hang out for a few days
5. head over to puno and check out lake titicaca
6. head up to cuzco and hang out for a few days
7. start hiking the lares trek on october 24 and be back in cuzco october 27
8. start hiking the inca trail up to macchu picchu on october 28 and be back in cuzco october 31
9. head back to lima and make my way up the coast into ecuador
10. hang out on a beach somewhere on the west coast of ecuador
11. go surfing
12. make my way up to quito (ecuador) and hopefully check out cuenca, banos and volcanoes on the way
13. do a couple day trips from quito up to the equator line and otavalo
14. fly out to the galapagos islands on november 18 for an 8 day boat tour and be back in quito on november 26
15. fly out of quito and back to calgary on november 28 and try to figure out life again

so that's the tentative plan. and by tentative, i mean that there's a TON of other stuff that i'm just discovering that i can do. so that plan will change. i still need to figure out where i'm going to fit in an amazon rainforest/jungle tour. AND i just found out that i can do a cycling trip around some active volcanoes in ecuador!!!! so i just might hightail it to quito after the beach and do the volcano bike ride and amazon tour from quito...hm...so many options...

i did a practice pack earlier this week and had to stop half way cuz i was getting WAY too excited. gonna do another practice pack this weekend and then the REAL pack on monday!

that's all the stuff i'm bringing (not including the hammock)

how is my trip complicated even BEFORE i get there?!?!

hmm. i did not intend for my first post to be so dramatic. it was suppose to be more of an introductory/what's going on/where i'm at type of thing. but life happens. and apparently drama likes my life. sigh.

so, the original plan:

1. arrive in la paz, bolivia october 1
2. cycle down the world's most dangerous road on october 4 as the sweetest birthday present i've EVER gotten myself
3. find myself a tour company that will take me into the amazon rainforest
   
4. make my way towards the bolivian-peruvian border and make it to lake titicaca
5. hang out in and around puno, peru and lake titicaca and make my way up to cuzco, peru
6. start the 4 day lares trail hike on october 24, taking me through the valley below macchu picchu and ending at macchu picchu
7. october 28 - back in cuzco to start the 4 day hike up the inca trail leading into macchu picchu
8. wander my way up towards ecuador and hang out on some beaches
9. wander through ecuador a bit and end up in quito for a bit
10. do a 10-day boat tour through the galapagos islands starting november 17
11. hop on a plane in quito on november 28 and come back to calgary

so that was plan until about three hours ago. i got a call from american airlines saying that they're canceling all their flights into bolivia due to political instability and civil unrest. i had gone on the Canadian government travel advisory website and yeah, there were warnings about going to bolivia (i believe it recommended to avoid all non-essential travel) but the people at the hostel in la paz and the bike tour company all said that it was mostly southeastern bolivia that had riots, demonstrations, protests and road blockades but life was business as usual in la paz. i was still going. but now i don't have a ride in. and i thought about just flying into peru and busing into bolivia but it would really suck to get stuck in bolivia. so now i have to come up with a new plan.

what's the new plan? i don't know yet. i'm getting mixed messages from aa and i don't know how much my insurance will cover. sigh. i just want to get to south america...