The Countdown

In something like 14 days (13 hours, 31 minutes, 22 seconds) from now, I will be leaving for South America on a seven month backpacking trip.

Why? Why South America?  I think this exerpt from the Lonely Planet Guidebook sums it up better than I could:

"South America kicks out unforgettable experiences on the road.  In fact, some would argue the road is the experience.  In South America, it's never short on challenge.  But that's what makes it South America.  Travel here is about struggling awake for a dawn departure after being kept up all night by a blaring soccer game.  It's about sucking dust on a long bus ride while manically trying to guess which of the towns you keep passing through is the one you intended to visit.  It means peaceful relief when you finally arrive and find you pack still on the roof.  It's the sight of begging children, the arduous haul to the hostel, a screaming bladder, and the excitement of a new town all catapulting your mind from one emotional extreme to another.  The hotel manager says the showers are hot, but the water hitting your back is as cold as a Patagonian glacier.  There's no seat on the toilet. (At least the bowels are behaving.)  You call the a fan?  It sounds like a helicopter! OK-food.  Leave the pack in the corner, get out the map, locate the market, grab the passport (or leave it behind?) and go.  The sun feels great.  Then you get lost, your mood turns sour and your blood sugar crashes, you find the market, smell the mangos, and you try to haggle but have no clue what the fruit seller is saying.  You finally hand over the cash-did you get ripped off?-and walk out to find a good place to eat.  And when you do, it's sheer and incomparable bliss."

I love traveling.