Packed and Ready

The preparations are complete. I can think of not one more thing I need to do before I leave tomorrow morning. The backpack is as full as it can be and carrying it, well, let’s just say that won’t be the most pleasant part of the trip. Now I just have to hope that the flights go well and that there is actually someone waiting at the airport in San Jose, Costa Rica to pick me up tomorrow.

My complete 9-month itinerary is still tentative, just as always with any trip I plan. One never knows who one might encounter and want to tag along with in the course of a trip, so I don’t like things to be set in stone. I will start my trip in Costa Rica. I was all set to volunteer with WIDECAST in a little town on the beach (Caribbean side) called Cahuita, but I received an e-mail just today that they are shutting down operations at Cahuita. They have offered, however, to let me volunteer in Gandoca, which is a little further south and a little more remote. I’m guessing this will be fine. I’ve decided to pay for a three-week stint at which time I’ll re-evaluate. I don’t want to lock myself into something that I may not end up liking. This organization helps to preserve the sea turtle population. They’ve indicated I’ll be helping with baby turtles (yay!) and beach clean-up (not so yay!).

After those three weeks I think I’m going to spend 1-2 weeks participating in a Spanish language school and doing some adventure trips, like whitewater rafting and the canopy zip line tours. I would really like to become fluent in Spanish while I’m down there, so a school seems like a good way to force myself to speak the language.

After those two weeks, ??? If I like the turtle project, I may go back to it. If not, then I have other options. There’s a project working in a facility that rehabilitates birds and then releases them into the wild. There’s also a lodge in northern Costa Rica that I learned of, and I’ve contacted them for more information. And then I’m sure I could find plenty of things once I get there.

After my time in Costa Rica is up (90 days since that’s the maximum I can stay without either leaving the country for 72 hours or applying for an extension), I think I’ll head to Ecuador. I want to go to the Galapagos Islands (it’s been a dream destination of mine for years) and need to do that before cash gets low. There’s a wildlife rehab facility just outside Mera, Ecuador where I plan to volunteer. I’ll probably stay there three months. Then it may be on to Peru where I’ve identified another volunteer opportunity.

Thanks to everyone who has wished me the best on my adventures and given me advice. I have to say, though, that probably the best advice (and most obvious, I should point out) I’ve received came from my brother: “Don’t get dead.” If you know my brother, you won’t find these words surprising. If you don’t know my brother, well, maybe now you have a pretty good idea of where I come from.

Flights tomorrow: 6:15 a.m. to Chicago, 7:40 a.m. to Charlotte, 11:24 a.m. to San Jose. I arrive at 1:30 p.m. Costa Rican time, which is two hours behind the East Coast. I hope to hit the Internet tomorrow night just so the fam knows I arrived okay.