adalante!

as of today, we have one month to go. its an interesting feeling. today someone at work asked me if i would be back next year, and i responded, not wanting to get into it “no, i’m moving.” and at that moment it semi hit me — i guess that is what we are doing. except we arent a hundred percent sure where we’re moving to. or, we are moving and we will keep on moving, for a little while at least. either way, it’ll be a change. i’ve left ny before, for a month here and there, and college, which i dont think counts, but i’ve never moved out of it. i am, to be honest, a little nervous.

but mainly i’m excited. a month from today we should be in guayaquil, ecuador, presumably sweating our asses off and maybe (hopefully) looking at a lizard or two. but, before then, there’s more boring shit to get through: shots to get, stuff to move, an online tefl course to finish, cavities (lots of cavities!) to fill, etc. in the meantime i shall do my best to spare you, my adorable readers, the gory, soporific details. 

–anna

and she…

clothing

bottoms: convertible short/pant pants (1), favorite jeans in the world, even tho unwise (1), running shorts (1), leggings (1), brown skirt (1)

tops: fleece (1), fleec-y pullover (1), raincoat (1), tank top (2), duofold t shirt (2), duofold long sleeve shirt (2)

underwear: 7 pairs, bra, tho don’t really need (3), pairs socks (7), tankini (1), bikini (?)(1), money belt (2)

footwear: pair leather tevas (not intentionally advertising but The Best Sandal in the World, they deserve to be mentioned) (1), pair hiking sneakers, to be purchased (1)

head/eyewear: seattle cap, sunglasses, glasses

linens ‘n’ things

travel towel (1), travel sheet (1), travel (or army jungle) hammock, to be purchased (1)

meds

pepto, ibiprophen, immodium, benadryl, 1 pers cipro, 1 pers other antibiotic, 12 mths estrostep, multi-vitamin, all t.b.p.

first aid

gauze, thread, bacitracin, band aids, butterfly bandaids, purell, mini first aid kit, mini sewing kit, all t.b.p., army knife

toiletres

ivory soap, shampoo, q tips, deoderant, small brush, rubber bands, lubriderm, tampons, toothpaste, toothbrush, eyeliner, chapstick, sunblock

books

journal, l.p. peru, fire from the andes (short stories), the complete short stories of earnest hemmingway

music

ipod (god help me), wallplug

other

passport (1), copies of passport, traveler check card, nys id (1), bank card, yellow fever cert, copy immun. history, camara, address book

——————————————————————————————-

i do apologize for the above; how terrible for you readers! but this is the only packing list i wont lose.

underwear                                                                                         extra

     5 underwear (u)                                                                  1 poncho (l)
     5 pairs socks (u)                                                                 1 silk sheet (l)
     2 cut-off T (u)                                                                     1 hammock w/ropes (l)
     2 basketball/swimming shorts (u)                                          1 towel (l)

upper-wear                                                                                              

     6 T-shirts (u)                                                                                  first aid
     1 fleece (u)
     1 hoodie (u)                                                                      tube basatracin
     1 shell (u)                                                                         pack immodium
     3 LS shirts (l)                                                                    some band-aids
     2 hats (u)                                                                         bottle vitamins
     1 poncho (l)                                                                      q-tips 

lower-wear                                                                          soap                          

     2 shorts (u)                                                                      bottlito shampoo
     1 pant/shorts (l)                                                                nail clip
     2 long pants (l)                                                                  tweezer
     1 sleeping pant (l)                                                              beard trimmer
     1 boots (on)                                                                     crystal deodorant
     1 sneakers(l)
     1 teva (l)                                                                                         I.D.

games                                                                                    passport

     2 packs cards                                                                      drivers license

     backgammon                                                                       ATM card

     mancala                                                                              2 credit cards

Books                                                                                     wallet

     journal                                                                                money belt

     moon Ecuador

     best american travel essays 2006 (or 5)

     beloved

     collapse

     the dante club

     the origin of species

entertainment

     Mp3

     speakers

     monocular

     petzl

p>so, yes, this is a bit premptive. but we are starting the process of getting things ready for leaving, and starting a travel blog was on the checklist. and since starting a blog requires no actual physical movement, this is one of the first things that we got done.

at present, we are surviving a late winter slump. anthony is teaching his course at brooklyn college while completing his thesis, and i (anna) am dragging through the last three months of school with my thrid grade class, while trying to live through the various illnesses they keep giving me (wretched, wretched children). but, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, as we now have our 1 way ticket to guayaquil, ecuador. departure date: july 6. july 6 is significant because its the date we set off on our 6 week tour of the northwestern US and british columbia last year. that went very well so we figured july 6 should be a lucky date for us to embark on our masterly planned journey.

which is: we will travel north through ecuador, then back south (probably out to the galapagos) through peru and down into chile, where we hope to get jobs teaching english as a foreign language (i know, everybody and their grandmother wants to also and its not that easy, but one can have hopes, no?). we plan to stray from the south-north-south route often, to go to the jungle and bolivia and various other places. we plan to be in chile by october. we are both going to do a tefl program and register for a job placement program, plus we both have masters degrees, in english and education, respectively, so we hope this will help us to get a job. we’ll see, though.

before then, however, there is a lot to get through, some not so bad. in 2 weeks im headed off to puerto rico, where i will spend some time with my parents at my mother’s beach apartment (yeah.), and some time with friends in st. thomas. meanwhile, anthony will be off to japan with his folks, which he will post about.

until then, i will try to keep posts interesting and travel related…

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