It's mid-September, and Amanda and I leave the country in just 33 days. Daily customers at work, and acquaintances that know I'm leaving soon, ask: "Are you packing already?!" Which, I'm pretty sure you know the answer to. Uh . . . no? Some people have a slightly different response when they hear about our trip. They ask: "Why?" And to that, I would like to propose the answer, why not?
Why not backpack across Latin America? Why is it that traveling, for any extended period of time, to locales off the beaten path and outside of the resort haven, is so . . . for lack of a better word, foreign? Because, yes it is foreign, that is exactly why one should it.
According to an article published in The Expeditioner Online Travel Magazine, only 22% of Americans own a passport. The article also reports that the annual number of issued passports in America has gone down since 2007. Is this because people suffer more abroad? Is it because there are terrorists in foreign countries? Is traveling outside of the U.S. too hard or scary or unknown? Or dare I suggest the worst possibility of all - is it because Americans lack interest in other countries?
I'd like to say that I am ready, packed and organized, and mentally prepared for the 6-month jaunt we're about to embark on. But alas, this is not the case. I still have a shopping list that includes everything from mosquito nets, to malaria pills, to shoes. I have a car to sell, and farewells to say. I am somehow fitting in a week-long trip to New Orleans, and still working 40+ hours for the next three weeks. But it's OK, because when you see the two ladies who are about to conquer Latin America, I'm sure all your worries will be put at ease.
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