8 Weeks and Counting!

Today - Wednesday, December 15th - marks the longest I have ever been out of the U.S.A. I left Albuquerque exactly 8 weeks ago with 1 backpack, an empty journal, and a few scattered ideas of what I wanted to get out of this trip. Now, I sit in the mountains of Guatemala, still with only 1 backpack but also with pages and pages of thoughts, experiences, ideas, and even more questions than when I left.

So here's a toast to:

8 weeks;

76 hours spent on 30 different buses;

as many emotions as humanly possible in just 56 days, and just as many emotions in 1 day;

missing home, getting over it;

feeling dirty and grungy, forgetting it;

bug bites;

planning, and then not doing any of it;

embracing "just being" and doing nothing for days, doing too much in too few days;

penny-pinching and eating bread for 3 meals, splurging on pina coladas on the beach;

running on soft sand during sunset, running while dodging tuk-tuks in the dark;

deep conversations about culture, politics, and war, not being able to physically form sentences in any language;

eating really good food, eating some really weird food;

laughing;

speaking only in Spanish one day, forgetting it all the next;

being confused about the future, remembering it doesn't really matter;

thinking 8 weeks is a long time, realizing it's no time at all.

Here's to 8 weeks of pure traveling, living day-by-day, and embracing every moment.

And thanks Amanda for being one helluva travel companion!