Worthwhile Wandering

As Amanda and I begin the final preparations for our voyage, I realized that perhaps it would behoove everyone else to know what we have researched and planned during the last couple months. Not only was the timing serendipitous in talking with Amanda back in June about traveling, but it was wonderful to find someone who also wants to travel with a purpose. While one of our driving motivators for this trip is to satisfy our itch to explore outside the U.S., another is to gather an understanding of the environmental and economical concerns that face developing countries, and to attempt to further solidify what we would like to pursue in graduate school. It is as though I have a few stepping stones pacing out the route I would like to study, and hopefully this trip will bridge those gaps into a (more) concrete path.

As we soak up Latin American culture to the fullest, we also plan to reside and work at these nonprofit organizations.

Asociación de Productores de Orquideas de El Valle y Cabuya, El Valle de Antón, Panama

Spanning across the world, there are thought to be over 20,000 species of Orchidaceae, or orchids. This family of flowers is the second largest family of flowering plants, just following the sunflower and daisy family. In 1862, Charles Darwin wrote the Fertilisation of Orchids, bringing the ideas of specialization and insect pollination to light. Although this biologically important flower can be found on nearly every terrain (yes, even in Southern Patagonia), most are found in tropical Central America. The Republic of Panama is home to over 1,500 species of Orchid, placing it among the top orchid-rich countries in the world.

Now, take a deep sigh. The destruction of the rainforest has affected the global orchid population. And, surprise surprise, many rare orchid species are on the fast-train to extinction. Additionally, in El Valle, Panama, high poverty rates have driven some to illegally remove endangered orchids from the forest to sell for steep profits.

APROVACA (Asociación de Productores de Orquideas de El Valle y Cabuya) began in 2001 to conserve Panamanian orchid species. The nonprofit organization has two missions: to breed the endangered orchids in an effort to pull them back into abundance; and to grow and sell non-native species to promote sustainable ecotourism.

Amanda and I will volunteer with APROVACA to better understand the economical, environmental, and social implications of ecotourism, as well as learning conservation techniques hands-on.

AguaClara, Honduras

Funny how once you've left somewhere, you realize how amazing the opportunities are. Over a year after graduating, did I (embarrassing to admit - a Natural Resources minor) hear about AguaClara from Amanda. Cornell University professor, Monroe Weber-Shirk, began the organization in 2005. AguaClara, led by Weber-Shirk and fueled by Cornell students, designs drinking water treatment equipment that is sustainable—both in cost and knowledge for people in resource-deficient, financially-struggling communities.

AguaClara has launched several water treatment plants across Honduras. Here, I hope to get an inside view of this organization to better understand the logistical and political elements of running an environmental sustainability organization. I also would like to use this opportunity to gather information about various water sanitation procedures and to truly understand first-hand the health necessity of pure water. Amanda, writing for the United Nations, will be working on and article highlighting AguaClara, which will allow us the opportunity to see and learn details not advertised to the public.

Mercado Global, Panajachel, Guatemala

Mercado Global began in 2004 and is a fair trade, nonprofit organization that supports indigenous women in the rural town of Panajachel, near Lake Atitlan. We hope to work with this organization for a couple weeks writing stories and blog entries about poverty and education, the effects of fair trade, and indigenous women's rights for the organization's website .

I hope to also use this opportunity to interview women in Panajachel, and the directors of this successful nonprofit, about microfinance. I am interested in learning more about the feasibility of microloans for women in developing nations, the pros and cons to the economic concept, and how I might go about becoming more involved with this type of business further down the line.

WOOFing, Ecuador

In Ecuador, and possibly in Peru and Chile, we are hoping to work on an organic farm. WOOFing, short for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, is quickly becoming a backpacking hot trend. People from all over the world are opening farms that promote sustainable farming techniques. The farms often offer homestays for travelers—food and living in exchange for daily work. This will not only be a great way to meet locals but also to learn about sustainable farming practices (to either employ or pass along to others), and to understand the economics of the farming world.

The rest is to be determined, based on time, health, funding, and where our spirits take us. And ideally, somewhere along the way I will hopefully be steered in a direction to pursue when I return to the States. (Or not, and I will return still confused about the future, but at least with my eyes open a little wider.)

Rough Sketch

Here is a rough sketch of our plans that will take us from October 20th to January 4th...

October 20th: Fly from the States to Panama City
October 22nd: Travel by bus to El Valle de Anton, Panama to live with our appointed host family and conserve orchids
November 22nd: Begin our trek through Costa Rica and Nicaragua via bus en route to Honduras
November 29th: Work with nonprofit Agua Pura in Honduras to help bring clean water to rural families
December 12th: Travel to Guatemala, TBD
December 21st: Fly to Cancun for the holidays
January 4th: Fly to Quito, Ecuador

Farewell Lucy, You Were a Good Car

According to the Bureau of Transportation Services, in 2008, there were 255,917,664 registered vehicles in the United States of America. The U.S. population that year, as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau was 304,059,724. That means only 48 million Americans, only 15% of the entire population in 2008, was car-less.

15%

Photo from http://thesituationist.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/traffic.jpg

What does this have to do with a blog about international travel? Well, it all began when I spoke with my father earlier today and told him about my car wreck last night. While I sat distraught, he told me over the phone to thank the heavens that no one was hurt and that really it was just cheap metal and plastic that was lost. He went on to tell me that I am just one accident of many in our poor-designed, car-dependent nation. And while his words initially rolled over me like water on a duck, later I began wondering if he was right . . .

The U.S. is truly car-dependent. I have been attempting to read bus schedules and figure out a route to get from my house in the Northeast Heights to Downtown for work. 50 minutes just to head west on Lomas, and then I have to walk an additional 6 blocks. And just as I was beginning to disregard that option as a possibility, in less than 24 hours, I have had 3 friends offer me one of their cars - which I am very grateful for, but also makes me wonder: Why is it we cannot imagine life without a vehicle?

Albuquerque is composed principally of one-story buildings and spreads out for miles. With a poor bus system, no trains or subways, and few bike-friendly lanes, citizens are left with the option to . . . drive. According to an article released by Bicycling Magazine and later published in the Huffington Post, Albuquerque, NM is ranked # 17 for the Top 50 Most Bike Friendly Cities in the U.S. Yet, ask bikers here, and they might not agree. Our city ranks high because we live in a desert with more than our share of empty space. While it is true we do have many so-declared "bike trails," these designated bike routes largely run along arroyos where cars can't even go. But, to be called a friendly bike city in reference to commuting daily to work through city streets?! HA!

So biking is not the best option. Bussing is certainly not the most time-saving route. And as for driving, well, my vehicle is currently a pile of carnage for the car junkies to pick off pieces like vultures.

In conclusion, how I get to work Saturday morning is still up for debate. What's certain though, is the U.S. has a car addiction problem. With further research, the number 15% becomes even more appalling.

In 2008 (to keep things consistent), as recorded by the World Bank, there were 6,697,254,041 people in the world. There were also 806 million cars. Which calculates to be 87.9% of people in the world are car-less.

87.9% vs. 15%

Is our nation set up for mishaps - in the way it's civically designed, and from its dependence on vehicles? And globally, are we set up for disaster with the 260 billion gallons of petrol burned every year just on automobiles?

I've often said to those who worry about my safety abroad, that it's more likely to get in a car accident in the U.S. than something happening to me in Antigua, Guatemala or El Valle, Panama. Although I deeply wish I didn't need to prove it for real.

Watch the number of cars produced this year alone climb steadily by the second.

33 Days and Counting

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.

2 Blondes on a Mission

"I have come to understand that life is composed of a series of coincidences. How we react to these - how we exercise what some refer to as free will - is everything; the choices we make within the boundaries of the twists of fate determine who we are." - John Perkins, from Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.

John Perkins explains the coincidences that led to his career as an EHM: one was a rebellious friend, the other a young girl who captured his heart. Is Perkins correct in that the mere meetings or interactions with others can truly alter our path? Perhaps he sheds more light onto why we make decisions than we ourselves care to admit. For aren't we often too proud to confess that others affect what we think or do; don't our ego's like to think that we made decisions regardless of what others say?

But to declare that I have made the decision to travel across Latin America- be it through fate, free will, or a series of coincidences - without the influence of others, is to deny how I arrived at this point. It would ignore the events that made me feel stir-crazy and the people that first planted the seeds in my mind to travel.

Had I not been so discouraged by the nonprofit I worked for immediately after graduation in 2009, and had I decided to stick it out rather than spontaneously quit and fly home, I would never have worked retail. And that would have been sad indeed, for I would have spared myself the torture of selling Christmas ornaments 3 months in advance. And I would have also never jumped on the opportunity to spontaneously jet set to Guatemala with my friend Stephanie, just to avoid continuing on my path of retail hell.

The people I met in Guatemala and the series of coincidences that occurred there didn't subdue my desire to travel like I thought they would, but rather only fueled the flame. I met one young woman who quit her amazing job as a magazine editor, forfeiting her free flights and free clothes to work in Santa Maria for a year. I met another girl who bought a round-the-world ticket and planned to set foot on almost every continent before returning a year later to London. My host brother in Guatemala spent two years learning English from a group of Aussies as he traveled Europe - and needless to say, hearing a Guatemalan man speak English with an Australian accent is priceless. And spending so much time with Steph, who is one of the most ambitious young ladies I know, also helped me ask myself, what do I really want to do with my life?

Shortly after arriving back in the states and back in New Mexico in March, I had an interview for an assistant manager position with a large salary and a 2-year contract. I, obviously, didn't get the position. Yet I'm beginning to think that being denied the opportunity was a blessing. For if I had, I would probably not be driving a $450 piece of metal with a broken bumper, no AC, and no turn signals, and I also wouldn't be waitressing.

Which leads to the final coincidence. If I was doing something else, I might not spend half of my day dreaming about leaving the country. I might not be wondering what the others I met in Guatemala are doing now, or what they are experiencing. So it is actually a very fortunate series of coincidences that has fostered my intense desire to continue to learn Spanish, to work with those less fortunate in any way I can, and to see what I've only glimpsed in books.

Having arrived at the conclusion that I needed to at least find a way out of Albuquerque, I emailed my friend Amanda asking her if she knew of any internships abroad. Quickly this conversation budded into full force plans to travel together.

October 20th: Amanda and I will meet in Panama City, where we will (safely!) shuttle down to El Valle de Anton where we will live with a Panamanian host family and work at an orchid nursery to help bring back endangered flower species. Here's the website: http://aprovaca.webs.com/

From there we will likely move up through Central America with a possible longer stay in Honduras with another environmental conservation internship (still in the works) and then perhaps fly down to Ecuador. We shall see...

But whatever happens and however long we end up staying, I haven't been this excited for quite some time :)

It's Good To Hate Your Job

It's good to hate your job. Why? Because the only two things you think about when you exit through the glass doors to the glorious parking lot is, one, how much your feet hurt after standing for an eight hour shift, and two, what you could be doing instead of serving salads, burgers, and cake.

It's also good to work a job that quickly becomes routine. Because as you drop a lemon into an ice tea glass for the one hundredth time that day, you can simultaneously think about where you could go next.

Like, say . . . Panama.

And then you could continue south through Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Argentina. And then you could loop back up until you get to Venezuela.

Or until you run out of money. Or get eaten by a llama. Or a monkey.

At least that is the plan for now. (To travel until my girlfriend from college and I run out of money. And to avoid monkeys.) We are currently working on setting dates and making concrete plans. But the dreams are tossed out there, and have already begun to take shape. We recently applied (and were accepted) to a non-profit organization in Panama that provides free housing and food, in exchange for working to conserve wild orchids. OK!?!

Nothing is set in ink yet, but stay tuned . . .