Only 6 more days until I am finally leaving the US and entering South America. I am SO excited that all my fears have slowly diminished. It might hit me the day that I leave but for now, no worries, just full of excitement! This is definitely the biggest adventure that I will ever experience so far in my life! IT'S FREAKING SOUTH AMERICA and THE AMAZON! I'd like to start off my traveling BIG! And what my friend was told, once you travel in South America, you can travel anywhere! So it looks like we will be expert travelers by the end of February!
We are pretty much ready for the adventure to begin! We are picking different places to stay so we can get a feel of Buenos Aires. Maybe a day or 2 in Mendoza/Andes! And with luck and time we can make it to Patagonia, the Pampas, and maybe even the Falklands! Then we'll get 2 days on the border of Argentina/Brazil/Paraguay. 1 day in Iguazù on the Argentina side and 1 day in Iguassu on the Brazil side. Then we will have 4 days in the Amazon! We picked a good tour that will be full of adventure and excitement and get as much as we can from it in the 4 days that we have. Then we will have a whole day in Manaus to sightsee and take in the city before the remainder of the trip in Rio. We did get the hostel in Rio during Carnival, which we were extremely lucky because we got it right in Copacabana near all of the action during this out of control celebration! We have plenty of time after Carnival is over to spend sightseeing and checking out the food and everything Brazil has to offer.
The ONLY thing I have been freaking out about is the rabies. There is a moderate chance that we can get it in the Amazon and to me, moderate=high! So I went to talk to a doctor about it just to voice some concerns and she said, which I had known already, that the vaccine is in short supply and that we wouldn't be able to get it before we left. I ended up leaving the office with the polio vaccine and meningitits vaccine (she wondered how I got away with not getting that vaccine during the college years!) So that leaves a total of 6 vaccines for this trip/needed to update a routine one as well. I did start the malaria Rx today. One down, 7 more to go. I was expecting it to affect me but I didn't have any side effects or anything. I'm hoping this won't be an issue for the next 7 weeks and throughout my life that the drug is maybe known to produce. I am also relieved because I found 3 different bug sprays (with DEET) that are 3-4 oz so that I can have them in my carry-on backpack. I will definitely be emptying those bottles in Iguazù and the Amazon! Other than that feeling great and I really need to start packing!
On to more good news...I got a job!! I didn't even have to interview for it! Although it is not something I wanted to do, career-wise and location-wise, I am willing to take it to get me back in the workforce with more experience. Especially now with the economy in bad shape, I think experience will be a major factor in the jobs that I am looking for, so I don't mind anything that gives me the opportunity for more experience.
¡Hasta luego!
No comments:
Post a Comment