T minus 14 hours

We have 12 hours until we leave, and things are still a bit crazy. We have been pretty stressed today, and somehow all the fun of the trip is sucked out of it as we make last minute calls that all end in a stalemate of, "well, we have to get this figured out, we are leaving the country tomorrow morning." What phone calls could we possible be making in the last 24 hours of our time here? You would be surprised.

This is partially due to procrastination, but in larger part due to my motto when traveling: wait until the last minute for everything (immunizations excluded, of course). Here is my reason: when I start packing and doing all of those necessary travel measures (calling to notify bank and credit card accounts, insurance, etc), I start to stress out. So, if I start all of that two months early, that just means that I will stress out about the trip for two months. Consequently, I start all of this within the last few days before departure, and consequently I enjoy my time, I sleep well, and only stress the last few days before I leave. So, here I am 12 hours before leaving and I am in hell....Packing and Planning Hell.

Here is a condensed version of some stressors at the moment.

1. As if flying into a foreign country with a different language is not stressful enough, Andy and I have chosen to make it even more difficult. Instead of flying as close to our intended destination as we can (Tabacundo, Ecuador), we have decided to fly into Colombia to save some cash. This means that in the first three days of arriving in South America, Andy and I must organize and execute travel including multiple bus rides totaling 19 hours, two separate taxi rides to and from the Colombian and Ecuadorian border, and a literal walk across the border. The bright side: this is by far the most technically difficult planning that we will probably due in South America and in the most "dangerous" country according to State Deptartment warnings (before the parents stop breathing--don't worry. The last tourist that was kidnapped was in 2003 and he was hiking in a remote part of the jungle.). So after this, our travel should be easy.

2. When it rains, it pours. A day ago, I woke up with red, painful bumps all over the sides of my torso, back, stomach, upper legs, and area covered by my underpants. They felt like a painful pimple does before they come to a head. We headed to the doctors office and was informed that they were hair follicle irritations (thanks doc for using the nice term for PIMPLES). So, on January 9, 2009, it was official, I was the most DISGUSTING person on earth. This day also coincided with Andy's birthday. Sorry.
(The culprit for the outbreak was probably due to using a new and/or too much detergent at my mom's house while doing laundry)

We head out at 6am in the morning and arrive in Armenia Colombia at 2pm. Once I get on the plane a lot of the stress drains away. I'm packed and ready, no more over-thinking, second-guessing myself. It should be good.