2008 is Finally Starting to Unfold....

Ah, to continue the Central America trip...I am on it bigtime as soon as this job in LA ends.  The plan slowly comes together--some days it's all solid, some days it's loose as a goose. 

But, that is what travel is all about, especially long-winded travel.  That's why I work like a maniac for 3 months (literally 18 hour days every day) on shows...it's so I can hit the road and not worry about life...it's so I can just make up my mind on a whim--while quaffing a cold one, while cruising down a back road, while getting all jacked up on some exotic pictures in a magazine.  Whatever I want (I'm sure that is the exact reason I'm still happily single, too).

Here's what the rest of 2008 is looking like--though things tend to change at the very last minute.  As it must for the real adventures to unfold.

I am thinking that mid-May I will drive from LA to my parents place in TN--just to visit with them a spell and eat biscuits and gravy all the live long day.  After that, it's a trip back to my place in Chicago--which is gonna be perfect because I missed ALL OF WINTER.  I wanna chill there a month or so and just regroup, do yoga and pilates, freak out on my place, spring/summer clean, and get my life even more streamlined.   And, hopefully see my pal J before she moves to Germany and gets married!

Then...it's time to get back on the road again.  I'm gonna head back to San Miguel de Allende first--I gotta check in on Yatz, my little trailer and hang out in this wildly special mountain oasis for a bit more.  Explore the magic a little deeper; volunteer some; eat many more pieces of goat cheese cheesecake from Natura; drink loads of cortados from tiny two stool coffee shops and most of all---dive back into my Spanish lessons (rollingrs.com, here I come again)!  *If you are interested in seeing a charming documentary on SMA, check out Caren Cross' take on what its like to become an expat in San Miguel. Good stuff.

After San Miguel, I feel like a pitstop over on my fave little island, Isla Mujeres is in order.  God, maybe a few weeks or a month of snorkeling, early AM Pacifico's at Manana and reading, reading, reading.  Deep tan, more Spanish with Miguel, Jorge and his whole family, the best tostadas ever and a whole lot more of NADA.

Then, it's time for whole new countries...each and every one of them...all the way to Panama.  I've set up volunteering missions in each country, so at least a few weeks will be spent in each one...continuing my research so I can finalize my own NGO that I am working on creating--4th World Love.   

After I hit Panama and the Darien Gap (and check out at 50' schooner that is for sale down there)...well,  hmmmm....that is a whole new beast that I prefer not to tackle quite yet, lest I get overwhelmed.  But, there are the loose plans of heading down to Bolivia to visit a pal I wanna do a TV show with; I gotta get back over to Indonesia to get the first leg of 4th World up and running; I was hoping to pick olives in Italy in late October (for my b-day); I have a whole Turkey/Croatia/Montenegro trip I need to flush out...the list just goes on forever.  Oh, and there's that book I gotta write, too.  And a monster trip back to Africa somewhere on the horizon.  So much...but all such good stuff.

Just over a month, man...and I am back in my true element.  Driving, thinking, assessing, brainstorming, eating, chilling, laughing and living~~and most of all, drinking margarita after margarita~~

Comments

[San Miguel Senora]

Phone cards - you can buy them everywhere - drugstore, mini-mart, almost any kind of tienda sells them.

[Misty]

As tech savvy as I am, I am a total loser when it comes to communicating in Mexico. All I used was Skype on my computer and my texting and email on my BlackBerry. I am lost when it comes to SIM cards, calling cards, etc...so sorry.
Check out bootsnall.com--they usually have information on stuff like this!

[Maya]

i have a question for you, maybe you can help me out, or any of your other comment-readers/posters. i'm going to mexico really soon, and i need to buy a phone card that will allow me to call within mexico on their payphones etc., as well as from mex to the us. well, i don't think i'll have time at the airport to do this pre-catching my bus. i wanted to buy the telmex multifon card online, but they're out of stock! any thoughts on where to find such a phone card? i've tried devon market, but they only sell u.s. to mexico/vice versa phone cards--not cards for within mexico. plus i thought telmex would be the best bet since that's the phone company, so it would probably be a card that really worked etc. that i could trust! feel free to email me too if you prefer!

[Misty]

I pay it all online. I will post something out my MO soon.

[Barbara]

How nice to see photos of San Miguel - looks like your trailer is at La Siesta which is a cool little place! Let Billie (BillieBlog) and I, (BabsBlog) know when you "hit town" ..........it's worth at least a drink! Ha

[Bill Carney]

I've always wondered about the practical implications of long travels. How do you take care of the day-to-day expenses like rent, electric bills, etc., when you are on these extended trips?

[Richard]

Good to hear of your plans. We will be watching. I think I found another Colorado trailer, smaller than Yatz. Jeanie said she would kill me if I bought it, but I still have another nameplate, so......
Best of luck for 08 and keep blogging....