South American Itinerary

So our first two months look like this:

Antigua, Guatemala - Staying with host family and serving with www.godschild.org  We will also likely take spanish lessons and soak in as much of this amazing city as we can. We will be in Antigua about two weeks.

El Paredon - This is a small village on the coast. Here we are staying a surf camp and will take surfing lessons (maybe more spanish lessons) and also spend some time serving with http://www.lachozachula.org/  Current plan is ride the "chicken buses" out to the coast which will be an adventure all by itself.

San Pedros - here we are renting a house (airbnb) around Lake Atitlan which is considered one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. All around the lake are small quaint villages offering an array of culture and excitement. We dont have a lot of time here and my guess is that we will wish we had more.

From there we fly to Quito, Ecuador where we are renting an apartment (airbnb) and hoping to catch up on schooling and experience Ecuador. No other plans here yet but in talks with a few different groups. Though R&R may be needed at this point.

Galapagos - a bucket list sort of journey for sure. Spending a week on a boat with a guide and other families and learning about this place which is unlike any other on Earth. Our oldest child will be thrilled here for sure as this is "one place" he'd pick to go and has been for years.

Iquitos, Peru - here we will spend time helping http://www.skcperu.com/ and learning about the Amazon in this amazing place.

Cuzco, Peru - Our last stop on this leg, we have set up another airbnb place with a local family who prides themselves on their culture and sharing it. We have a week here, during which one of our closest friends will join us and then we will do the Inca Trek up to Machu Picchu, which has been one of my bucket list items since I first saw a picture who knows how many years ago.

So that is our first two month itinerary. Probably busier than we initially hoped but that is how it came together. We desire to move slow but also hope to see so much. Reconciling those two competing theories is proving difficult.

Lodging Booked

A few nights ago I booked another Airbnb place for our stay in Cuzco. It's with a local family who likes to share culture and has great reviews from previous stays. And only $60 a night for all of us. Finding lodging for 6 is not always easy when on a budget but Airbnb is proving to be just as cheap or cheaper than hostels and provide us with more space, sometimes laundry and a kitchen.

Today we got a confirm on our contact in Iquitos. We will be serving with an organization that some friends of ours are tied to and this is an exciting step for a few reasons. 1- this organization does some very cool work. 2- this is the last lodging piece of our first two months which we have plane tickets booked. 3 - we can stay for the whole week for only $100 total. Iquitos is the largest city in the world that you cannot drive to as plane or boat are the only ways to get there. It's way up in northern Peru in the Amazon and we are excited to experience it.

Conversations done

Today I finished my conversations with co-workers. Like I previously said, most of them went quite well and were encouraging. It is a huge relief to have that behind me. How the next few months go is yet to be determined but I suppose we can only do one step at a time.

Lots of research and choices to make over the next few months.