Two months to takeoff (dos meses antes de salir)

¡Bienvenidos!

So, I have officially registered my blog address. In truth, I did this now because I have Probability homework, and it's much more exciting to think about my trip than it is to think about negative-binomial or Poisson distributions. It's a closer match than you'd think, but I still fall on this side.

I created this blog primarily so that my parents can generally know that no great misfortune has befallen me, and so that I can finally be as self-indulgent as the rest of my generation. I never got the twitter thing down quite right, but I think I can make this work.

I'm not expecting to post much here before I leave, though I suppose if I find something interesting, I might. I obviously don't have any pictures yet. I hope you like the blog template though. It's roughly the same color scheme as my bar mitzvah invitations. Speaking of which, this March 11 will be the 15 year anniversary of my bar mitzvah, so feel free to send some Judaica to me down in Argentina, or wherever I am at that point.

For the moment, I'll take the opportunity to tell anyone who's planning a big trip about two great websites I've found in the last two days (plus I'll break out the bullet point feature):

• Practical Travel Gear has all kinds of useful tips for clothes and stuff to bring, as well as reviews of interesting products. If, like me, you're looking for the ideal wrinkle-free pant, this is definitely an excellent source.
• Rick Steves's website is a bit more commercialized in its efforts to get you to buy Rick Steves merchandise. As a Wesleyan alum, I'm trained to hate such things. However, his list of what to pack is something I'm following almost to the letter, though I'm adding some gadgetry and a travel guitar.
  

I suppose I'll also take this opportunity to lay out the rough itinerary I have. Feel free to offer suggestions. I'm very open-ended on this, especially toward the back end. Here's a rough sketch of destinations. I'll be at Spanish schools for two weeks each in the first three destinations. After that, I'm not committed to anything but my own sense of adventure.

1. 1/9/10: Granada, Nicaragua
2. 1/24/10: Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica
3. 2/7/10: Montevideo, Uruguay
4. 2/21/10: Buenos Aires, Argentina
5. Patagonia
6. Chile (various cities along the coast, and Easter Island)
7. Ecuador and Galapagos Islands
   

I may throw in a visit to Bolivia or something between Chile and Ecuador. I've been to Peru, so I'm currently planning to skip that in lieu of places I've never seen, although I may change my mind, given how incredible that trip was.

On Thursday, I start receiving the various vaccines I need. I think yellow fever and the tetanus booster are first. Should be a blast. I'll be taking malaria pills at some point, and I promise to report on the crazy dreams I hear I'll have.

Okay, I need to do my homework, for reals. By the way, I won't tell you what the weather is expected to be, but if you're curious you can look at the data for where I'll be in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Uruguay, and Argentina. I am skipping a winter. If you know how much I hate cold, you understand just how excited I am about this. I will miss you all a lot, and I will miss my dog Sonny even more, but I'm definitely looking forward to getting the most out of this adventure.

Saludos,
Seth