breath...and here I go!

Picture caption: Suburban (backyard) crawl with bigass backpack (1/2 books by weight)

I'm off to Peru!
Only about 8 weeks ago, I was talking with a friend about this trip to Peru with Patch Adams I wished I could do, but how I didn't have the resources to do it, so my next logical move was to live with my sister in Colorado. Not a bad idea, but he pointed out how besides not having any money to do it, I was in a fabulous position to make this trip...no lease, no full-time job, no school program, no significant other, and the rest of my life when I return to have a j-o-b...why not spend 3+ months traveling...(why not more? that's what I'm asking myself right now) So with that, I took a breath, and dove in...applied for the program, bought my ticket, raised some money, brushed up my 1 year of college Spanish, and rushed to pack in the other minor details such as passing my RN boards (check), moving out of my apartment (check), visiting friends all over the Midwest, salsa dancing as much as possible, and trying to maintain a normalish life (check, check, umm check-ish...see picture to see level of normalcy maintained).
I'm very excited to have an opportunity to write again while traveling, as 4 semesters of nursing school pretty much sucked the creativity and life out of me (let's face it, nursing school ate my soul).
The purpose of this blog will be to reflect on my travels and let you have a little window into my experience. I hope to include pictures, recipes, rants and raves, colorful descriptions of things you may or may not want to know about, maybe some language/cultural tidbits, etc etc. Feel no obligation to read it all...in fact, I hereby give you permission to skim and skip and get what you want/need from this. I am just happy to be a resource for your adventure needs.

My very tentative schedule is as follows:
July 28: arrive in Lima, bus down to Huancayo with Rachel S.
July 31: back to Lima, fly to Iquitos (biggest city in the world accessible only by boat or plane (no roads lead to it))
August 1-12: Clown around with Patch Adams and crew. We will be "clowning" at nursing homes, orphanages, prisons, and other places, as well as painting houses, building a community center, and putting on workshops (I'll be teaching a dance class!) *Rachel S goes home along with the other clowns and I am on my own!
August 13-17: Into the Amazon with a trekking group (2 hours in via motor boat from Iquitos). I will be meeting with a midwife, shaman, and herbalist, as well as doing such delightful things as swimming in the river, trekking in the forest, fishing for piranhas, and loving my existence.
August 18: Back to Lima, then onto Cajamarca, in the northern highlands, where I will stay for 6wks or so to volunteer as a nurse in a clinic and stay with a family.
....then backpack around Peru, hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, go to Colca Canyon, and much more...but I'll leave that for later.
Return October 23rd to Omaha if I don't extend my ticket and backpack around South America with Cameron until December... :)

Thank you so much for your support! Wow! I can't tell you how much it means to me to have such a spectacular group of friends, a strong community, and a loving family.

besos y abrazos,
Love, Rachel

Let's go!