I can hardly believe that July is here already (Happy Canada Day everyone!!). It seems like just a couple days ago I was spending the holidays on the other end of the South American continent in Ushuaia, Argentina. Has a half a year really passed already? Have I really gone from the entire length of South America in the past 6 months? Over the past 6 months I have been on an Antarctica expedition, tracked jaguars in Paraguay, took part in Brazilian carnival, hitchhiked across the Guianas and so much more. As I sit in my apartment today I can’t help but wonder how my next 6 months can possibly live up to what I have just been through. However, as I look at the calendar I have meticulously created on Google. I am as excited as any time in my life. So at the risk of sounding like a blogger, here are my travel plans. They are also shown in the google map below the post.
General “Plans”
As you may have guessed, I will be on the move quite a bit over the next little while. Did you really expect me to begin standing still? For a wandering vagabond, even a couple weeks at one of those vacation home rentals is far too stable for comfort. I will, however, travel this time using a hub, a base of operations if you will. I have decided that I will spend about 30-40% of my time here in Medellin, Colombia working on my secret project (nope, still not telling you what it is), while travelling continuously the rest of the time. According to my preliminary plans my travel will include visiting the parts of the Americas that I have missed, as well as retracing some of my previous steps and re-visiting places that I loved.
Highlights
- A Return to Central America: As I posted before, I will be returning to where my solo backpacking all began at the end of July. Central America holds a very important place in my heart, and going back is something I am very excited about.
Cerro Chirripo, Costa Rica – Jan. 2006 - Panama to Colombia Overland: I have always wanted to cross from Panama to Colombia overland (there is no road between the two countries), and I will finally do it this time. I still haven’t worked out the logistics and probably won’t hike the Darien Gap (although if encouraged and a part of a team I would do it). I will likely do a combination of hiking and boating to get across.
- The Galapagos: This one still isn’t 100% and the details are being wrinkled out. However, I am very optimistic that it will all go through. I have been to Ecuador 8 times and have never been to the Galapagos, as a photographer, this would be a dream come true.
- Home for Christmas: I’ll be honest, I am terrified about the prospect of going home to Canada at wintertime. I am a horrible Canadian, in that I really hate the cold, but being with family for Christmas after being away the past two will be really nice
- Haiti: I will be in the Dominican Republic for my sister’s wedding in January so how could I not take the chance to go to Haiti? For whatever reason, I have always felt a huge draw to visit Haiti. Something about the country has been calling be for years. I plan on spending a couple weeks volunteering in some capacity, maybe in a sports setting if possible.
“Plans” Can Change
Obviously, as a traveller, I know that my “plans” will have to remain in parenthesis. I fully understand that the term “travel plans” may be one of the world’s great oxymorons, and I do expect minor, if not major, deviations for the plans. But the deviations are half of the fun involved in travel. I am not one of those people who sticks to “plans” strictly, in fact I am not one who make plans in general. However, with some important events coming up in the future, I felt like I needed a plan, and hey, planning is half the fun anyways isn’t it?
The Itinerary
Without rambling on much more, below you’ll find my travel plans for the foreseeable future: