So what's the plan, Stan?

Latin America has always called to me. A land of adventure and rich culture. It was when I was in Thailand last year that I made the concrete decision to make Central and South America my next adventure.
It's amazing what we can accomplish when our hearts desire something so strongly.
I was determined to work until I had enough funds saved to allow me to do what I love best: travel!
So for the last year, I worked as a travel nurse in Hawaii (living on 3 different islands!), saving my dinero in order to venture off to explore more of this mystical world. It wasn't the easiest to save up while living in Hawaii, and it took me longer than I had wished, but I made it happen!
Now here I am, just hours away from my departure, ready to reap the benefits for what I've sowed and feeling so grateful for all the good fortune that has came my way in the last year.
There has been some changes in my life since I returned from my last trip. The most significant being this: While I was living in Hawaii, I met a guy!!
(gasp!)
I know you've all known me as an independent woman, braving this world on my own. I wasn't particularly looking for companionship. I was happy going about my business, living my awesome single life.
Then one day, the moon and stars aligned, and Dinh popped into my life. I looked for reasons to NOT like him, the problem was.... I couldn't find any . He emanated such a positive energy and was so comfortable to be around. I couldn't resist his intelligence, good looks, goofiness, humor, love of travel and caring personality. Yes, I had fallen in LOVE!
Awww. Ha ha.

Hiking in Hawaii

Waikiki cruise

Camping in Yosemite

I had always pictured myself traveling solo for the next few years. I PREFER to travel solo. But, life comes at you quickly.
I had found the perfect mate to join me on these amazing excursions.
A little tid bit of info on Dinh:
He was born in vietnam. His family moved to the US when things got a little hairy during the vietnam war. He lived most of his life in Orange County, California and lately, has been living nomadically . He's very smart when it comes to finances and has positioned himself in life where he can travel for months on end, like me! His #1 passion in life is surfing. He bought a house in Nicaragua... simply because it had a great surf spot out his front door.
Silly guy .
When we first met last year, I told him about the upcoming trip I had planned. After a couple months of spending almost every day together, we decided it would be pretty groovy to do the trip together.

So, this is the plan, Stan:
I plan to fly from Minnesota to Southern California, where I'll meet up with Dinh (he's been in Vietnam for the last 3 weeks working for the nonprofit organization he started), then we'll drive his vehicle down to his house in Nicaragua, taking about 2 months to get there, exploring Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador along the way . Once we get to Nicaragua in November, we'll chill out at Dinh's house on the beach for a couple months, and surf til' our hearts are content :)
After celebrating New Year's in Nicaragua, we'll leave Dinh's vehicle at his house and continue south by bus through Costa Rica and Panama, spending ample time in each country to adequately explore.
From Panama, we will fly to Venezuela, dodging the drug cartel (that's a joke, mom), then bus it through the rest of South America for a few months.
Easter Island and the Galapagos are on the list, as well as Machu Picchu, Patagonia, Chichen Itza, the Amazon and Carnival in Brazil. Also, I plan to take a 10-14 day cruse to Antarctica.... Dinh isn't quite sure he wants to go to the arctic environment, but I wouldn't miss it for the world. It will be the 7th (and last) continent I have stepped foot on. Indeed, it will be a very special day . A pivotal point in my life, an experience that will allow me to keep my wanderlust at bay for awhile. (doubtful)
After traipsing through all those countries, if we're not too sick and tired of living out of a backpack and if we aren't getting on each others nerves too much, we would like to spend some time in Indonesia (Dinh wants to surf there, of course). Also, I desperately want to get back to Italy.
The future is wide open. It's just too far in the future to know where we'll end up. It's a mystery... and there's something I like about that.
This is a rough itinerary. Nothing is written in stone, I would never travel in that sort of way. I leave the future up to fate. What should happen, will happen.

A goal I have for this trip: to come back speaking Spanish (fairly) fluent. My spanish is mediocre, but Dinh is fluent, so he will be my personal translator until my Spanish gets up to par. You know what they say: There's no better way to learn a language, than to immerse yourself in it completely!

There's one more agenda on this trip:
Seeing such horrific poverty in my past travels was shocking and profoundly sad. I'm scarred from some things that I saw in India, perhaps I went places I probably shouldn't have went sometimes. I promised myself that I would volunteer on each trip that I took. It felt very selfish of me not to. I'm able to help and I have the desire and skills to do so. These people had welcomed me with open arms and taught me so much, how could I NOT give back?
Volunteering in a third world country is extremely rewarding and educational. If you haven't tried it, maybe you should?
It's easy to do. Here's a great website on volunteering in South America:
www.volunteersouthamerica.net
I plan to volunteer in Peru (as a nurse) for this trip and possibly more destinations along the way if the opportunity arises. People in third world countries happen to have many favors to ask when they find out you're a nurse. ha ha.

My heart flutters with excitement as I picture the beautiful people I will meet, whom will touch my soul in unimaginable ways, and the lands with such powerful ancient history that I will walk.
There is no doubt this will be another epic adventure. I hope you all enjoy the journey and the tales it brings!!

Let's go!
vamos!!!