USA

I don't think I saw the time in front of me ticking away. It's down to twelve hours before my first flight off towards Houston. In twenty-four hours I will be in another country starting a new life that I have never before experienced. I did finally get my packing wrapped up, but now that I am

Well, time continues to defy logical extent. Christmas time has come and gone in flash. Leaving where I left off in Albuquerque, NM, my bad travel omens only continued. I had three magnificent days in which I enjoyed a relaxing and restorative pre-vacation with family. On the things-to-do list while there were seeing over 60,000 snow geese bleaching fields white and at least 8,000 sandhill cranes, not to mention the numerous variety of ducks and other predatory birds at the Bosque del Apache. It was an absolutely picture-perfect day watching the huge winged migration towards this paradise en route to their ultimate winter destination. But when the time came from planned departure to Kansas for the big family gathering, mother nature barred her teeth and forced us to reconsider leaving in the wake of a blizzard blowing through the mid-west. So instead, we stayed on the Sandias originally cursing mother nature in vain, but in finality, enjoying the day more than any other. At night the sky was drenched in moonlight from the near full moon, only to be reflected by the snow on the ground to make for a wildly bright night under the dry, clear skies of New Mexico. The following day it was secretly planned to leave for Kansas so not to inform the weather of our intentions. As a result, the drive was painless, with plenty of wildlife to spice up the Great Plains. Of the wildlife we saw, the highlights were a bald eagle, two pheasants, and countless numbers of hawks and falcons. The ten hour drive was ultimately for a mere two days in Wichita, but the sixty hours spent there were crammed full with parades of family gatherings. When Christmas had passed, I was in possession of the final necessary things for my travels in South America: a full-sized backpack, sleeping bag, and little odds and ends that will make my stay in Cuenca for the first three months more luxurious. Now it was time again to travel, this time home to San Antonio, my last destination before going to Quito. But we made the mistake of planning the drive southward known to mother nature again, and before you know it, we were sliding through blizzards and ice storms for some two or three hours. I am beginning to hope this sort of thing doesn't continue to plague me, and every time I discount it for coincidence I am confronted with another poor traveling experience. At any rate, I am home at last, ready to pack and plan my itinerary for the next seven months.

For the past two weeks, I have slowly degraded my health with stress and sleep-deprivation. This is important to keep in mind in order to understand my soreness and incapacity to move nor carry my luggage. So, yesterday was the initial day of testing the waters of travel that I will be continuing for over six months. I received a bad omen. Practically sleep walking through the morning, I packed up all my belongings left in my beloved city of Portland in hopes to catch an 8:35am shuttle downtown where I would catch the light rail headed for the airport for my 10:45 flight. Not only did I find out quickly did I have far too much belongings, but I couldn't motivate myself to walk out the door. Unable to pick up all my belongs in order to walk out the door, I ended up missing the bus which began a chain reaction of unplanned events that would obstruct my leaving home. I called for a taxi and received assistance from Tessa to bring everything outside, where it promptly began raining horizontally to reach me under the canopy of Templeton. But after about a twenty minute wait, now approximately 9:10am, I was able to tag along with a new friend. And when I arrived at 9:50am completely relieved that I had arrived, I saw to with my partially burred eyes a line of eternity extending out from the southwest airlines kiosk. I estimated probably 250-300 people lined up in front of me. My heart started racing and my sweat glands started working overdrive as I was wearing four layers and two jackets. At this point, convinced I was going to miss my flight, I sought the words to explain my frustration and worry. But by some miracle, I made it through this particular line and the subsequent baggage line with ten minutes to spare before expected departure. I used the best trick in the book for the security checkpoint that I learned from Sean's uncle, which is using my southwest rapid rewards card to get me into the VIP line. Without that, I think I might still be under the Portland rain. So fortunate me, with the second to last ticket printed out on the entire flight, slipped into the plane just minutes before the doors shut. I was thoroughly exhausted, unable to sleep in the middle seat, I dragged myself out with a dry mouth, stuffy nose, and swollen lymph nodes consequently inhibiting breathing, swallowing, and unfortunately deep sleep. So this morning, after many early awakenings, I would like to claim having nearly recovered my help, but not so nearly my emotions for Ecuador. Everyone whom I will not see for six or more months on my trip will be greatly missed.