getting prepared!

Hello everyone!

we have finally handed in notice and are now officially heading towards freedom... oh yes... and unemployment! Very exciting!
We decided to leave the UK in early December and go to Germany to spend some time with my family and friends to catch up properly with everyone (without speedchatting like I usually do on weekends at home) and generally trying to get that get my olde knee (and other attached bits) back into shape. Then in early Feb we are flying out to Brazil to enjoy the Carnival (yippee!) and get a suntan at the Copacabana and then we will head South to the Iguaçu Falls, through Argentina, Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego and walk and walk and walk through mountain ranges, enjoy glaciers and endless stunninglandscapes and maybe even a taste of Antarctica!

After that we will head up North on the west coast through Chile, Bolivia, Peru where we will of course walk the Inca Trail to Machu Piccu and then on to Ecuador where my adopted sister is from.

We are then planning to spend some months in the more remote areas of Peru or Ecuador and teach English for one of the many charity organisations out there. Iguess by that time we will be very grateful to stay in one place for a bit! The route back is then across the Andes into the Amazon Basin throughtropical rainforest (might do some more voluntary work if we havetime/money/etc) down the river all the way to the coast and back down to Rio.

Six months of adventure and I am only allowed one pair of shoes!!! And have to wear one of them! Surely I cannot be expected to dance the tango in my hiking boots??? The specific logistics of backpacking for 6 months and carrying all my stuff are still a bit of a myth to me but I will try!!!