T minus 5 days...

Kelsey and I don't know much about blogging but we thought that the entertainment value resulting from the combination of our ceaselessly (though not necessarily desirably) comical lives and South American adventures would be too good not to share.  That, and we're pretty sure there's no other way for our families to know that we haven't contracted dengue fever from a rogue mosquito or been encased by molten lava from the nearby active volcanoes or simply been kidnapped by FARC rebels while meandering along the Colombian border just a stone's throw from our little village of Lumbisí! So, that being said, welcome to our Ecuadorian Adventure!  

We're still pre-departure so I'll just give a quick update. Our plane is scheduled to depart in an anxiety inducing 5 days, and I have yet to finish (or begin) packing.  There is a growing mountain of seeming bare essentials at the foot of my bed, and I'm doubting whether it will all fit into the one piece of luggage Delta so graciously allows us to check for some inordinate price, considering the wallet obliterating cost of the tickets!  I still need to invest in 6 months worth of tampons/femme products (as per the advice of peers studying in Ecuador this past fall) and some type of bag that fends off ketchup-squirting, bag-slashing, invisibility cloak-wearing pick-pockets (according to LonelyPlanet).  In addition, tomorrow I'm scheduled for the 3rd and final shot of the rabies vaccination I've been receiving secretly from a travel medicine practice that will remain unnamed.  That's right, while for the entire rest of U.S. citizens you actually need to have RABIES in order to receive the vaccine that is currently experiencing a national shortage, I am building up my immunity free of oral foaming and imminent death! Heck, after all these immunizations I'm pretty sure I could survive the wrath of ten rabid foxes, multiple colonies of yellow fever carrying inhabitants and Typhoid Mary herself.

That being said, immunity to Typhoid Mary wont do much if I arrive in Ecuador sans clothing, toothpaste, etc.  Thus, packing will now ensue.  Hasta Luego!

-Nikki