T minus 2 days....

Ooooff!! Two weeks without posting an entry… dangerous. I leave in three days, with a wedding in between…. rush!

I can’t even say ‘where has May gone’ because I know…. it went with two weddings, two birthdays, a baby shower, a christening, a graduation, two trips to Rochester, fourteen business meetings, five evenings classes, a writing group critique where I laughed so hard I cried (thanks ladies!), a camping trip to Ohio, a case of wine and five extra pounds on my belly…. with all my running, even I would like to know how THAT happened!!

I now have two websites - www.honeyteer.com and www.wovenjourneys.com My first ever proposals went out to my first ever clients (they chose Guatemala) and I am leaving for my Central American journey in just three days. I have business cards, an itinerary, a new biz plan (yes, I will now be doing group trips in addition to individual trips – thanks John!), a new web domain www.volunteer-vacations.com (thanks Ben!!), the promise of two articles on my project, an iPod full of great music (thanks Steph!) and an itinerary. Phew!!

So what’s my plan and how do I feel?? Well, part one is easy. I got lucky. You all know I volunteer with Habitat and last spring, for my birthday, I led a build to the Dominican Republic. My Habitat contact was a woman named Stephanie who was great to work with. We only spoke once or twice, never met, but swapped e-mails for about six months planning the trip. Just by chance she is now working for Habitat in the San Jose, Costa Rica office. We kept in touch and, when I told her I would be in the area, she invited me to stay. How awesome is that??

So here’s the outline of the trip…

• Fly to San Jose, 3 nights with Stephanie
• Fly to Puerto Jimenez – southern Cost Rica and a little off the tourist track, but lots of great eco-lodges and volunteer opportunities
• Wing it – make my way by bus to the northern part of the country and hoping that my friend Katinka will be able to join me for part of the adventure
• 4 or 5 days in Nicaragua. My friend Amy, who I met in Buenos Aires 4 years ago, raves about Leon and Granada. There’s also supposed to be some great beaches there.
• Honduras – okay, so my friend Juan from Panama warned me about El Salvador and Honduras. I’m not spending too much time here, just a night in Tegucigalpa and then a day or two in Copan. (I also figure El Salvador and Honduras can’t be too bad because Habitat still sends team there and they wouldn’t risk their reputation if they weren’t safe. I visited El Salvador in 07 and didn’t haven any problems outside rogue caterpillars and suicide showers.)
• Guatemala. Mmmmmm Guatemala!!! I LURRRRVE Guate!! So Buenos Aires Amy, who gave me excellent pointers on South American destinations when we were there, told me about a secret little island off the Pacific Coast… oh wow!!! I visited the website and it’s just lovely!! Will visit there for sure and then tour around Guate some more, visiting charities and checking on the itinerary for my clients. Will hit the best market in Chichi before the real fun….
• July1- my best friend Stephanie and five other friends will meet me in Guatemala City. We’ll have a pre-party before our Habitat build on July 4-12. After we’ll tour more of Guatemala before making our way to…
• Belize!! We’ve got a 5 bedroom waterfront house rented on an island, Ambergris Caye, off the coast…. Oh wow, just writing that makes me squirm in excitement!!
• I’ll spend a few extra days in Belize after they leave and will fly home on July 23…. I think my friend Christy is already planning my welcome home party. Gotta love her!! Xoxo
  
  So how do I feel??? I’m relieved to have a friendly place to go and start my adventure with Stephanie - that’s a huge relief. I’m also nervous. Why? Because I’ll be visiting hotels and charities tying to sell them on my idea and partnering with me. Yes, I have good thing to offer, but it’s a different culture and who wants to faux pas??
  
  Also, the language. To train myself I try and translate my thoughts into Spanish, but in the six hour car ride from Rochester to Norwalk this week I failed… miserably. What if I show up and can’t communicate? What if they think I’m a nut job? What if they think I’m just another tourista not worth their time of day? What if I get too shy and self conscious and give up too easily? Why if my social anxieties rear themselves at the most inopportune moment??
  
  Failure is not an option.
  
  Tomorrow morning marks my last day of internet access at home…. My next update will be from Costa Rica and I promise to bold every few days or as frequently as I can access an internet café! Hasta la vista!!
  
  P.S. Thanks to all you lovely people who came out for my leaving do tonight!!