Countdown to Patagonia
On New Year's Day...mid evening, we sat down to select our lodging in Santiago. We needed to get the dates right. Now is the time to fix our departure in my notebook as well as in my consciousness. The itinerary is fixed but not full, there's plenty of room for days in distant cities. Twenty years ago I would bemoan my link to the daily grind of parenting, work, and school. I still parent, but less closely, still work, but with more freedom, and have finally finished my formal studies. I longed then for freedom from the station wagon, the lunches, the dog, and the commute. I mused about visitng places with names long, romantic, and rich in vowels.
Ten years ago, I packed my bags for one such adventure .....six months in Hong Kong to be interspersed wtih a week in Belize. That morphed into a year on Hong Kong, with many new friends and adventures, including a side trip to Thailand and Laos. As time progressed, the wagon was traded for other more practical cars, then for a mini. Life in the suburbs was jazzed by time in the ctiy. Sailing Cape Ann waters was traded for the Gulf of Maine. And now, it's time for another adventure.
Patagonia....a ship, a course, and rounding the Horn.
The notebook is new, a lovely spiral one with a bright colored cover from Mary Hayes, with matching pen and many blank pages.
The cabin is booked as are the flights.
The passport is fresh, clean and ready for stamps ..if stamps still exist.