New Year, New Continent

However, I'm afraid this is the last year that that mantra, "new year, new continent," will be applicable. Counting down the last 28 or so hours before departing. Big red (my backpack) is just about all packed up. And then I realized that many of you may not know exactly where I'm going (assuming many of you are reading this)! Blasphemy! On friday I'm heading out of Spokane on a one way ticket to Mexico City. From there I'll go to Cuernavaca, Mexico, to attend an International Linguistics Universidad for about a month...meaning I'll be learning Spanish, hopefully. I'm actually taking "Spanish for Medical Professional Dummies" so that should be kinda cool, if I'm not in over my head. All in all, my goal is to become quasi-proficient in Spanish, for the next stage of the trip. Which is Peru. Iquitos, Peru, where I will be volunteering and doing whatever in hospital with a Peruvian physician. Hopefully I'll learn enough Spanish to be able to pretend to know what's going on. And the greater goal is to learn enough Spanish to survive New York next year. If it still seems kinda vague to you, it is. I only checked two days ago what the visa requirements were for Peru. All I need is a plane ticket out of Peru. So really, the only requirement in life for me right now is to book a round trip ticket into and out of Peru at some point in the next month or so. I feel like that is do-able. Much easier than next year. Iquitos is only about 4 degrees south of the equator, on the Amazon River. So it's a darn good thing I had that pheo (sweat-inducing tumor) removed last year, cause it's gonna be hot! And with a fresh layer of snow here in Spokane and only 4 days on the mountain this year, it's a bitter sweet departure, but ultimately more sweet than bitter. Next time I hope to post en Espanol!