I am sitting here, still at home, eating some nice chocolate (m&m’s to be precise), and am asking myself when and where I will get any chocolate at all during my upcoming adventure?! If I want to have chocolate on my trekking adventures, I will have to carry it up into the mountains myself (don’t know if the longing for chocolate will be stronger than the conscious weighing of every single piece of luggage that comes in my backpack), and when I will be out in the forests for volunteering there will be no chocolate within reach for about a month. But this is what I wanted, so I am enjoying my chocolate now whilst it is still possible, I will have to do without for quite a while soon!

On these sites I will write about my adventures and my experiences during my trip to South America, about good times and also about blues if they occur.
I will be travelling from 19th September until 19th February, will start in Peru, then continue to Ecuador for volunteering and then will see if I have got time left to see some parts of Bolivia.
As I know people from all languages, I have decided to write most parts of this diary in english, so that everybody, wherever they are in the world, will be able to understand.

At the moment I have the floor of my flat covered with maps of South America, guidebooks and leaflets, written notes and recomendations of other travellers, pen and paper and so on. I have long phone calls with more experienced travellers on the region, people who have been to South America before, and I ask them about everything that comes into my mind (thank you all for your patience and for your really useful information and details!)
Preparations are getting along, although I could really do without some of the paperwork and bureaucracy-acts I have to deal with right now... It is indeed quite a hassle to leave for a longer period for travelling, quit a home and get everything sorted out with insurances and numberplates and mobile-accounts...
I still haven’t got anything into boxes, my walls are still decorated, my cupboards are full with stuff, and sometimes I think I definitely won’t make it all in time. Oh well, still got 6 weeks before departure from Frankfurt Airport on 19th September, so this should be plenty of time to cope with it all, hopefully!

Once I’m on my way, I will try to write occasionally, whenever I find an internet-café or have the opportunity to use the internet somewhere. I hope a lot of you will read my lines, see my pictures and just be with me on these sites. I will be happy to hear from you in my guestbook! Right here I would like to say special thanks to Dirk, who has made this site possible for me and is a great professional help (as I have no knowledge at all of how to set up such an online-diary!!)

For now you can see some pictures of some of my former trips, to the Nepal Himalaya, Patagonian Chile, New Zealand and also Italy (of course).

I hope you enjoy my stories, and I hope I myself will enjoy my trip!

Muchos saludos y hasta luego,
Brenda

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