February 2003

February 10, 2003 - 2:51 p.m.

So Mark and I are slowly putting things together for our trip. We are planning to spend 6 months to a year touring South America.

The plan is to leave Canada on Feb 26th and fly down to Lima (thanks to Mark's mom for the buddy passes). There we will hopefully buy some type of van that we can sleep in the back of and pile the kayaks on the roof. From there we plan to make our way through South America kayaking, hiking and having lots of adventures.

We are going to update this page as much as possible - we thought that this would be a better idea than having a group email (that no one wants to read anyway).

February 24, 2003 - 3:57 p.m.

So we have packed up our apartment and put everything into storage.

Our bags are pretty much packed. We are leaving on Wednesday morning from Calgary and getting into Lima late that night. It doesn't feel real yet but I am looking forward to the warm humid weather.

February 25, 2003 - 4:36 p.m.

Hey all....

Well we have spent the last few days packing up our apartment, selecting our trip necessities and getting fattened up by the families. Sweet! It's almost time to go and we're looking forward to a big upcoming adventure.... next stop Lima, Peru!

Things we're bringing:

2 kayaks, 3 paddles & other paddling gear, 1 tent, 2 sleeping bags/mats, stove/pots, water filter, 1 frisbee, many clothes and some short lasting books...... among other small things.

February 28, 2003 - 12:19 p.m.

Hey all who cares..... we made it to Lima only a day late which is surprisingly better considering the mess we seemed to be in for a while in Houston.

It all started out with some meanies telling us we couldn’t take our kayaks on the plane cuz they were oversize... which is prohibited.... so we sank the Lima plans and decided to head to Quito... me knowing that at least our precious cargo would be allowed to go.... Well of course when attempting to get lucky on the standby list.... we got denied, ended up sleeping in the Houston airport only to find out our checked baggage¨... aka kayaks actually DID go to Quito.....

SO here we are in Lima.... barely seen anything yet and the order of the day before looking for vans will be to get our baggage down from Quito for a lovely reunion.... I wish I could share and compare travel stories with your luggage, especially when it goes to a far off place without you.

Mark in Lima