packing.

So I´ve always been kind of a terrible packer. This surprises me as it seems like a sort of thing that I would know how to do, but alas, not so much. I have had lots of practice lately though.

Leaving my apartment I had to pack with the following things in mind:
-what I was going to need to live maybe forever in south america; teaching and volunteering.
-what I would need to have saved for me to be brought to south america when I find the ranch.
-two weeks in Hawaii
-five weeks of couch surfing
-two weeks of adventure vacation with mark and geoff

Then after I got back from Hawaii I had to repack so that what I would need for five weeks of couch surfing would be available to me.

Then I had to pack for
-a few more days in portland
-a two day train trip
-a day in LA
-a plane trip
-two weeks of adventure vacation with geoff and mark
-and potentially forever in south america.

I had to repack when I got here for the two week adventure vacation with mark and geoff and put the rest into storage.

Every day I repack to figure out what comes out with me for the day and what I can take back to the stuff in storage for the vacation and figure out what I accidentally packed into that stuff that I need back. Like the cord that goes from my camera to the computer so that i can download images and my external hard drive so that I have somewhere to put them.

I very much look forward to stopping someplace for a minute and not repack even for one dang day. I definitely have way too much stuff so when the guys are gone, I´ll need to go through again and figure out how much of it I can live without. Ecuador has changed it´s visa policy to only being able to stay for three months so if that isn´t work-around-able, I´ll need to get everything down into one bag and figure out which country to head to next. I was really hoping for six months or a year here to get my feet under me. But, then, this is why I´ve never had a plan and will just roll with whatever happens. There are definitely things that I will probably send back home if I´m traveling around more than living in one place.

Anyway, if it isn´t until I´m 80 damn years old, I will conquor this packing thing.

Then I look at Geoff, who is going to away from home for a month, in two different countries, mountains and jungles and beaches and a wedding and has one tiny pack and has every single thing he needs and room in the pack for a souvineir like a big ol´ mask! grrrrr. how does he do it?