We´re on the road!

Well, it´s been a crazy last 72 hours or so.  We had to leave the United States with heavy hearts.  I´d like to give some super love to the best dog of all time --- Sancho, you were a badass and we´ll miss you.  RIP.

Sancho dog --- we´ll miss you, bro!

We packed up just about our entire house and put the contents into a POD --- Portable Overdose or something like that.  Extreme amounts of love and thanks to both our moms, Leann´s sister, and our friends who helped us empty our lives into an 8x8x16 box and leave our house presentable for the folks who are going to rent it while we´re gone.  We went through the stuff we wanted to bring with us and then jammed it all inside two backpacks.  That´s right.  You, apparently, can travel for six months out of a backpack....or so we hope.

Wondering what it takes to pack for six months and still fit inside a couple backpacks?  Well here´s more or less what we took:

• 3 pairs of shorts each
• swim trunks / gear
• 6 t-shirts
• 2 long sleeve shirts
• 2 pairs pants (I brought the kind that zip off and make shorts)
• 1 hat
• sunglasses
• 6 pairs of socks
• 10 pairs of underwear
• 1 hoodie
• 1 rain jacket
• flip flops
• tennis shoes
• water sandals
• mosquito repellant
• travel-size shampoo
• travel-size soap
• various medicines, including aspirin type stuff and Cipro (in case of Montezuma´s Revenge)
• one makeshift clothes line
• one sink stopper (so we can do laundry in the sink if there are no facilities=)
• toilet paper
• first aid kits
• camera
• I-pod
• Kindles (can´t really pack books, too heavy)
• sewing kit
• duct tape
• one watch
• eyeshades and earplugs
• travel towels (thanks Annette!)
• toothbrush and toothpaste and floss
• brush / comb
• leatherman
• fork / spoon combo
• deoderant
• moist towelettes
• various cosmetics (lotion and makeup and the like)
• other stuff that I can¨t remember

Yes, it is a metric shit ton of stuff.  Yes, it all fit in our backpacks.  Mine weighs about 41 lbs. and Leann¨s weighs about 22.  Hopefully our packs will hold up for the whole trip.  Looking good so far.

Anyhoo, we arrived in Oaxaca, Mexico late last night at around 9:30.  We hopped a taxi into downtown where we had a room booked at a hostel called Casa del Sol.  It´s a very nice one right next to the Zocolo (kind of a downtown plaza) and the proprietor, Guillermo, is exceptionally welcoming.  Since we were starving we went on a quick food hunt.  The first hopping joint we noticed just happened to be the bar that´s run by my old buddies, Nicole (from Wisconsin) and Rodrigo (from Monterrey, Mexico).  I had a couple cold beers, including a microbrewed brown ale from Ensenada, and Leann had some water to go along with the best damn tapas on the face of the planet.  Kind of a crustini platter with various meats and cheeses and the like.  We were exhausted from all the preparation and the flight and hit the sack at just around midnight.  Today´s a new day and we´ve done a little exploring, a little eating (chilequiles are damn fine and the mole in Oaxaca is world renowned), and just basically been tourists.

 My homies Rodrigo and David, back in 2010 when I first visited Oaxaca

I am easily the tallest person in the whole city of Oaxaca.  I stick out like a sore honky thumb.  The fact that I wore a Los Angeles Dodgers shirt probably didn´t help that fact.

Well, it´s just about siesta time for us.  We´ll check back in soon enough, hopefully with some riotous adventures under our belt.  I´d just like to add that the people in Mexico are so kind and awesome that it really puts the negative American view of the country to absolute shame.  Don´t believe what you read, people!!!!