From High Hopes to Empty Bank Accounts

I wake up on the shuttle, groggy and greasy with a neck cramp induced by my inflatable travel pillow. Sarah looks up at me from the seat behind and groans. I can tell she hasn't slept at all.

She says, so rationally in her half- kiwi half-American accent,"Dude. I've had five hours to think and to be honest, we're really tight on money. Like, really tight."

I blow her off and fall back asleep, pushing the worry aside and strolling in on Costa Rica Grayline to Tamarindo, a little surfer town with a gorgeous beach, too many gringos, and expensive everything.

The next evening after dinner, We start to lay it out... Realistically for the first time since Sarah called six months ago and said that, "dude she was coming to backpack South America with me."  We start.to.sketch it out, and laugh hysterically when we realize the most painful thing to a traveller: we have no money, did no research, and are going to have to end our adventures early. Laughing seemed the only option. It is too hard to complain with Costa Rican beer in our hands and a warm breeze on our faces... And a Costa Rican stamp fresh in out passports.

After our laughing fit, we decided the places we wanted to see most. So for all you blog readers (Mom) here's our plan:

Cartagena, Colombia

Quito, Ecuador

Cusco, Peru

Macchu picchu

And then, Sarah goes down under, and I fly 26 hours (it was cheaper and I'm probably going to die) down to Buenos Aires, where I'll be forced to rent a room,  eat choripan,practice Spanish, and write write write for the month before school.

Hard life, right?

Ps. By the time I've finished this, I'm sitting in a 16 USD per night hotel, in Cartagena, Colombia, which might be my favorite city in the world so far. Check out the room pictures above- pretty sure I have bedbugs.

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