10 Days to Go and I'm Climbing the Walls! (Sólo Faltan 10 Días y Me Pongo Loco!)

It's official; I can count the number of days left before my trip with my shoes on. This is the hardest part, the last week or so. I am filled with both bowel-gnawing anxiety and irrepressible excitement. The anxiety stems from the fact that I am not extremely well-travelled. I can count all the big trips in my life not only with my shoes on, but probably with at least one mitt on as well. The excitement is easy enough to explain, an adventure in a foreign country, speaking a foreign language, trying foreign foods etc.

For those of you who don't speak Spanish, the first part of the title of this blog, 37 Días Sin Afeitarme La Barba, means 37 days without shaving my beard. The reasons for this decision are very hard to put into words, mostly because I'm not sure about them myself. If any of you can grow a beard, you will understand that sometimes you just have to push it to the limit and see just how big it can get. Plus, 5 weeks away from my wife is about the only time I can do this. As you can see from the picture, I've got a bit of a head start on the beard. Now just try to picture 6 more weeks of growth. It's possible that I might get stopped on the way back into Canada and get searched for drugs. I'll just cross that bridge when I get to it and I'll just have to make sure to make sure any drugs are well hidden. Risa has stated quite unequivocally that she will not kiss me upon my return without my trimming the beard, but once again, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. 

So this is hopefully the first of a several blogs to chronicle my adventure in Ecuador. I'm going to try and keep all of you well-informed about every detail, no matter how mundane. In the meantime, here is how I am feeling right now. Despite being both anxious and excited, I have to say the excitement is winning out. I'm eager to put two years of Spanish classes to the test and to find out, as every second language learner discovers, that no one actually speaks like you learn in class.


P.S. I'm posting this video on here because I can!