future travels...

It's been kind of rainy the last two days (typical Telluride summers I hear) which I have used as an excuse to stay indoors and plan out my next big trip. I know, I just got here a month ago and had a pretty decent size road trip to get here, but my mind is always active when it comes to this kind of stuff - stuff like travel and vacations; not stuff like work, reading, etc. But hear me out - this one involves what could be qualified as "work".

And let me start out by saying this post is also a proposal for anyone who wants to join me. I would rather not do this by myself. And more accurately, I won't do it by myself, so please come!

A little background: I really want to work on my photography. I would love to travel to take photos of another culture, and I've been wanting to volunteer in another country for years now. After finally putting some serious thought into it, I realized that these two ideas could go hand in hand. I brainstormed and found a great website that lists volunteer organizations in South and Central America where they don't require their volunteers to pay to participate - you just have to pay for accommodation/meals/etc which is so inexpensive there. So I was looking into each of them and found several wonderful organizations where I could volunteer with locals, hopefully get to teach some art classes or anything really, and I could work on a photo project documenting the work I would do and the people with whom I would be working. I think it could be such an amazing and rewarding experience. As for where I want to go, I am tending to focus on programs in Nicaragua. A friend from Australia had traveled there and absolutely loved it. She said the people were amazing, the landscape was beautiful and the vibe was mellow. So I searched on the trusty Flickr website for visuals of the country and found that it seems just that - the culture looks beautiful. And since it's a smaller country off the beaten track, it wouldn't feel like I'm in Disneyland, which sadly tends to happen too often in major tourist destinations. And during my research, I've read more about the countries nearby, like Costa Rica (where I've been before, but I was 16 so I think it's time for a refresher), Guatemala, Belize and Panama, so I decided I can add in some travel time to visit another part of the world I've never seen before. FUN right??

Here's the fatal flaw for most of you (which is where I'll understand if you aren't able to join me): the volunteering will be for at least a month and then I'm hoping to travel for another few weeks after to the surrounding countries. I know, I know. There is that silly thing called "work" that most of you take part in. But if anyone's up for a mid-life crisis and would want to quit their jobs and join me, that would be wonderful. I don't know when this will be - my sister's telling me that I may die in the winter here with the temperature drop and my lack of passion for winter sports, so I may aim for early next year so I can get a taste for the winter here but leave before I get SAD (the seasonal disorder, not the emotion). But who knows. I can tell you though that I am obsessed with researching this trip at the moment and currently have multiple Lonely Planet books opened up next to me, so I'm hoping to make this happen sooner rather than later.

Any takers??

Oh and PS - apparently Tom and Katie are in town! Us Weekly showed them in Telluride for the parade on the 4th, but I sadly missed them. How?! I am disappointed in myself and my celeb sighting skills.