It's Monday in Westhampton, MA

This is my first blog entry and I have basically nothing to say. Sorry.

I leave for Costa Rica on Saturday and I'm feeling relatively prepared. I have got almost all my gear lined up and still wondering whether or not it's completely naive to think I can live out of a pack back for three months. It is. But I will, because I basically haven't given myself much of a choice.

I watched some Univision this morning to work on my Spanish. There was a story about single mothers struggling in the wake of Peru's earthquake. Or at least, I think that's what it was about. Either way it made me feel sad and strange to be an American tourist heading to country that just suffered a crippling natural disaster, in which 54 percent of the population live below the poverty line. As the title of this blog suggest ("I'm afraid of earthquakes in Peru" for those of you who don't habla espanol) I'm of course a little nervous, but it's mixed in with vague feelings of guilt and confusion. I guess that just what it means to be an American in the wide world: vague feelings of guilt. Sad and strange.

I should probably get back to "preparing" for real. But mostly that just means flipping through my Rough Guide to Peru and watching episodes of "Arrested Development." I'm probably going to die.

All the best,
(Westhampton, MA)