In true Anne & Julien fashion, it is the day before we head out on our grand adventure that we finally release the blog we’ve been promising friends and family we’d include them in on for months. And by release, I mean figure out how WordPress works and write the first words to introduce our adventure.

The plan: We have but two set dates for when we will be where. June 5 we land in Mexico City at midnight after 22 hours of travel. July 13 we will arrive in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala to start four weeks of intensive Spanish classes. Between these two dates, we’ll be exploring southern Mexico, traveling, as a fellow backpacker/blogger put it, at the speed of enjoyment. Come August 7, a better command of the Spanish language and Latin American history under our money-belts, we’ll take to the rest of Guatemala before plunging southward through Central America (the countries are conveniently aligned one after another). And then onto South America where we’ll travel through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, before following the Pacific Coast down Chili before making our way back upward through Argentina. Or maybe after Bolivia we’ll head eastward and travel south through Argentina before coming back up through Chili; we’ll see where the wind and enjoyment takes us.

The blog: As you can see (or not, we’re still working on the format) we will be maintaining the blog in English and French. I assume the content will be roughly the same, perhaps a few anecdotes or personal observations making for the slightest discrepancies, but overall the same. Probably. If you dabble in both languages, I’d go for a read in both, just to make sure.

The gear: I’m using Julien’s old 40L Quechua bag, and he has a 55-65L pack. Seasoned backpackers will say this is more than enough room for two for a trip like ours, while newbies are more likely to set of with a 70L each. Currently a part of the latter group, we’ve had to go through our bags no less than ten times to see what we really, no really, need to bring. We’re looking forward to joining the former group in a few months time, sage backpackers happy with our small packs. Until then, I’ve consoled myself with the fact that my bag weighs less than my backpack did on average throughout college and that choosing an outfit will never take longer than two minutes on any given day.

The famous this-is-everything-we’re-taking-for-a-year backpacker photo

The cats! Those of you a part of the unofficial Neo & Swanson fanclub will be pleased to learn both felines have been placed in loving homes. Swanson went first; a weekend trial at a friend’s apartment in early May to see if she would get along with the resident cat went so well that she stayed from that weekend on. Just yesterday we dropped Neo off at another friend’s apartment; he had also had a weekend trial that went quite swimmingly and will be living the high-life in the chic 17th Arrondissement in Paris, a private 5th floor balcony allowing him to observe the goings-on of the quiet street below; to say the least, he was very pleased to find his vacation home last night after having moved from apartment to apartment this last week.

After 20 minutes wrestling with what remains of the futon mattress, Swanson had to take a break to plug herself in and recharge

Et voila! Tomorrow, direction Frankfurt before heading in the right direction to Cancun and then Mexico City. May the grand adventure begin!