Set!

The two weeks we've been in North Carolina have been flying by as we've spent much of the time with our parents and friends and making all the last minute preparations necessary. 

Kelly and I have been packing for our trip and like most things, we find that we keep thinking of more and more stuff we need to bring along. One example, which we need for our one-year temporary residency application in Bolivia, is passport photos. We need to bring four photos with us, which combined for both of us amounts to almost $50 if you go to a drug store to get it done. However, we found a site online, epassportphoto.com, which provides instructions on how to take a proper photo yourself and then then upload it and crop it on the site for free. You then download the picture back to your computer, put it on a thumb drive, take it to target or wherever you print your photos, and you can print as many passport photos as you please for relatively nothing. So next time you need passport photos, there you go.

Trying to minimize what we take with us, we got a kindle paperwhite with free 3g and are trying to load up on books. Recommendations are welcome for good books while we're away. Interestingly enough, I've heard from a colleague who has spent the last 2 years in the same field site doing research - (shout out to Alan Schultz, an awesome researcher and friend who has been giving us great advice as we have been preparing) that there is some 3g coverage in some of the Tsimane' communities in the Bolivian Amazon. We'll be testing that out with this 3g device and maybe we'll have sporadic access to the internet while we're in the communities. Globalization is quite the ever-growing phenomenon. 

We are really excited about the trip. We leave tomorrow and will post again later tonight with a description of the upcoming itinerary and stops along the way as we travel to San Borja, Bolivia.