February 11, 2009
Have you ever been shopping in any of the various caracoles in Santiago? They are ABSURD. For those of the non-Spanish speaking readers, caracol means snail. And these malls are exactly that. They’re spiral shaped shopping centers, filled with Pokemones*, ten thousand piercing/tattoo parlors, hair cut places that will only dye your hair pink and/or give you a mullet, and massive amounts of polyster clothes.
I was at one of these caracoles the other day because someone told me there was a craft store there. Looking for photo books I walked in, and since I haven’t been feeling well for the past couple days, I have to say that the task of urban hiking uphill in the heat to find what I was looking for was daunting. I just wanted to take the damn stairs, but if you do that then you miss out on all the stores on the part of the caracol that curves around in between floors. I made it to the top, pathetically out of breath by the time I reached the last floor and there was no craft store. As I walked back down I couldn’t help but wonder how SO many grungy looking piercing shops stay in business! I mean seriously, I don’t want to get my nipples pierced…ahem, unlike someone I know.
Anyways, so after that failed mission I left to go print out the actual photos. I had wanted to put them in something pretty because I was leaving them at Japi Jane’s office so that people who go there to buy sex toys might also decide they want boudoir sessions(speaking of, I have another session that I can post after V-Day that I am SO excited to show off!). But I decided to just print the photos and leave it at that. Off I went to the only place of know of in Santiago that does a decent job printing and usually doesn’t distort colors too bad. They were open, the sign on the door said open and there were other customers inside, but I walked in the lady instantly said, “We’re closed.” So I asked her when they were going to open back up and she told that they wouldn’t be printing digitially until the end of Feb. I asked if they had another location or another print store they could recommend me to since I needed the photos sooner than that and she said, “Everywhere is closed until the end of Feb.”
Me: Blank stare.
(…..)
Me: Everywhere….like, there’s no place I could get to get quality prints right now?
Lady looking at me as if I were retarded: Yes.
Me: (in my head) Mentirosa culiada!!!!! (out loud) Ok, thanks, have a nice day! (in my head) BITCH.
You know, if you doesn’t know where to recommend, then just say, “I don’t know.” I find it particularly hilarious that some people here seem to be incapable of uttering those three little words, especially when it comes to giving directions. On a worse day this would have infuriated me. Fortunately I was in a good mood. I just walked out thinking, “Stupid little gringa…expecting people to always give you straight answers. HA! In what world?!?”
*Pokemones are an “urban tribe,” in Santiago. I would best describe them as ascribing to the sort of Asian version of style where they purposely wear “freak” clothes to try and stand out, and then end up all looking the same with their black skinny jeans, dark black eyeliner, and black scraggly mullets. Also, this is a personal prejudice but I’ve found them to be incredibly rude mostly because a big group of them once spit on my friend. I don’t know if having a punk attitude is part of their whole look and vibe or what.
February 10, 2009
As most of you have gathered, I’m pretty open with my finances and our attempts at savings and what not. I know a lot of folks don’t write about this stuff. In USAmerican society, not asking people about their money is an unspoken rule most people live by. But, my basic online rule is that once I touch on a topic by posting about it, I have absolutely no right to be offended if people ask me about it, even if it’s a taboo subject.
At the current moment we have about $20,000 dollars saved up, although if we calculate in dollars the number fluctuates depending on whether the dollar goes up or down, since half of that is in pesos. We had $25,000 but then we went to the U.S. and spent $2500 on plane tickets, $500 on our photo session, $1,000 on new camera equipment and $1,000 on gas/food/tourist attractions like theme parks and aquariums and basketball games. I had budgeted out very carefully just how much we had to spend and I’m happy to say that we didn’t go over at all, though at the end of our three weeks we really had to cut back since we were running low.
We estimate that if we wanted to leave right now, the 20k would be enough to get us all over Latin America for a year. Looking at the money saved by region is much a much more motivating way than to just give ourselves number deadlines.
I am going to continue blogging along the way. I won’t be writing as much as I am now, but I’ll still be writing and hopefully earning $1,000 a month. So the plan is that once we’re in the U.S. we’ll probably just relax and spend time visiting my family, but while there, I’ll work as much as I can so that for that time we’re only spending what I make and not dipping into savings. I’m also really hoping to book some weddings in the U.S. during that time. I think I’d get depressed if I didn’t shoot a single wedding for more than a year while traveling!
Anyways, we’ll be in the U.S. for three months since that’s how long S.’s European waiver visa lasts. During that time we’ll be staying relatively stationary and taking a break from backpacking.
Then the plan is to go to Canada, although we’ll probably mostly be doing a lot of camping and hiking and not spending too much time in major cities because first world countries are cost prohibitive to our backpackers budget.
From there, to go to Europe or not to go to Europe, that is the question. Well, it’s really not much of a question. We will be going. But I doubt we’ll be doing all of Europe. We probably won’t spend more than 2 or 3 months there, if that. Our idea right now is to visit only expensive countries where we know people and can crash on their couches (Hi Fned and Rachel!). And then we’d head to the relatively cheaper parts of Eastern Europe. We’d also like to do a whirlwind tour of the Middle East and go to Dubai. A really good college friend of mine is from there.
I have in my mind that I’d like to go to Africa and work with some kind of volunteer program there but I’m not specifically sure what or where yet, so those details will be worked out once the time is nearer.
And then from there, we’ll be off to Asia, ahhhh, sweet, cheap Asia! It’s a backpacker’s paradise. 
We’ll basically spend our time traveling there until our money has almost run out, and then with the last that’s left in our budget, head to Australia for one last hurrah. By that time, hopefully we’ll have found a country that we are both dying to live in. We’re hoping to have about 10k in a fund apart from the traveling money, that will be our emergency fund. Then, if nothing happens requiring us to use that emergency money (knocking on wood right now), that will be our start-up in a new country money so that wherever we end up arriving we’ll have the means to live for a few months while we get our feet on the ground and find jobs.
In an ideal world that’s our plan. And in an ideal world, we’ll be able to save up 60k. 10k for emergency/start-up money and 50k for the rest of the trip. Keep in mind that we’ll have 50k for the rest of the trip + whatever I make monthly as I blog. Although, I’m also trying not to count on that money as much because I know there will be times when we don’t have internet access.
A few other things to consider, my dad has said that our business will cover my student loans for a year since for a long time I worked for him for next to nothing. So this is his way of paying me back. But if we travel for more than a year, I don’t want to have to count on him paying those. So that’s $400 dollars a month, but may be a little less by then, because I’ve been paying back extra every month since I started paying almost two years ago. So each time the loan is recalculated (annually), the monthly payment goes lower.
We’ll also be paying approximately $200 dollars a month for Marcelo’s education after his first semester this year ends (which is being paid by the amazing JMCS readers who donated their time and money to help this cause!).
And then, of course, there’s travel insurance. I’m not sure how much that will cost, but we’ll need it for sure. We want to be covered in case either of us has any health problems on the road, and then plus we’re hoping to get our camera equipment covered from theft while we travel. I’d imagine that the policy would be fairly expensive, but I’ll do more research on that when we’re closer to our estimated leaving date.
A few other random insights into our budget:
-Starting in Feb. we’re putting $300 a month into an IRA.
-All photography money I make is only spent on photography business related expenses (new gear, marketing materials, etc.). So it’s like that money doesn’t even exist until I *someday* get to the point where I’m actually making profit after expenses.
-This year we should be able to save approximately $25,000. That will put us at $45,000 in December, which is our planned leaving date, so we’ll be $15k short. We may leave with what we have and travel less time. Or we may decide to stay a few extra months. These figures are calculated based on our current salaries.
-S. is starting a business that should be up and running in Feb. and turning profit by March. At first it won’t be a significant amount of extra income, but as the ball gets rolling, it could end up being a lot. A lot as in, we’d far surpass our savings goal. But, since that’s all just predicted and isn’t anything concrete yet I’m not counting those numbers in the totals.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask. As you can tell, I’m open about the finance stuff.
February 6, 2009
While I am fully looking forward to our big trip around the world, I’m also very realistic about the parts of traveling that I don’t like.
I’m not a wuss or anything when it comes to the outdoors. In fact, I can out climb S. up a volcano, no problems. I don’t complain about getting tired or thirsty when I hike. Rain and bad weather doesn’t bother me.
That’s not what I’m worried about.
I suck at sleeping in strange places. And since we’re planning to be on the road for at least a year, that’s a lot of sleepless nights. Unlike S., I can’t just pass out anywhere, anytime, so sleeping on buses/trains/planes is out for me. I’m hugely germaphobic, so I’m definitely not looking forward to shared hostel showers or sleeping on grimy sheets. Avoiding the temptation to overpack shouldn’t be too hard for me, but I’m really going to miss looking cute for 365 days. I enjoy dressing up and wearing high heels, which isn’t really a backpacker option. I know I’ll be tired of being away from home eventually.
But, on the other hand, I love hearing other languages and observing new cultures. What I’m most excited about, is being able to photograph people and places around the world! I can’t WAIT for that part of the trip. And I also can’t wait to be able to spend so much time with my husband. Traveling and our relationship will be our biggest priority rather than work work and more work.
11 more months until D-Day if all goes according to plan. As it creeps up on us the time seems to pass simultaneously slower and quicker. On one hand, I think about leaving every single day and the wait until we have enough money feels like agony. On the other hand, I remember when we decided we wanted to save enough money to travel the world and we started saving. That was a year and a half ago and I felt like ’09 would never be here. But looking back, the time passed in a blink of an eye.
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