El primer paseo de un gran viaje

Vamos a Sudamerica! El dia de partida ha llegado finalmente.

We are very happy to report that the first leg of our honeymoon journey is complete, with stops in Andersonville, Minocqua, Madison, and Lake Bluff. After a truly amazing wedding celebration (see photos), we have enjoyed plenty of running, swimming, biking, packing, golfing, and time with our families. In the meantime, Derek has helped Henry Crown and Co. begin to get their ducks in a row on energy and climate change issues and Charlotte has surpassed her husband in spanish speaking skills thanks to the Rosetta Stone.

Thanks to you all, our family and friends, we have both gained some new gear, lost some hair (see photo below), and put on a few pounds from many wonderful send-off dinners.

We are most excited for the months ahead and hope that you will enjoy a few select cuentos (stories) that we share on this Blog (short for weblog to those new to such things). For you die-hard fans, you can use the link below to subscribe to the atom or RSS feeds so that you are alerted with each new post.

The adventure begins mañana;. Our belongings for the months ahead now reside in 4 backpacks - 2 large, 2 small (see below). First stop: Lima, Peru. Then we plan to meander north and south through the Andes, eventually making our way down through Bolivia to Santa Cruz where we will be volunteering at the Centro Medico Humberto Parra. Deep in soul of Bolivia, we are looking forward to a perfect basecamp in a community of fun and passionate medical volunteers.

Enjoy and stay tuned!
Derek and Charlotte

Before

After

"All our bags are packed and we're ready to go..."