Amy leaves for Guatemala in the morning. Last night Amy and I reviewed her itinerary for the next 6 months in Latin America (Guatemala - Brazil - Equator and Peru). She collated little notebooks of information (including numbered attachments) for Don and me - so we won't worry. I was impressed. She's spent a lot of time researching and planning this trip. Her medical records and several months of medicine will accompany her. Rclare, a good friend, says not to worry - it will be the "adventure of a lifetime" and she'll be fine - and I am excited for her too, but I'm a creative genius with an overactive imagination who has always been able to take the "art of worry" to the next level, like most mom's do. Amy's a realist. She expects to have some things stolen and get an occasional bout of diarrhea. I'm worried that someone will cut off her feet to get those new hiking boots - or strangle her and rip off her arms to get that new backpack - or worse - that those Ladd bands will act up when she's on a tiny canoe on a river in the Amazon Jungle among tapirs, toucans, wild cats, monkeys, capybaras and boa constrictors - in the middle of that 16th day of her 823 mile Gecko "grassroots adventure" from Quito, Equator to Lima, Peru - and the only "doctor" around is a local shaman who claims to traverse the axis mundi and uses the knowledge from the spirit world and magical forces to treat her. http://www.geckosadventures.com/latin_america/trip_notes.asp?trip=2216

But I suppose I should "just chill" - She's very smart and has worked through many of those scenarios - plus recently attended the Krav Maga Academy of Warrior Spirit - and studied instinctive face-to-face combat techniques taught by the warrior spirits. Her body is a weapon - and she's traveling with mace. I can only hope.

Never a dull hair day,
Amy's mom