Where am I now and what lies ahead of me...

As I sit down to write this post, I'm struggling for a title. So I'm going to write it first and title it when I'm done. 

Upon the first of the year it began to to hit me how big of a year 2014 is going to be for me. Those who know me know my that I quite often live a larger then your average adventurous lifestyle. Go big or go home. OK before I offend anyone, I know I live within a very small percentage of the population and it's not for most, but it's for me, it's what makes me tick, it what makes me happy and, as cheesy as it sounds, completes me. I'm in one way or another an adventure junkie. 

Looking back at 2013 I can't say that nothing big happened, as lot really did, as my previous post had depicted, but I didn't really feel like I had accomplished anything big and it wasn't one of those years I would say was an amazing year for me. Yes, I did however have amazing things happen in small doses. It was a year of trial and error, live, learn and move forward, it's because of everything that had happened in 2013 that has led me to make 2014 a big year in terms of big adventures, mainly due to timing, but also due to sheer will and determination to make my dreams happen.

So the best thing about not having a full-time standard job is flexibility. I choose to take a 6 month contract assignment, so I would be free to do what I wanted to do when I was done and I didn't have to make any permanent choices that I didn't feel I was ready to make. So I was counting weeks and doing math and figuring out how to squeeze my adventures in between my work contracts. Or maybe I should say fit work in between my adventures.

Alright, enough blabber I'll just get to it already. Those who follow me on facebook, may have already gotten an idea of what lies ahead of me, or where I am in my first adventure of the year. After my contract ended in January I had always been planning on a trip to Costa Rica and then later in the year thru-hike the Pacific Crest Trail. In planning and researching my Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) hike my Costa Rica trip morphed from a yoga retreat vacation to a backpacking trip, through Costa Rica, Panama, and Nicaragua. So thru-hiking if the big event of the year, more in what that entails later but just in quick detail: The Pacific Crest Trail is a trail that spans from the Calfornia-Mexico border thru Califormia, Oregon, and Washington to the Washington-Canada border. It is 2600 and some odd miles of backpacking through wilderness and some desert in the Southern California. This is all done in one shot, for most it takes about 5 months with an average of 20 miles a day. There will be many posts to follow regarding my PCT planning, what the hike looks like for me, gear reviews and the actual hiking of the PCT.

So where am I now? I am 5 days into my backpacking trip through Central America. I flew into Costa Rica, made my way down the Caribbean coast into Panama and am now in Boquete, Panama. I will travel until mid February, then return to the Bay Area for a 13 week work assignment and then off to the PCT.

Here are a few shots from my trip so far:

Saying goodbye to Izzy, with all my all that I will travel with packed into my backpack of 30 pounds.

Punta Uva, Costa Rica

The hillsides of Boquete, Panama