Getting psyched (out)!

i'm starting to get really tangled up in the details. it's really frustrating because everyone i've met on the road or online who has done the area i want to visit has basically played it by ear and done really well for themselves. But the more i talk to my family, the more problems i seem to have....


Prob #1: the route

it's not just that there is alot to see on limited cash and time, it's that within the timeframe i've established (3 months) i have certain specific targets that limit the rest ofthe trip, namely salvador for new years and recife for carnaval. moreover, brazil is a third world country making places more distant than they look on the map: some roads are good and some are crap, making it sorta impossible to calculate travel times.

the current plan: fly to porto seguro (bought the ticket last night), do southern bahia for just under 2 weeks, salvador for new years. chapada diamantina after new years for maybe 2 weeks, then i have no idea how i'm going to kill time getting from chapada to recife for carnival. maybe kick it in salvador, maybe slowly work it up the coast. after recife it gets cloudier. i may book it to jericoacoara (may need to go by way of fortaleza), and from there go to são luis.


Prob #1a: CHAPADA vs S.BAHIA

the biggest issue with the route right now is where to start. apparently i've got my time priorities reversed. i thought i needed to give myself more time to get to know chapada, but apparently 2 weeks is way mroe than enough time, whereas southern bahia is totally worth seeing. moreover, the beaches are really hard to get to, so it's time consuming. also, it's a really relgiious area, so everything is basically going to come to a dead stop for christmas. i've been told by two different family members to do chapada first, then go south, then cut back north for recife. still, apparently going to chapada at all might be a bad idea. according to weather.com, december is actually the areas heaviest month in terms of rain volume, and the park is notorios for suddent floods that can be quite dangerous (especially if you're unlucky enough to be in a canyon at the time)


prob #2: money

read last post for more details on that one. today was my last day of classes and paulo basically offered to pay me R$500 for 4 days work; 6 classes. 4 with him, 2 with another client at his office. that's roughly 1/16th of my current budget, which by the calculations/assumptions i'm working with right now could keep me on the road another 6 days. sticking around is quite tempting, but it means losing a week to buy a week if that makes sense.


prob #3: the flight

Given the route problem, changing my ticket to salvador so i can get to the chapada seems like a good idea. but if i take paulo up on his offer, then my ~2 weeks becomes one (also subtract travel). if i stay a 'week', will I have sufficient time to really do chapada? of course, maybe i don't need to do EVERYTHING available there. maybe i'm being a greedy little eco-tourist.

still, i'm not even sure i feasibly CAN change my ticket. see, i got the ticket online, and didn't register for the site when i did it. i got on online promotion, so i'm not sure if i even can change my ticket, but the info they sent me looks optimistic. thing is, i think i can only change the ticket online. so i went back and registered, and now it shows my username with no reservations, and no way to add tickets bought before registration. and i've tried calling both phone numebrs they offer, and so far i've been sent back to the website by a voice message and put indefinitely on hold by another.

i'm going to try calling back tomorrow during business hours. hopefully i can work my way backwards through this list