We have been suffering a serious case of bag envy. This severe condition is common in long-term travellers who spend any length of time around their lighter-packed 2 week holiday counterparts. While others can get away with 12kg packs (full of bikinis, sunblock and thongs), Sjane and I have been lugging around in excess of 25kg each. Its necessary: a First Aid kit is not something to skimp out on (see blog on fever, vomiting and diarrhoea upon arrival to Mexico), our warm and cold clothes allow us to go to any climate with relative ease, and our hiking boots (although they take up a lot of space at present) are worth their weight in gold as soon as we find a new national park. With that being said, when we knew we were headed back to relative civilisation (Cancun), we both got excited at the prospect of posting some of our more cumbersome gear home. So once we had a private room all to ourselves at the hostel (something else worth a mint after sharing many a hostel dorm in recent times), we set about sorting, shedding and simplifying our packs somewhat. It was a huge success: between us we shed over 6kg of baggage, and saved precious packing space in our bags. We would now be able to simply chuck our packing cells in the pack and zip up (instead of the usual 45 minute game of tetris, wrestling match, and tirade of mumbled curses). We would now no longer have to barter between ourselves for baggage space ("I'll take the medical kit if you take the dirty clothes this time"... "Can you fit my jacket in your carry-on?"... "When we get to (insert destination), I'll try to roll my clothes tighter to fit this boot in."). As Borat would say with a cheesy smile and thumbs up - "Great success!" After this we also went out for quesadillas. This marked a momentous occasion for me. I successfully ordered one chicken, one beef and one potato with chorizo... all in Spanish! f*** yeah! I felt like I had just cured cancer, or reached enlightenment as a Buddhist monk. It didn't even matter that the menu was bilingual. My Spanish is a train wreck, so I'll celebrate every small victory like it's Carneval time in Rio. Wrapping up our day of organisation required us to put together our South American itinerary. We are bound by inbound and outbound flights a month apart, flying in to Buenos Aires, and out of Lima. At this stage, the plan is (vaguely), see BA, go to Iguazu Falls and put the hiking boots on to find tucans in the National Park (Sjane's dream atm), head to either the Salta or La Rioja regions and find some cool little towns to hang out in. After that it's over the Bolivian border to Salar De Uyuni (the salt flats in the sky), and a little more of Bolivia followed by Lake Titicaca. Finally we'll cross the border into Peru, where Machu Picchu is a possibility (entirely dependent on time and if it's open), and we'll make up the rest leading in to Lima on the way there. Sound good? Its a lot of ground to cover and a very short period in the grand scheme of things, but we're trying to focus our energies on getting to experiences we'll truly cherish. Which is hard when you don't really know what places will be like until you're there. At least our bags will be nice and light in the meantime!