A Good Way to Clear the Mind of Libraries

I announced my retirement at the end of 2011 in February, to give everyone, including me, plenty of time to prepare. As luck would have it, my son Daniel decided in the summer to spend the first couple months of 2012 taking a field studies course in South America. Southern Chile, to be exact. This got the wheels spinning in my brain. What if, when Daniel completes his field work in Chile, we were to meet up somewhere and knock around for a few weeks. I asked Daniel if he was willing, and being the good kid that he is, he agreed.

I suggested Quito, Ecuador, as the meet up place. That part of South America has the most appeal to me. It's where the indigenous cultures are the most intact. And travel is a little cheaper too -- kind of important in my current reduced circumstances. And speaking of cheap, I was proud of myself for finding a frequent flyer ticket from PDX to Quito for only 15,000 frequent flyer miles. Sweet! For the return, I looked and looked and finally figured out that the way for both of us to get back to the states for only 15K was to fly from Bogota to Las Vegas. From there it's a cheap flight back to Portland. So I was all set on the arrival and departure. I put Daniel on a plane to Santiago on January 5th. We've heard from him a few times and he seems to be having a great time in Chile. Now I have a few more weeks to make my final plans before I take off. We already have a hostel booked in Quito. Only seven dollars per person a night! My kind of place.

After working in libraries for 32 years straight, the last 20 in a fairly high stress job as the Oregon State Librarian, this trip will hopefully clear my mind, and help me gain a better focus on my new future. That makes it sound like therapy, I guess. It is intended to be that to some extent. But I am also hoping to have a lot of fun with my son. We went on a trip to Mexico a couple years ago and had a wonderful time. I hope we can do that again this trip.