SamSabbatical - summer plans & expectations

Rough itinerary of my next 6 months

・8 May to approx 17 June - Costa Rica (found a Workaway placement) ・Approx 17-30 June - Panama (staying with a friend) ・July - Colombia ・August - Ecuador ・September - Peru and Bolivia ・October - Chile 🌎🌴☀️🗻 Expectations... New skills and knowledge through working: I'll be volunteering on Workaway (hopefully) around 2-3 times in different countries for different businesses or organisations. Hoping to broaden my knowledge and skills in areas like hospitality, gardening, conservation, sustainability, permaculture; and softer skills like cross-cultural communication, being open-minded, work ethics...and learning HOW TO LEARN again! New travel / life skills: living with just a 50L backpack for 6 months over 7 countries across 2 continents and various climates will require some packing skills, minimalist-living skills, planning adaptation, resilience, and learning from lots and lots of (but not TOO many) mistakes. Learn SPANISH - muchos muchos of it. Discoveries: firstly, what FOOD do they eat?? How is this intertwined with their culture? What is their culture like? What are these countries like? What animals are there? How many types of fruit would I encounter for the first time? What did these stones on this remote mountain mean to an ancient civilisation that no longer exists? Why do these lakes have different colours? How are these slow-ass sloths not extinct already? Meet People! Lots of people! When I travel, 90% of the time it's really the people that make the memories and create a long-lasting impression of that trip or country for me. I'm hoping not just to meet locals and fellow travellers, but to be able to build relationships with them on different levels. Awesome memories, beautiful photos, great stories: self-explanatory. To keep my friends and family back home in the loop: sharing my highs AND lows, getting updates from them, keeping each other in prayer. Last but not least...To stay safe, and alive.