Ca-Ching

Thank you for reading! This post is meant to help you understand some of the logistical stress I am feeling. Specifically, money for all that I will be doing in the next 10 months.

I know foreign travel is generally expensive, but I do have some complicatedish things that add additional costs occurring at the same time

• Gear- I need a fancy schmancy sleeping bag, a personal UV light using water purification system, a big ol' bag, sturdy shoes (all I own are Toms and flip flops), various preventative medications and probably some more expensive gear. 
• Flights- I need to find my way from home to Ecuador, and from Peru home. Also, in Peru, I'll need to pay for a flight in and out of some deep part of the Amazon.
• Tuition-This is an obvious one, I need to give Carpe Diem a very large sum of money for my endeavors. 
• Credits- I haven't been fully enlightened as to what this fee is, but all I know is that if I want to receive college credit for my trip, I need to fork over $927 to Portland State University. (And this is in addition to the tuition of my program).
• Volunteering- United Planet is a wonderful organization, but they are quite pricey. The cost of my time with them is at bare minimum $2600. 
• Random four day gap/Excursion- I'll talk about this at some other point, but I will be needing to find food shelter and hopefully a reputable place to chill for 4 days, más o menos...but that means an expensive touristy thing.  One option I have is the Galapagos Islands! ...which will cost me another two grand. For about a fourth of that price, I could do a little rainforesty trip, but I'll already be doing stuff similar to that later on in my trip
• Summer courses- Since I'm just crazy, I will be needing to pay a chunk of money to North Dakota State University while I'm still abroad. This includes tuition and room and board for full time summer courses in linguistics I will be taking once I return.
• Car- This cost pains my quite a lot. Once I return to Minnesota, I will need to buy a car so I can go back to my life of working and volunteering. The one I currently use now is a blessing from my parents, and so it is now my younger brother's turn to benefit from it. 
• Minor things- Food, communication, public transportation, touristy purchases etc

As you can tell, this is stressful because there's just so much to pay for and think about. I currently work minimum 30 hours a week, and have been since May. Come January through August I will suddenly have absolutely no income. I have of course applied for a bunch of scholarships, but I will not hear back from them until I have already paid and am in Ecuador. Neither of my Bethel scholarships will apply towards any of the things mentioned above. 

Any help in any way would be greatly appreciated. If you have a really compact sleeping bag you won't be using this winter, might be interested in buying my Steripen from me in May, would be willing to pay me $20/ hour for babysitting (or $8, I'd do that too), know a great car dealer, have a coupon for probiotics, or simply want to donate, it would be so unbelievably appreciated. Absolutely all monetary gifts that I received will be used for my volunteer work, and thus are tax deductible. You can donate securely through Google Checkout by clicking on the donate button in the upper right hand corner of my blog. Please leave a comment or email me if you feel called to help, or maybe just want to learn more! Thank you!

This post is defiantly more negative than I'm sure you're hoping to spend your time reading, but I hope it helps you reflect on the dedication I have and need for this trip and the complicity of it all. Thank you for letting me selfishly mope about my financial stresses. I am unbelievably blessed to have these opportunities and the resources (even in the form of loans) to complete them. While sympathy and aid is appreciated, I do know that I am so very fortunate and do not deserve or require anyone to do the hard parts of this for me.

Note: In order for your donation to be tax deductible you must donate directly through United Planet