Countdown continues! I'm slowly but surely gathering my gear for the trip.

I keep hearing over and over again, people telling me that I'm so lucky to be able to travel down to S. America. But isn't everyone ABLE to travel. Couldn't anyone just save up $2,000, take a hiatus from their job, and just go for a month? The most difficult part really going for it was quitting my job. I thought "What will I do for money? I can't just drop my career, I worked so hard! Will anyone want to hire me when I get back?" and other scary questions. But then I realized that LOTS of people take extended vacations from work to travel and things always work out. I don't want to be the guy who tells his kids "I almost went down to S. America, but I didn't because I was scared of what would happen when I got back." I want my kids to take some risks and be adventurous so I have to be too!