As ready as ready can be...

So I'm all but finished with the preparations.  I went out yesterday and today and got the last few little things.  Insect repellent, a bed mat, mug, some extra rope, a fuel canister, etc.  Little stuff that you need but that doesn't require so much time.  I'm gonna go through my pack tonight, get everything washed up and ready to go.  I'm at about 40 pounds of life in one bag for three months.  Life is good, imagine only having to worry about the clothes and the one bag on your back for three months?  No car or house note, no diapers to change, no mouths to feed, no places to be, just the one foot in front of you.  A simple, day-to-day existence.  It will be both interesting and enlightening.

The purpose of it all will of course give the trip something much more.  Three months walking through the third poorest country in the world, not eight years removed from a civil war and its rendition in the movie Blood Diamond.  It is no vacation, there is so much to be done, so much that people there may want or need, so much for me/us to learn.  Walking into a town, abject poverty, and knowing you can't do much for them yet, not this trip.  But that is the point of this trek, to learn, to lay the groundwork.  To see what true poverty is like, not South Bronx poverty, but dollar a day poverty.  To get closer to understanding real developing world cause and effect, their politics and economics, their cultural and societal makeup, why things are as they are.  What I/we can do (or not do) to allow for more people's happiness...    

The trip pretty much starts tomorrow.  I head down to the city and will take it like a bit of a technology trial with the blogging.  I will be down there for a conference by the same organization that is co-sponsoring the Gamechangers funding opportunity that I've been working on.  It will be a great learning experience in terms of building sustainably in the developing world.  Exactly what I'm looking to get invovled with.  So... on that note, let's get this thing started...  ;)   

siesta

SO I'M OUT EXPERIMENTING AGAIN, AND YES, I STILL HAVE NO IDEA WHY THIS JUST WANTS TO WRITE IN CAPITALS! BUT MAYBE THAT IS THE WAY EVERYTHING WILL BE FROM SIERRA LEONE - YELLING!!  SO YOU ALL CAN HEAR ME FROM ACROSS OCEANS AND MOUNTAINS!!  LOL  OH YEAH, AND NO PARAGRAPHES EITHER!!  ANYWAY, SO I'M HANGING OUT IN MY HAMMOCK SOMEWHERE BETWEEN FISHKILL RIDGE AND MOUNT BEACON. I'VE GOT SOME DECENT PICTURES BUT NOT SURE HOW I WANNA HANDLE THEM FROM THE PHONE HERE.  I'M EATING A NICE LUNCH OF COLD CHICKEN SAUSAGES AND CHEESE AND CRACKERS. I NEED SOME VEGGIES HERE BUT LEFT EARLY IN MORNING AND DIDN'T GET ANY ON THE WAY.  OTHERWISE, IT'S COLD, 54F (11C) AND GETTING COLDER IT SEEMS, DESPITE WHAT THOSE LIEING METEOROLOGIST WOULD HAVE US BELIEVE!! LOL.  THE REAL ISSUE IS THE GEAR. THE WOOL IS GREAT FOR WARMTH AND QUICK DRYING, BUT IT IS NOT WOVEN INTO A DOUBLE LAYERED WICKING FABRIC TO PULL THE MOISTURE AWAY FROM MY SKIN. MEANING, WALKING IN MY COLD SWEAT DOESN'T HELP, NOR WILL WALKING IN MY HOT SWEAT IN SALONE (SL). BUT I'LL TAKE THAT HOT WEATHER OVER THIS COLD STUFF ANY DAY!!  THINKIN TO JUMP INTO MY SLEEPING BAG HERE, BREAK OUT MY BOOK, "HOW EUROPE UNDERDEVELOPED AFRICA", AND SEE WHAT COMES OF IT!! I'M THINKIN A NAP!! ;)

Things...

Getting close...!!  Also getting tired of planning and experimenting, and whatever else there is that I've been doing.  I've spent the last couple days out in the woods on two treks.  Not very long, but fully geared up.  Its been rewarding, no soreness, no issues, nothing of concern.  I still am not completely geared up though.  I finally gave in and decided that I needed to buy a stove.  I purchased the MSR Dragonfly stove.  I wanted to use the aluminum can stove, but I have just gotten to the point where there are too many uncertainties.  Most profoundly, both whether I could actually get it to work properly, and whether I could even get the right kind of fuel in Sierra Leone.  So I've decided to just get a proper stove that can use any kind of fuel (white gas, kerosene, unleaded fuel, diesel, and even jet fuel!!) and would function in most any environment.  But... another cost...  :-/  One, that had to be done though. 

Otherwise, the only real things left are to finish up my medical kit, get a bed roll of some kind, and maybe a safari type hat. Also, extra batteries, toiletries, couple books, etc.  I have also decided that I will take a bit of food with me.  Maybe a few couple kilos (4-5 pounds) of rice, some energy bars, and some homemade beef jerky.  I am of course experiementing with makeing the jerky right now.  Not bad so far...  we'll see...  ;) Ultimately though, this week is about relaxing, getting into the woods with my gear, and trying to just get comfortable walking and in my gear.   

If I'm safe...

Another substantial development has come about.  I spoke to the one Peace Corps volunteer that I have been coresponding with fairly regularly now - "Alli".  I spoke with her for 30 minutes and 37 seconds using SkypeOut and calling directly to her mobile phone.  It cost $14.48!!!!  Holy #$@^#$%^#@!!!!!  I guess I won't be hearing from too many people while I'm over there.  There has got to be a cheaper way to do that...  We'll see.  Not sure how much data usage goes one with skype to skype online calls.  That would seem to be a heck of a lot cheaper on the whole, but this puts all the cost on me while in country. 

...why wouldn't he be??

But this call was great.  I learned one fundamentally profound thing: I WILL BE ABSOLUTELY FINE.  I know there are enough detractors (or in urban parlance - "Haters") out there that have been critical - even patronizing at times - regarding my trip.  I have tried to tell everyone that I will be absolutely fine.  And I will.  I'll probably be safer in Sierra Leone than driving through Newburgh, NY!!.  There are good people out there, and it sounds like a lot of them live in Sierra Leone!!  ;)  

Experimenting in the Woods...

Training ground...

(written Saturday October 9th)

So today is a day for experimenting. right now I am typing this post in to my phone as this is looking to be the way things will be in Sierra Leone.  I also spent a two hours today out in the woods with my full pack on. It measured in at 35 pounds (16 KiLOS) WHICH IS NOT BAD (YES I HAVE NO IDEA WHY EVERYTHING IS CAPITALS NOW EITHER). I STILL HAVE SOME THINGS TO ADD. THERE WAS NO FOOD IN THE PACK, I STILL HAVE TO ADD THE STOVE, A PONCHO, MAYBE A WINDBREAKER, MEDICAL KIT, AND A FEW OTHER THINGS. THE THINGS IN THE PACK ARE ALL FULL THOUGH. THERE WAS FIVE LITERS OF WATER, AND ALL THE SOLUTIONS ARE COMPLETELY FULL.  (ITS NOT LETTING ME PUT A PARAGRAPH EITHER...) REALISTICALLY THOUGH IT ONLY SEEMED A BIT HEAVY FOR THE FIRST FEW MINUTES. ONCE I GOT OUT AND UP TO PACE IT WAS FINE.  I HAVE PLENTY OF SPACE IN THE BAG FOR MORE STUFF. I WILL BE FINE. I'VE GOT ROOM AND WOULD BE FINE WITH MORE WEIGHT. IDEALY, THE LIGHTER THE BETTER, BUT I'VE GOTTA EAT!! ;) (PARAGRAPH) AS FOR THE BLOGGING, WEL I THINK U CAN SEE THAT ITS NOT IDEAL...  I DON'T LIKE IT ALL IN CAPS, TYPING WITH JUST MY THUMBS ISN'T IDEAL, AND NO PARAGRAPHS IS ANNOYING. I ALSO DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH DATA IT IS USING EITHER. AND IF I CAN ONLY WRITE WHEN I'M ONLINE I THINK WE'LL MISS A LOT.. :-/

So this post was not able to be finished online as I was trying to get the pictures uploaded and it dropped me.  Discouraging...

Gamechangers Extended Deadline

So I must say that this is lucky for us.  I have not heard back from Kaps yet regarding the costing or the areas of emphasis that he would want to put into the proposal.  They are of course in the beginning of their school year there and I'm sure he is quite busy - not to mention with sporadic internet access. 

The deadline has now been extended to October 31st.  This is actually fabulous for us as for two reasons.  One I will be able to go to Makeni, see the specific site where the project will be, and go through a proper planning/proposal process.  It also fits well into my initial itinerary.  I can spend a couple days in Freetown, then walk to Makeni.  This should put me there around the 25th.  We'll have a few days to work on the project and then get it submitted properly.  The second thing is that the two days before I leave there is a conference in NYC put on by Architecture for Humanity (the co-sponsor of gamechangers) that I will be attending.  Therefore, I will be able to do some networking with decision makers as well as benchmarking with others in the field.  It can only make the project's planning, proposal, and chances of success that much better.  Big development, and well received...

An Itinerary (of sorts...)

I have been spending a bit of time over the last week looking over the map and thinking of an itinerary for this trip.  Yet, I am a bit more of a free spirit than the concrete planning type.   So might be that I've got more of an "agenda", actually maybe even more of a "list" of places or things worth aiming to see/get done.  I've found that the most is learned, when the least is done...

So my flight is going to drop me off across the bay from Freetown in the evening on October 18th.  I have been communicating with several non-profits in country and one that I have been working with (Child Help) has offered to meet me at the airport and help me get situated.  My itinerary is pretty flexible from there though.  I would like to spend the first couple days in one place so that I can acclimate to the time change/rest up a bit prior to getting down to hiking.  I'm trying to find the cheapest place to stay in all of Freetown, but there is also a decent chance that I'll head straight for Makeni to meet up with Kaps and take a look at the Gamechangers site.  I would be fine really wherever, but will need a good two nights sleep before starting the walk.  The issue with possibly heading to Makeni right away is that I really want see the whole country on foot - vehicles only in emergency!!  This goes along with my desire to do everything as cheaply as possible and as locals would.  Again, to learn without learning...

After the couple of days acclimating (probably in Freetown) I plan to start walking towards Makeni.  Which way is yet to be determined, again I am wholly flexible.  There are some things that I would like to do around Makeni.  From there I would like to head northeast towards Bumbuna and Kabala.  Then Along the road that loops around and goes back south through Falaba and Kamaron along the Guinea border.  I then plan to climb Mount Bintumani and Sankanbiaiwa on my way to Koidu.  A little time in the east, learning a bit about the mining industry... and then head south and back west. 

I have a list of cities and sites/projects worth seeing, but I would hardly call it a plan, more of an idea.  There are also some US Peace Crops volunteers that I will be stopping to see, but everything is subject to change.  I will go wherever the days/weeks take me.  This to me is the best way to come away with a slid and profound understanding of how it is that the country 'works' - economically, socially, culturally, politically, what have you...