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!!  ;)  

Can Stove... can not!!

So my stepfather and I spent last night trying to construct an aluminum can stove out of some old soda cans.  Two hours later we had had fire and we had had heat, but we hadn't had anything like what we were supposed to have.  :(  We tried two different kinds of stove constructions, but neither one seemed to work properly.  We are thinking its because of the fuel.  We first tried rubbing alcohol and then pulled some denatured alcohol of of a shelf somewhere.  It just didn't seem to be getting hot enough to really do what it was supposed to do. 

In the beginning it should be just a light flame in the middle, but once it gets up to temperature, the flames should come out the little rosets to look just like a typical burner.  Upon playing with it and practically pouring the alcohol over the entire stove, we still weren't getting it to work properly...  We got about 30 seconds out of it, but it couldn't maintain... :-/  Back to the drawing board...  :-/ 

Yeah... for about 30 seconds!!

Practicalities

I still have a post to finish about positive developments with the Gamechangers athletics/track project, but while I am working on that I still have had a few other time sensitive things that need to be handled this week.  Wednesday is my second vaccination cycle - second round of Hep A/B and the Yellow Fever and Typhoid (both of which I have to get a prescription for).   Trying to get my self clean and healthy to make it easier to handle.  Should be interesting. 

I need to get more contact lens as well.  I have been using the same prescription and "one year supply" of contacts since 2006.  lol.  One year my butt.  ;)  But I don't have enough now to be certain if something happens while I'm there, and my glasses are from 2003/a mess.  I can't afford glasses as well, but contacts are a must.  Sadly though, in the US in order to order new ones you have to have a prescription from within one year - 2006 obviously doesn't qualify!! lol.  So working on getting something together for that. 

Still working on funding, if anyone wants to donate... now is the time!!  I leave in less than a month and am down to the bottom of my budget.  I want to say thank you to the few people that have already.  You know who you are!!

 

I also have started thinking more about my stove situation.  I want to use an aluminum can stove as it would be light and easy.  But I need to use denatured alcohol (methylated spirits, grain alcohol, rubbing alcohol, etc.) and I am not sure of availability over there, thus an inquiry is in order.  I found one typical backpacker stove that uses three different kinds of fuel (including gasoline) here which would have been ideally versatile - but it costs $125, so I'm gonna try the can stove first.  Maybe try to make it this afternoon...



On Thursday, right after Wednesday's vaccinations, I believe that I will be headed in to NYC to apply for my visa.  We shall see how that goes, but it is something that I am actually quite looking forward to.  Not sure why, maybe another finality thing.  I've also been trying to get some work done while in the Hammock, but not so comfortable to type in there.  It needs a pillow of some sort for sure to keep your head up.  Ok, so I need to get back to work.  Hope you are enjoying your day. 

Shopping...

Took a trip to REI yesterday to try to get my head a bit further around the upcoming endevour's equipment.  I've spent quite a bit of time hiking and running on trails, and a lot of time camping when I was younger, but never any real overnight backpacking tours like this one.  So I've gotta get as much informaiton as possible before I start buying anything.  REI is a great place, I've been into EMS and can walk around and look for days it seems without anyone speaking to me, and when I ask them things they rarely have much to offer.  Sad, customer service is apparently not a way to maximize profits I guess!!  lol.  Anyway, I had a list, started asking questions.  I'm planning on doing a week or so on the Appalachian Trail in August to get a bit of time out there before I go.  I've been spending a lot of time running on the trail, wonderful place.  Anyway, this post may be a bit distracted as the world cup is on...  Multi-tasking... 

Ok, so basically the issue is tropical camping and backpacking.  In general I need the lightest weight stuff I can come up with.  Obviously I'm going to be carrying it all in a pack on my back for some three months.  Problem is that that stuff is more expensive.  The other key issue with all of this is my desire to stay as "natural" as possible.  By this I mean, natural fibers, natural products, sustainable scenarios, etc.  There are two reasons for this, one allergies that I have to most synthetics, and second, principle.  If it doesn't happen naturally in naure, I'd like to not to be a part of it.  This of course is very difficult to do in our current world.  Especially in technical scenarios.  Everything is polyester.  It all does amazing things, keeps you dry, warm, cool, washes your backside, whatever.  But I want real, naturally occuring things, yet it is of course more costly to 'grow' in nature than to produce in a factory. 

I have been working with this for a while though so nothing new.  I usually wear cotton everything, but cotton doesn't do well in hot, sweaty environments.  Wool and Silk.  I've been looking at a company called Wintersilks which seems good and responably priced.  The wool however seems to be coming from Smartwool and that is a different story - wonderful quality, yet $60 for a T-Shirt.  Not sure if that is feasible on a budget that includes food stamps...   :-/  We'll see.  I'm still looking to approach Smartwool, Wintersilks, and Vibram on sponsorship basis. 

Prior to this expected aparrel disapointment though I went through all the gear.  I have a backpack that I used to backpack through Europe in 1999, and off and on in other terms since.  It would be adequate, but is not set up for a hydration bladder.  This is a bit of an issue.  I'll have to see if I can rig it up.  It is also not a top loading pack, but like a normal school backpack.  Easier to get to things I think, We'll see.  But I'm going to take it on my AT trips and see how it goes.  Hydration will be key.  I also don't want to show up in a developing country with new flashy stuff.  I'm poor myself (at least by american standards), so A, I can't aford it, and B, I don't want to present myself as someone capable of something I may not be.  This will already be hard to do.

Next, I looked at sleeping, both bags and shelter.  It's going to get 'down' to 60 degrees Fahrenheit (maybe 16C) at night, so its not going to be like I need much.  Of course though everything you see in NY for sale is warmer and they are mostly 'mummy' bags meaning no leg room.  But REI apparently has a 'sleeping sack' which is comfortable to 45 degrees (maybe 6-7C).  They have a down one which obviously could be good for my interests.  I still will entertain blanket options as I sleep year round in flannel and/or down.  Its going to be hot and humid there, so not to comfortable at times.  The other key to tropical treking seems to be to sleep off the ground.  'To much stuff going on down there' as I was told.  Makes sense, especially with the amount of moisture and rain.  I was looking for hammocks, but of course they don't stock them in West Hartford, Connecticut where I was.  Seems like they will be worth looking further into, but not what I expected (no white netted porch type!!).  Seemed like a sleeping bag that you just rope to trees and put a tarp over.  Again, we'll see, probably cost $200 - ouch.  I'll have to do some more online research. 

Cooking stoves... in going to Africa you never know what kind of scenarios you may find for fuel. So the most versatile one takes kerosine, diesel, and one other type of fuel for $130. It was the most versatile and most expensive - but you gotta eat!! Pots and pans, knives and forks.

My next big sticking point was more naturalist induced. Bugs and water. My helper was convinced that I needed deet, I thought he was joking. Hey, let me coat myself in chemicals just for fun and see if it bothers me... nope. I hate to be cynical, but its the only response I can take to what just seems so absurd to me. Same thing with water - no chlorene. Its a chemical that I, A, don't want to ingest, and, B, have always had trouble drinking and swimming in. But this is seen as blasphemy in what has become our artificially natural world. Iodine tablets are fine in "controled areas" such as the US, but apparently tantamount to suicide in other 'less clean' places. There was a UV neutralizer for $100. Lol, no chemicals, we'll see. As for the little critters, I'm thinking I'm going to stick with my brothers advice. When he went to Thailand for the summer he used "All Terrain Herbal Armor" and never got bit (while all the other students with deet regularly lost chunks of flesh!!)

Food however was a better conversation.  Not to much ideology that goes into drying food or dehydrating it.  There seems to be good harty food to be found in Sierra Leone, but I will certainly need to have some lightweight but dense protein with me.  Will probably do some of that before I go and for the AT trials.  Food there will be cheep, but I'm anticipating I will not get as much as I'm used to.  But how else do you understand a country but to live amidst it and use its own resources, at the levels those living there do...