Travel Essentials

I was standing by the laundry line waiting for Mark the other day and these two guys I didn’t recognize walked up and asked, ”Hey, you two writing a thesis?”  What a strange question from a total stranger.  “Doing research or something?  You two were just typing away this morning.”  “Oh, we were writing blogs,” I laughed.

Over the past few days, Mark and I have been creating a mental list of travel essentials.  For us, the laptop is right up there at the top of the list.  Our mental list started a couple of days ago at the market when a guy we were haggling with suggested we sweeten the deal with everything we had on us.  “How about your sunglasses?  The shoes off your feet?   Your watch?  Your shorts?  How about electronic listening device, you know, ipod?  I know you have one where you’re staying.  You bring me; I pay cash.”  So, we started creating a list of things we wouldn’t part with: NRS straps, my cleaning towel for my glasses, cameras, our Chaco sandals, sunscreen, bug spray, and our power adapters and converters- those were gold.  The benefit to traveling in a group has been that these items are somewhat replaceable.  We purchased NRS straps from Heidi when ours were stolen, and we sold her our extra camera when hers broke down under water.  We obtained extra sunscreen and bug spray when Chad flew out.  We bought US dollars off of Joel, and we doled out medical supplies like Theraflu, Ibuprofen, hydration salts, and Cipro when everyone got sick.  Groups can work to a disadvantage, though, too.  Mike lent his power adapter to Justin, and Justin left town with it, so now Mike is without access to power for charging his electronics.  Rule of the road: don’t lend anything you might miss.  It sometimes looks like hoarding, other times it comes with a warning, “Don’t lose this.  It’s important to me.  I want it back today.  This is how much it costs if it gets broken.”  Accidents happen, but we try to minimize the upsetting results by planning ahead and letting people know what to expect if something goes wrong.

There are other things that can’t be planned for or negotiated on, like spider bites.  Nothing to be done.  I got three of them the other night which caused me to lose sleep, worrying that the spider would return for more bedtime feeding.  I tossed and turned all night under my miserably hot mosquito net.  I even took a melatonin pill, and still couldn’t sleep.  Darn spiders.  At least they weren’t poisonous.

For my fellow foodies, I had a ridiculously good salad at Tofo Scuba, so I thought I’d share the recipe, an edible bite of Tofo, Mozambique.  It was a roasted pumpkin salad, so it’s seasonal, but I think a person could get by using yams or squash in the off season.  It looks like this:   Make a bed of green lettuce.  Adorn it with thin circular slices of tomato and cucumber.  Add slivers of white onion and douse in balsamic vinegar, then top off with handfuls of feta cheese, grilled cashews, and chunks of roasted pumpkin.  Sooooo good.  It’s no pumpkin latte, but I drank it with a latte- first half extra hot, second half on ice.  Hmm, I guess that caffeine may have been what contributed to being up all night worrying about the spider.  Well, it was so good, it was worth it.  And, like all food and beverages, they tasted better because they came with great conversation.  Usually, Mark and I pay our bill and go after the check arrives, but we hung out to chat for over an hour after the meal was finished.  It’s great to have a best friend to travel with.  In fact, he’s on my travel essentials list.