Another few days closer to estimated time of departure.
For those who are interested, my packing looks like this: cram as much stuff into my 60 liter pack as possible. Just kidding, sort of. I'll be carrying 6 weeks worth of gear in my 60 liter Gregory as well as taking a carry on 40 liter pack (this is what I will be living out of for the first few days in country). I'll be traveling with enough clothing for about 1 week, toiletries, Swiss Mix, Chocolate Chips and Pepperoni by request of our hosts, first aid stuffs as well as malaria meds etc, stuff sacks full of Luna bars and instant coffee, my chacos, sleeping bag, sleeping bag liner, mat, DEET, 30 lb generator, camera and all that goes with it, and I'm sure there's lots that I'm forgetting!
Here's what the first few days in country are going to look like: I arrive on the 27th and am very blessed to be staying in the home of an army family in Dar. The rest of my team arrives on the 28th. We will spend that night in a boarding house and on the 29th we start our 2 day bus ride to Sumbawenga. We break the first day at a local missionary's home where they will feed us and put us up for the night. We then have another full day of travel before arriving in Sumbawenga. This is what they told us the roads will be like: starts as 2 lanes, then becomes 1, and then becomes dirt and if the rainy season has been bad the roads will be so bad we might not be able to get through. Excellent. Seriously though, these first three days I'm so super excited about. An awesome "welcome to a new country" experience.
That's all for today, back to the zip locks.
Oh, yes. Rainy season and dirt roads. Well, I've spent hours and hours at checkpoints where roads were closed due to washouts. Fun stuff! Lots of adventure. I was terribly sick with malaria too, on one of those fun rides.
ReplyDeleteHow fun that you get to stay with an Army family and a missy family. Wonderful new friendships are coming your way! I'll be praying!