T -1

¡Hola a todos!

Everything's packed and ready to go. I bought a new hiking backpack recently, and I'm not thrilled with the design, so packing was a little more difficult than in the past. I loved my last pack, but it died a grisly death in a dark little hostel in Foz de Iguaçu, Brazil. I had bought it for about $20 in a grocery store in Mexico four years ago, so its time had come. RIP, blue backpack.

Packing for eight days is not much different from packing for eight weeks. You need the same stuff and roughly the same amount of clothing, the only difference is that you probably won't need to do any washing. I could have packed more lightly, but there was lots of room in the bag, so I figured I'd go ahead and splurge--I packed an extra pair of shoes. Crazy, right?

The pack weighed in at 10 kilos, or 22 pounds, which is a little lighter than usual for me (there are 2.2 pounds in a kilogram, btw. Fun fact).



There it is!




And here's the carry-on. It's the green thing under the blue bag. I try to keep my carry-on small so I can just stick it under the seat during takeoff. That blue bag on the left is a dry pack, a kind of bag that people use on kayaking or rafting trips. It has waterproofed seams and a rubber seal. I might be a little paranoid, but after my passport nearly disintegrated in Paraguay, I keep everything important in waterproof or plastic bags. The plastic bag next to the blue one has my most recent book in it--Le Comte de Monte-Cristo, or The Count of Monte Cristo. I'm only on page 58 of 926, so it should keep me busy on the plane.

I also keep a journal when I travel. It's surprising how much more I enjoy the places that I visit when I sit down and reflect on them at the end of the day. It's also really cool to reread my journal after I get home and remember details of the places I've been. That helps me share a lot more than just pictures with my students--I can tell them how I felt, what things smelled like, people and objects that I didn't catch on camera. I have a lot of coursework to do for my grad classes, too, but I worked ahead a bit and all I have left are some online readings. Plus, the topic for this week's grad class is social networking, which I will be doing quite a lot of as I keep up with all of you in our Facebook group!

Have a very restful Sunday afternoon. I'm off to enjoy the cool weather and get some more homework done before tomorrow!