Packing

Today is the big day; my flight leaves at 4 P.M. I think I'll be at the airport around 1, though. I want to take no chances. If all goes well, I'll touch down in La Paz around 5:30 tomorrow morning and then clear customs, getting my entrance visa. I didn't have time to mail my application materials to the consulate in the U.S. before I left, but Dave, the head of the CEDESOL foundation in Cochabamba, says that he prefers I get the visa at the La Paz airport. I'll cool my heels in the airport until about 8 AM, finding breakfast along the way. Then I'll take a taxi to the bus station in La Paz and board a bus for Cochabamba. That trip will take about 8 or 10 hours, so I might not reace Cochabamba until at least midafternoon. Then I'll meet Dave or Andrea, an engineer in CEDESOL whom I've been in contact with, and get settled. Keep me in your prayers: hopefully this will go off without a hitch.

I stayed up until 3 A.M. last night packing. My luggage includes some fairly unorthodox items which might give you some taste of the trip. In my carry-on luggage are:

• 2 40-ounce jars of creamy peanut butter. This is one of Dave's special requests. Peanut butter is hard to come by in South America.
• 2 stabilizer bar linkages for a 2001 Ford Expedition, 5.4-liter engine, 4WD. These linkages help stabilize the car's suspension, which is probably very important on the largely unimproved country roads in Bolivia. Once again, spare parts for Fords are hard to come by down there.
• Two special shirts and pants which act like sunscreen when you put them on. The utility of these is obvious: Cochabamba's about 3500 meters above sea level, which means that the sun is generally more intense since there's less of the earth's atmosphere to absorb sunlight. Even though it's winter down there, a redhead walking around during the daytime will probably last about as long as a vampire in midsummer. Or most of the concertgoers at Warped Tour, who inexplicably wear hoodies and black jeans with chains on one of the hottest days of the year. No matter which way you slice it, you're cooked.
• Books. The first is John Neafsey's A Sacred Voice is Calling, a book on vocation which I have to read as part of one of the grants I got. It's good, though, especially if you wonder what you should be doing in life. The second book is Henry David Thoreau's Walden, which is another book on how to live well. I read it in high school, but I think it deserves a second read to catch stuff that I missed. The third book is Douglas Adams' The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I've never read it, but I hear that it's funny and out there and somewhat philosophical. I'm saving it for the bus ride to Cocha when I'll have to stay awake for fear of someone on the bus stealing by luggage. In the same vein are Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men (to save until July 25 and the return bus ride) and Stephen Chobsky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Don't ask me how I fit in all these books. I don't know myself.

In addition to all that, there's a Spanish phrasebook, a first aid kit including antibiotic ointment, band-aids, ibuprofen, and aloe vera, a regulation ultimate sport frisbee, and all that good stuff. I suppose I'm ready, or as ready as I'll ever be.

By the way, check out the blog of Pete Kolis. Most of you know this already, but he's a good friend of mine and a very good mechanical engineer who's going to Sabana Grande in Nicaragua with another ETHOS project. While there, he'll be working with a team from UD which won the UD business plan competition with a design and a business plan for solar-powered autoclaves (devices which sterilize medical equipment.) They'll be refining the design and testing prototypes while they're there: http://petesabanagrande.blogspot.com/