preparation

At the request of a friend (you know who you are-- you'd better be reading this!), I'm making another post pre-Senegal. This time, I'll be talking about my preparations for Senegal, and the packing-- or lack thereof-- that I've been doing.

To begin with, I had to get several shots or they wouldn't let me into the country: yellow fever, typhoid, and hepatitis A. Over the years, I've grown to loathe needles, but this was a sacrifice I had to make. If I hadn't gotten these shots, and held onto my carte jaune, or "yellow card" (on which are listed my immunizations), I would be held at the Dakar airport until I had received my shots.

Additionally, I did a lot of shopping, which is the fun part of all this. I went with my mom to Ross and purchased a few pairs of capris and a nice skirt (about calf-length, because Senegal is highly influenced by Muslim tradition and therefore anything above the knee is viewed as prostitute-like); I went with my dad to Target for an epic shopping trip, and then to REI to purchase some shoes and a money pouch (important because there are, apparently, quite a few pickpockets and muggers in Dakar who would be more than happy to take my money). Later, I went to Nordstrom with my mom to buy a dress (again, down to my ankles) and then to Walgreen's, where she helped me pick out some much-needed medications.

Ah, the medications. It looks like I'll be taking about seven pills every day, from the mundane (multi-vitamins, Vitamin C) to the life-or-death (malaria!). These pills are extremely important to my well-being while I'm in Africa, particularly since I have a delicate stomach, and the last time I was in a non-industrialized country [Mexico], I caught Hepatitis A. Not, I tell you, an experience I want to repeat.

Let's talk about the packing I've been doing. Today, I made a comprehensive list of everything I have to take, and took a long hard look at all the shopping bags in my room (approximately 12). I got out my big luggage, and dumped the old school stuff from my small luggage, and got to work. However, I didn't get very far, because one of my primary sources of taking-up-room is my laundry, which I haven't done for at least a week. So, my two bags are currently taking up prime sleeping space on my bed, while I sit here and blog.

Today, I started taking my malaria pill, because I have to start several days before I get to the country with the evil mosquitoes. So far, my stomach hasn't reacted too badly-- at least, relative to how it usually reacts. I think malaria is the concept I'm most concerned about, heading into the trip. I took a look at the Traveler's Guide that the travel clinic provided me with, and it has all sorts of interesting information about malaria, up to and including a diagram showing the mosquito piercing a human arm. It's delightful stuff, and just slightly concerning, given the symptoms. It's also very likely to happen to me: over the years, my blood has proven to be extremely juicy to mosquitoes. Once, at a church picnic which I was at for about two hours, I received 15 mosquito bites. And I've heard that African mosquitoes are particularly fond of toubab flesh (not really, but they're very voracious in general). I've been spoiled by the desert, where there are few mosquitoes to be found.

Finally, I'm trying to get to bed earlier, because in a few short days, I will have jumped seven hours forward. On Friday-- the traveling day-- I'm planning to wake up around 5AM, so that I can fall asleep on the ride to Dakar at 6 in the evening. The ideal would be to sleep from start to finish, but I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen. Still, I can make my best effort to avoid jet lag.

That's all I have for now. I hope I've satisfied your mosquito-like appetite for blog posts on my trip to Dakar (Rachael). If anyone has comments or questions, I'd be happy to answer them. I welcome the interactive style of blogging.