PACKING LIST for Costa Rica!

There are worse places to be confined for a year than Costa Rica. Besides being so beautiful as to stun most visitors, it is only ten degrees North of the equator. That means pleasant 75-85 degree year round weather. Not to mention great surfing!

[If you see anything I've forgotten, please feel free to add it in a comment!]

Proposed Packing List for Costa Rica

CLOTHING

• Raincoat or slicker (and/or umbrella)
• Lightweight water-resistant jacket
  
• Jeans you don't mind getting dirty
  
• Sundresses
• T-shirts and tank tops
• One or two long-sleeved shirts for bushwhacking
  
• Shorts and skirts
  
• Night outfit
  
• Sweater or light sweatshirt
• Quick dry /camping towel
• Quick dry socks
  
• Underclothes and pajamas (wearable in a living room)
  
• Bathing suit(s) and cover-up/sarong
  
• Wetsuit or rash guard (probably the latter... warm waters)
  
• Jewelry (But not a lot. CR has a slight theft problem. No paradise is perfect.)
  

FOOTWEAR

• Teva water sandals or Keen's (Fab Sneaker/Sandal combo)
  
• Flip flops
• Waterproof hiking boots (heavy to carry)
  
• High heels or light-weight dress shoes
  
• Surfing sneakers
• Airplane shoes
  

HEALTH

• Mosquito net (?)
• Mosquito repellent coils
  
• Bug repellent (...Is there a strong herbal version of DEET?...)
  
• Antihistamines (for bug bites)
• Sunscreen (expensive in CR)
• Malaria medication
• Birth control
  
• Antibiotics
  
• Band-aids
• Vitamins and Green powder
  

TRAVEL ESSENTIALS

• Passport and Driver's License
• Travel Insurance Card
  
• Saddlebags and holster for $$$
  
• Solar light and waterbottle
  
• Umbrella
• Rechargable batteries (?)
  
• Digital camera
• Sunglasses
• Journal
• Map(s)
• Woolite and "scrubby gloves" for hand-washing
• Plastic Ziplock bags
• Clothesline
• Gift for host family
• Travel suitcase mesh and lock (for security purposes)
  

FOR UPEACE

• Mac laptop
  
• Flash drive and/or External Harddrive
  
• Day backpack
• Spanish/English phrasebook
  

UNPACKING LIST
Things to leave at home.

• Copies of documents. Minimally a Xerox of your passport, drivers license, credit cards, airline tickets. Having someone fax these things in a emergency could save days of hassles. Also keep copies on laptop.
• No point in carrying all of your keys.
• Wallet contents- If you're going to carry a wallet, remove ¾ths of contents.
• Leave the electric converters and plug adapters at home. The current and plugs are the same and appliances should work just fine.
• Sheets/Sleep sack-great for hostels in Europe, but not necessary in Central America.

Another great list HERE.

Preparing for UPeace- Part II

Part of the inspiration for this blog has been reading the blogs of other students preparing to live abroad. They are helpful. Some of the best advice, however, has come from my lovely Mama.

• Take a gift for your Costa Rican Family that is typically American. I took the record Woodstock to Switzerland to my host family. Never heard it played, however. ???

• Imagine you are on a trans-Atlantic cruise. If you go out drinking or partying with people the first night- you are stuck with them for 2 weeks. Now imagine being "stuck" with students for a year. Watch. Observe people. Do not bond too quickly. You may be sorry later.

• It is fun to adapt to everything new until just after Christmas. After 6 months the novelty of a new culture often wears off. Be prepared for being homesick then. Maybe it won't happen to you - but being homesick it makes you re-appreciate the things you left behind.

• Speak in Spanish even when people reply in English. They will, because they want to practice their English. But remember you want to practice your Spanish. So what if you sound like an idiot! Speak with kids- they will only laugh at you and have fun too. You will often feel like a child in kindergarten in a new culture/language. Enjoy freedom of childhood.

• Do NOT take too many clothes or too much stuff. To assimilate, you will want to shed things American. Keep it simple when you pack. Also, as I learned in Jamaica, possessions are there to be robbed. Take cheap stuff- expect it to be stolen. It is the payback for being a privileged American. It is only stuff of no importance. What matters are people, not "stuff".

Here's the link to my new world:

Programme in Environmental Security and Peace

Preparing for UPeace- Part I

Prepping for the University for Peace has all the subtlety of a hurricane. The year-long programme in succulent Costa Rica, mandated by the UN for Peace Studies, has me just as amped up, albeit a little more prepared.

Figuring out where to park my truck for a year seems the hardest part.

Next: the whole Malaria muddle. After being poked by several needles including Hepatitis A and B ("Twinrix" is the name of the fun combo pack), Measles/Mumps/Rubella booster (MMR), and Typhoid, I learned that I will NOT have to get a Yellow Fever vaccination (joy!), as that is only affecting Panama and the rest of South America. Costa Rica, it seems, is safe from swooning, feverish ladies stricken with the nasty Yellah. But once you get Malaria from an over-eager mosquito, you get it for life. So I did what any tech-savvy modern lady would do:

Polled my facebook friends.

Torn about taking Malaria pills while traveling, cuz the last time I took them (India - 2000), it was Larium... and a few years later, Larium was pulled off the market because it caused "psychotic breaks". Flipside: You get malaria, you get it for LIFE. What to do?

THE ADVICE:

• Abby: drink a lot of gin and tonics -- apparently quinine helps prevent malaria. Could be a rural myth. . .anybody know?
• Sara: There are other medications like Malarone that have different and less crazy-making side effects. Larium is still available too. Where are you going?
• Shani: Malarone. no side effects and no malaria. i'm a frequent customer...
• Vishnu Om: selfless service cures all disease...~*~
• Carrie: Quinine works, but it makes your hair nasty.
• Hollis: life rocks. psychotic breaks could be real fun.
• Brad: quinine is the ingredient in some anti-malarials. I took chloroquine while I was in Costa Rica. (That was 10 years ago, though.) Gave me crazy dreams & morning gastro distress, but I didn't get malaria! I only had to take it 1x week.
• Greg: Take doxycycline. It's easy, cheap, & makes your skin nice too. For reals.
• Aras: haha...Hollis is too funny. fuck that, don't take em...gnarly. you'll be fine. just tell mozzies to keep away.
• Chris: Side effects...?? or LIFE side effects...? Do your home work.
  A: malaria virus. B: Side effects from pills = Easy answer!

I opted for a prescription for Chloroquine, as the nurse at the health clinic explained that some mozzies are becoming immune to Malarone and Doxycycline in Costa Rica and its environs. Combine that with the Vodka Tonics, and I should be glorious!