Updated Travel Plans; Moving, Again

Last-Minute Preparation

A friend named Adrian decided at the last minute to join me for the trek across the north. The link to his blog is posted to the right. I am happy to have some company, and feel more at ease with the idea of being adventurous and exploring nature.

I went to the doctor at school and got prescriptions for Cipro and other medicines for potential systemic issues, plus over-the-counter stuff like oral rehydration salts, tylenol, band-aids and disinfectants, among others. I felt like I was in the Peace Corps again, traveling around with my own little first aid kit. Diarrhea is common for travelers in the north, tough, so I do need to enter back into that mode of caution and disease prevention. Luckily, malaria isn't endemic in the areas I'll be so I don't have to take anything for it. I never realized how much money the Peace Corps spends on medical care. They used to hand brand-name Cipro out like Tylenol, and it costs about 100 dollars for a three-day regimen.

Moving

I found an apartment to rent through a friend of a friend, and I'll be moving at the end of October. The girl who lives there is going to work on a cruise for 6 months, but has someone staying there from Jan to April, so she was looking for someone to take the place for just those two months. It was a perfect situation, and it's a lot cheaper. One fourth the price, to be exact. Yes, I will pay 450 reais (about US$200) a month for November and December, and will save about R$2700 reais (about US$1200) by doing so. It is located a block away from where I live now, so I can move in a US$2 cab ride. It is a studio alcove on the 9th floor of a building that looks onto the Praça 14 bis. It is bigger and has two balconies that look onto the Praça, which is ulgy but that's ok; I can do a lot of traveling with R$2700.



Google Earth Image of My New Place