It's not easy. It's not easy to make your own way abroad while the people you know thrive at your homeland and nobody that you know feels the same necessity of running away...not even knowing exactly what you are scare of, you just need to leave. And it's not easy to realize that, after travelling so much you are your only home and friend... the only person that cares about you without despising your dreams...nothing is free, and only very insane (or lucky) people could expect that...dreamers are never ready for reality, but we are ready to deal with harshness.
One month after leaving my home for 5 months, Azrou and my macaques, I'm nearly ready to roll my new destination in the Soutpansberg Mountaints, in Limpopo (South Africa). This time, the country was in my dream-life-plan, but in it, I expected to give some conferences after my 30s. Until the moment I haven't regreted to don't be loyal to my life-plan, so let's see. These are some note of my preparations for my next trip, hopefully could be useful for anybody else.
Vaccines & Drs
One of the things I couldn't do properly before going to Morocco was the vaccinations and the medical checks. I had 6 days and I could only take the typhus and the first Hepatitis A vaccination. This time, I went to the international centre of vaccination nearly one month before my departure. After waiting for a while in that retro-building, I could pass to see the Dr that tells you what you need. She was a middle age woman with glasses, the same I remembered from the last time...given that she is from the same generation as my mother I expected that she remembered me and she told me "¡Niña! ¿No te puedes estar quietecita un rato?" (Child! Can't you stop for a while?) as my mother had said. But no, she didn’t remember me and I just had the same awkward moment as the first time, when they ask you for your profession...(poker face!) I said research assistant and then I said biologist when she asked me for the studies... She told me that, as soon as I promised her to don't go to Zimbabwe I didn't need anything, but if I wanted to go I needed the Yellow fever vaccine; and that I should but some malaria pills, because I couldn't trust anything abroad...So, after promising that I wouldn’t cross the border of Zimbabwe and that I would took my second vaccine for the Hepatitis A in mi medical centre I went out happily…too quick. Five minutes afterwards she was calling me “Ey…that I have been thinking that, given that you are biologist, you’re gonna need the rabies” Fuck! I thought, but there I went to the first of the 3 vaccines… kind of useless because if you are bitten you are gonna need 2 more, and they only protects you for 2-3 years but…
Apart from the vaccinations I took a medical check...well, a blood and urine analysis. It was funny to see that it was pretty much the same we made with the Barbary Macaques. For once, I didn't have anemia nor something similar, but I could see that my fears were right, I had some little kidney problems for my first stage in Morocco. Girls and boys, never have O'neil's lieutenant complex. If you are thirsty, drink, and if you need to pee, pee, even if your boss seems a god without human necessities and never has to take some minutes for physiological needs. Fortunately, it wasn't serious, I just have to remember to take care of my self...I'll write me a note on my hand to remember it XD I was also concern about a weird beauty spot. Around five months ago I had a weird dream in which I was really stressed because I was going to miss a flight to South Africa. I was in my parent's home and I just wanted to leave, but my father only told my "you're forgetting the jacket"...two months and a half after I had the new that I had been chosen for a position in South Africa, but I had the feeling that I wouldn't be able to go because of that dream...even if in my dream my parent's home was in USA so it has no sense at all, but...any way, the spot seemed to be harmless...at least for the next decade, so I was free to go.
Yesterday I had the last of the three vaccines of the rabies and I commented to the Dr that my other Dr, in the analysis, had found out that I didn't had immunity to Hepatitis B (Scooooooreeeee!!!!). I had the vaccine several years ago but I lost the immunity and I didn't have time to get the vaccinations, they needs 6 moths to be effective (at least according to some sources, but there are discrepancies...'). It was funny because she said " Pueeeees...preservativo al canto!!” ( "So...condom right away!"). I was tempted to laugh and told her that it was more likely that I got the illness by becoming drug addict and sharing syringes, but given that what she said was nearly a flattery I didn't want to scare her, so I just smile politely telling to my self that I was safe...sigh.
Equipment
After my 5 months in Morocco, most of my equipment had become useless...well, most was falling into pieces. Fortunately, most of it was the waterproof things that are quite cheap. By the way, the only kind of useful thing against true rain ( that one that last for more than 4 hours) is plastic, no matter how good your coat or boots are supposed to be, you will get wet after a couple of hours of heavy rain. I don't know if I'm ready to face temperatures that apparently go from 0-25ºC or more in the same day, but let's see….
One thing that I couldn't get was adapters for the plugs; apparently I need one with three rounded pins, something not available here. Hopefully, I'l be able to buy it once there. Any way, I found out a cool website for travelers about this: http://whatplug.info/
There, under "Guide for the traveller with plugs", you choose your country and the one you are going to and it tells you what you need.
In addition to the basics, I have had some care in packing some entertainment, just in case I don't get along with the people; hopefully I won't need most of it but better prevenir que curar. I have a hardrive full of movies, some of them from or about South Africa, to help me to get into the culture ( Tsotsi, Skin, Yesterday, Invictus, White wedding...). And given that my laptop is quite old and maybe it doesn't survive the whole period, I bring some books. Unfortunately I cannot longer deny my age, those days of crazy weekends with blurred nights full of adventures have passed away...(though I hope that some are still waiting for me, please!). So, after accepting that fact, it was time to read someting useful that I have being delaying; phylosophy. Then, apart from a couple of books inherited from my fellows in Morocco, my partners will be the Social Contract of Rousseau, Utopy from Tomas Moro, and maybe something of the old uncle Fred, lets see...It's a pitty that I couldn't get the Second Sex, I really wanted to read it, but shamefully, no book store had it. Sigh.
Background
Another thing that I regretted to haven't been able to do before going to Morocco was doing some more reading about the country and the macaques, cause I only had time during my flight going and coming back from my first field campaign in Gran Canaria. Now, even if I spent two weeks enclose writing a proposal and preparing an interview, I had some time to read, listen and watching. For example, I could watch the movie Tsotsi about a young gangster in Johannesburg with a sad end ( really good movie), or read some more about Nelson Mandela and his amazing acts. I even had some time to read some article about my new animals:
Leopard (Panthera pardus)
Brown hyena (Hyaena brunnea)
African Civet (Civettictis civetta)
Common Genet (Genetta genetta)
African Crowned Eagle (Stephanoaetus coronatus)
Verreaux's eagle (Aquila verreauxii)
chacma baboon (Papio ursinus)
Vervet monkey (Cercopithecus aethiops)
Samango monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis erythrarchcus)
Thick-tailed bushbabies (Otolemur crassicaudatus)
Southern lesser bushbabies (Galago moholi)
(Pictures from Wikipedia)
Apart from this little hairy (and feathered) fellas, I will be sharing the field site with some scaly bugs that I hope to don't find too often, like the black mamba! There are antidotes for the others (I think...) but for her, as one of the guide book I read said, "if she bites you, pray all you know and prepare to die as a good adventurer".
…Nearly Ready to Go…
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