Motivated by Pain

It is hard to believe that a medical / teaching mission like the one I am preparing to embark into Bolivia on hinges on three main things.  First, having alot of money for the plane ticket, some for the unusual foods I will eat while there, and for the crude accommodations while staying in the high country.

The overall weight of your baggage is your second hurtle to get past.  We are allowed to carry two fifty pound bags along with us.  One with medical supplies for the clinics we will operate and the other packed with our personal belongings for a two week stay in a country that we are unfamiliar with, where daily temperature swings can range from 35 degrees at night to 85 degrees in the daytime.  We will need to carry a sleeping bag and small tent because a couple nights will be spent under the stars and a full moon in the salar de uni salt flats.  Many of you know I suffer dearly when I get cold because of a couple of my previous crazy adventures where I fell prey to the effects of hypothermia.  So I will need to pack warm clothes I can layer plus my warmest coat and gloves, but all this stuff adds weight.  The article I most want / need to take with me I am afraid will put me over weight on my personal bag.  I have not gone on any mission with my search and rescue gang before without wearing this tool.  It is the tactical vest I wear.  It makes me look like a dork when I wear it but I could live for a week and help others survive along with me with the things I carry in it's many pockets.  GPS, extra batteries, compass, map of the area traveling in, light for my head, whistle, a big knife, binoculars, fire starting supplies, simple first aid kit, 15 foot length of 1 inch webbing, couple energy bars and toilet paper.  Things I will not need on this particular trip is my cell phone and the portable radio I would normally carry for communication with command.  There will be no cell phone coverage, nor home base to call for assistance if we get ourselves in trouble.  What adds to my dilemma also is I have always been a "meat and potatoes eater" and the country I will be traveling into has food groups I have never heard of or tasted before.  My secret plan is to pack along ten pounds of Taylor's (original style) beef jerky with me so if they try and get me to eat monkey brains down there I will have something to fall back on.  With my pack overweight, now the decision comes down to what I leave behind, warm clothes, my trusty all purpose tactical vest or food?

The last thing you would ever think you would need to worry about is...  do you have all your frickin shots.  Any of you that know me well, knows how much I hate getting shots.  Some of you probably remember joyfully holding me down when we would have to get one at the fire department from time to time.  Do any of you know how many shots you need before traveling into a isolated country like Bolivia?  Don't get me wrong they will let you out of the U.S. without taking all your shots but getting back into the U.S. is a different story.  Thinking I only needed to receive one injection for Yellow Fever I strode into the Josephine County Health Department trying to keep a stiff upper lip once I saw all the small children waiting for their shots too.  The health department lady was sweet enough but I am sure at some point in her life she had to have been a used car salesman.  An hour later and a few hundred dollars poorer I limped past the kids with four Snoopy band aids, two on each arm.  The only solace I had leaving was I did not have to take one in the butt for the PHH team. So tonight I am feverishly writing motivated by pain, with a small dose of Yellow Fever virus cursing through my veins...