Except for the anxiety (disorder) and apprehension (healthy), I am nearly ready to start my new life as a fishing, camping, hitchhiking, over-educated, homeless, unemployed gringo.
Paradoxically, I feel both that this is insane and that it is plausible and I am prepared enough to succeed. I am not sure how I can feel both things at once, but I do.
My most recent purchases:
- A small carabiner to attach my canteen to my backpack
- A 16cm knife for descaling and gutting fish
- 20 tablets of 800mg ibuprofen (a luxury I have not had in a long time)
- 20 days of venlafaxine
- A hard-plastic eating utensil that is a spoon, fork, and simple knife, and it folds in half
- Magnesium fire-starter
- 100 band-aids
- Four rolls of toilet paper
- A compression bandage, 10cm x 5m because I am going to attempt “barefoot hiking”. Instead of buying US$100 special shoes, I will wrap the bandage around my feet to protect them from sharp objects. I will have shoes with me if it does not work.
- Vitamin B complex because I do not have enough money to buy modafinil and I am sure I will need something to help with will power: I will not be drinking caffeine everyday now
- A bar of soap
- Deodorant
- Triple antibiotic
- 10 sterile gauze pads
- Duct tape for emergencies, including if I need to tape one of the gauze pads to my skin
- Tweezers because the geniuses at Heathrow airport confiscated mine because they were a “security threat,” but I had flown with those exact tweezers in my carry-on through all of the following airports: Beijing, New Delhi, Cairo (to Tel Aviv!), Amman, Istanbul, Frankfurt, Los Angeles, Munich, Cairo (again), and Moscow. Bloody brilliant, you Brits are.
- A 30m spool of twist-ties that you cut to the exact size you want
- A 3m x 3m tarp
- 50 ft of nylon rope
I had to make many trips to many places; costs:
- US$16.28
- US$3.39
- US$15.00
- US$29.53
- US$20.13
- US$14.98
- MXN$14.00
- Total: ~US$100.28
I still need to buy some things, especially proper clothing for hiking and fishing. Strangely, sunscreen here is outrageously expensive: MXN$290 for 100ml, so I still need to buy a cheap bottle of that. I need a way to purify water: I am not just hiking, I am drink the famous Mexican water. I need a cooking pot, and fishing gear, too. There are a couple of other things, but I certainly have enough to survive and deal with emergencies.
My backpack was already full, so I am leaving a lot of stuff behind: I doubt I will need a suit anymore.
I had hoped to take a bus to a warmer area tomorrow, but as I write this, I am not sure I can pack everything in time. I have emailed some people about helping me with some things like making sure my website does not die, and many people have replied–thank you. I am behind in returning those emails, though. I have many things I must do to prepare for this insane adventure.
