Planning, Packing, and Panicking

Since it’s getting so close to the DEPARTURE DATE, I decided that it was high time to create a packing list at the minimum, and also to start doing laundry and actually making sure I have everything I need. So i sat down and wrote out the following packing list:

camera + charger phone + charger international phone + charger iPod + charger + bluetooth keyboard for blogging toothbrush toothpaste hair brush ponies clips makeup lotion shampoo conditioner razor shaving cream tweezers cuticle clippers nail file 5x bras

10x undies 4x dresses 4x tank tops 4x t-shirts 4x shorts 2x jeans 1x capris 5x socks tennis shoes rainbows (flip-flops) 2x 1-piece suit 1x 2-piece suit 1x sweatshirt sunscreen bugspray sunglasses x2 books hats chapstick headphones.

I was then going over my list, and I realized that…I need to fit all of this into a medium sized hiking backpack, because that’s all I get to take. So I needed to revise my list. This is what I came up with:

electronic gadgets (same as above)

toiletries (same as above)

3x bras

10x undies

2x dresses (one sun dress one LBD)

2x tanks

Monica's old China bag;
now my Costa Rica bag

2x t-shirts

2x shorts

1x jeans

3x socks (one footie, one knee-high thin, one thick)

tennis shoes

1x one-piece swimsuit

1x two-piece swimsuit

sunscreen

bugspray

sunglasses

hat

chapstick

headphones

and I am going to take/wear with me on the plane:

rainbows (flip flops)

sweatshirt

tank top

jeans

book

small purse

Hopefully I’ll be able to fit all of this stuff in. I can’t try it yet because my bag is at my parents house, but hopefully it will work.

     Besides packing, I’ve been busy worrying about what it’s going to be like down there. For one, it’s supposed to SUPER humid in Costa Rica, and if there’s one thing I really don’t like about weather, it’s humidity. I was born and raised in a nice dry desert, and I plan on living out my life in a nice dry desert for as long as possible, and only ever visiting gross humid places. So I’m not looking forward to that aspect. Also, I have no idea what it’s going to be like. I signed up for this trip through a volunteer program that I just found online, and hopefully they’re legit. We sent them a bunch of money and my flight info, and there should be someone at the airport waiting for me when I get there.

     So assuming that the program is actually legitimate, I have almost no info about what I’ll be doing there. All I know is I’m assigned to the Costa Rica Turtle Program and that the most common task given to volunteers is patrolling the beaches at night.  I don’t even know exactly where in Costa Rica I’ll be placed.  We did find out that it’s on the Pacific side, so that’s good since I don’t want to get malaria, but I don’t know WHERE on the Pacific side I’ll be. The girl that’s supposed to be picking me up at the end of the program (because they don’t take me back to the airport) is one of my sisters friends, and I just have to call her when I found out where I’m going to be. I just hope that I'll actually have something to do and I won't just be sitting around like a lump on a log the whole time. Although, if I'm not doing much actual work, that means I have more time to sight-see, scuba dive (!!!), and hang out on the beach with my new friends who, of course, will be awesome.