The hostel has a nice atmosphere of welcoming but not too raucous. No one's particularly chatty, but I'm most comfortable dwelling in that awkward phase when strangers don't know each other. Perhaps because it's my natural state of being so I have a competitive advantage over those not accustomed to being awkward on a normal basis. I shine in such moments. When people are chatty or seem clique-y, I tend to shy away and shrivel a bit. I like my bathroom. The shower has a gabled glass ceiling so I feel like I'm showering outdoors. There's separate faucets for hot and cold water in my sink, just like the olden days.
Now that I'm in Africa, I'm realizing a few things:
My best buy so far is without a doubt my camp towel. It was one of my last purchases, and a purchase made reluctantly at that. Who wants to pay 20 bucks for a towel that will barely cover my ass? I bought it anyways, grumblingly. And it rocks. I've folded it up to use as a pillow on the plane. It was handy when I brushed my teeth and washed up at the airport, it dries super fast, takes up almost no space in my pack, and I lay it on top of my pillow to protect my face against the questionable pillow cases here.
What do I wish I had brought but didn't? My sneakers. Inspired by the go-light traveling phenomenon, I decided to avoid being a silly girl and packed only hiking shoes and flipflops (for the shower and other casual occasions). The hiking boots are too heavy for everyday wear and the streets are too dirty to wear flipflops. My saucony sneakers would have likely become my regular every-day-shoes unless I was going hiking. It would've been worth it to carry an extra pair of shoes in my opinion.
The one thing I'm glad I packed was my favorite jeans. Of course, I'm breaking every rule in the backpacker book (never bring jeans, don't bring 2 pairs of "sneakers"), but I've decided that these rules only apply in tropical areas. When it's only 60 degrees, jeans are a necessity, especially since they're sturdy, comfortable, and don't show dirt. Plus, I'd much rather horseback ride in jeans than in thin nylon pants. Everyone else wears jeans anyways. Another thing that I was recommended to NOT pack (but am glad I did) is a big vat of body moisturizer in addition to facial moisturizer. The air here is so dry my skin is almost cracking.
I also think my compression sack is worth its weight in gold.
Dead weight? I have yet to use my mosquitoe net or my bug spray or my water purification tablets.
Must figure out how to post pictures on my blog.
