Sept.13th 2009
it's Sunday morning and I'm finally getting down to the nitty gritty with this blog thing...Yesterday, I visited the travel clinic here in Victoria and got the crap scared outta me regarding my travels and the issues that come up for transplant recipients travelling in third world countries...In all the countries I want to visit on this inaugural trip, there are huge swaths of areas where I could literally be putting my life in danger...not that i wasn't already aware of most of these issues but the way it was presented to me in black and white really brought it all back home.....Fortunately for me I won't be visiting a lot of these places ...for example,the entire west side of the Ecuadorean Andes are clear for me to travel and the 2 cities in columbia are fine as long as I constantly pay meticulous attention to how and what I eat...where and how I sleep (ie to make sure I have a hypo-allergenic mosquito net tucked into the bed BEFORE evening...this is going to be a challenge for me...always running the risk of malaria and if one contracts malaria it could be a YEAR before the symptoms manifest themselves...I certainly have my work cut out for me....Maybe I should just stay in the "safe zones" after all...
Next month (October) I plan to go to Tennessee to visit some family I haven't seen for 40 years and then to New Orleans for 2 weeks ...While I'm there I've booked 8 days to volunteer with Habitat For Humanity...They've already accepted my submission so it's simply a matter of getting there...There's a great hostel I can stay in for 20 bucks a night.. so the cost will be relatively minimal I'll be working every other day so I will be able to enjoy what this uniqely decadent city has to offer....
Forty years ago I first set foot in N.O. so I should expect a lot of changes (not to mention the changes I've experienced personally) but The French Quarter is still as it always was and always will be unless another act of God destroys this part of the city...Congo Square, Jackson Square and of course the venerable Cafe Du Monde will still be as they always were....More to come....
Take Care All
David transplantravelr@gmail.com
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