Monday 3^rd March, 2003

Well, it’s been a while since I updated the site as I have been quite busy organsing other stuff. Life must go on besides the organisation for the trip!

Here’s some of the things that we have managed to get done:

• We have provisionally found tenants for our house! This is a load off both of our shoulders. We had to put plenty of work into making sure the house was sparkling for any potential tenants. Washing windows, painting, scrubbing floors, carpet cleaning, removing rubbish, cutting grass etc. We are sad to be leaving the house as it is our home but it’s another one of those prices you pay for travelling.
• Spanish lessons: We have had our third and fourth lessons now and both of us are coming along. I am back to my college days when anything was more interesting than studying the language and so I have even sat beside S when she is watching "the Street" rather than opening one of the many books that we have. S is becoming very studious again and so I may just leave it to her to communicate with the natives!

• Plastic Storage Boxes: We have discovered that B&Q do a lovely line of plastic storage boxes which we can make air-tight with a little trusty duck tape. Most of our storage problems will be solved as we will stack these boxes in somebodies shed

• We have packed away much of our belongings from our house and we just have to store them now.

• Travel Insurance: We have checked out a number of places for Insurance. USIT seem to be well priced (but only if you have bookd your ticket with them!), www.getcover.com and www.travelcover.co.uk seem to be the the only ones in the running so far. We will almost certainly be choosing travelcover.co.uk as it is about half the price of the others. The cover is a bit different but then what’s the difference between GBP7.5million and GBP5million in medical expenses!

• Final Rabies and HEP A and B jabs last week. We are now ready to go vaccination wise.
• Started our courses of Larium yesterday. Strange side effects for me so far are a dull headache, and a very bizzare runny nose! (runs for ten seconds literaly like a tap and then nothing for about three hours!!).

The count down is very much on now. We have four weeks left in work and 29 days from now we will be in Mexico City!

All we need to buy now are sleeping bags and locks for the rucksacs. I think we are all set besides that!

S has promised to write some journals now so the next update on her feelings about the trip and her preparations should be warmly welcomed by her fan club!

L8R, Evan