Today I sent home five and a half kilos removed from my pack. Shirts, shorts, hiking boots, my shaving kit, a beach towel. Cost me about $50 and will take at least a week longer to get home than it will take me.<\/p>\n
I could offer all sorts of reasons why this was a good idea, but I don\u2019t think it was. Five and a half kilos, 12 pounds, was not breaking my back. The pack has wheels, after all, and could have taken another pound or two if that were rolled tight(ly). I\u2019ve done most of my traveling by bus, with the bag down in the cargo hold.<\/p>\n
So, there was little justification. We\u2019ll just accept that. I sent the stuff home because I<\/em> want to be without it<\/i>. Instead of what I felt when first packing, that I shouldn\u2019t be without it.<\/em><\/p>\n Boquete was the first place I could ship from, after this thought expressed itself. It even has a Mail Boxes Etc., which made it quite easy.<\/p>\n Some things weren\u2019t being used, and wouldn\u2019t be. They offended me every time I had to unpack them to find something I did need and included: Two brown shirts perfect for camping in Oregon. Two pairs of black shorts, perfect for back-to-back nights on the town, if I chose not to wear the long black pants with one of the two black shirts. I\u2019ve not been \u201con the town\u201d once, and have no need for three just-in-case outfits.<\/p>\n A beach towel I\u2019d used twice, once as a towel and once as a beach mat. It didn\u2019t work really well for either task.\u00a0I bought a smaller towel, this one absorbent, just right for finishing off a shower. I will buy a beach cloth; smooth and synthetic, light and compressible, a print that doesn\u2019t pick up sand between nubs of terry cloth for deposit in whatever room I stay.<\/p>\n My shaving kit: I have two, one-gallon, Zip Loc freezer bags, one for daily toiletries and the other for first aid. I have two more, empty, as back up. I can see through them for what I need, instead of rooting around in a black kit with smallish pockets for the one thing that\u2019s never in the pocket I\u2019m looking in.<\/p>\n The toughest decision was seeing off my hiking boots. But I\u2019m not going up the side of a volcano — that\u2019s something I do at home in Oregon. The trails here are not exactly roughing it, and though the pavement is often broken, snakes are not streaming from the gutter. Still, these are my feet! What if they need protection?<\/p>\n I had been strapping my rain shell and warm fleece on the outside of my pack; I\u2019ve moved them inside.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve changed plans, too. This actually felt like sending my hiking boots away. I was going to head down to Panama City, catch a ride through the Panama Canal. But it\u2019s an eight-hour bus ride to Panama City. Then I would end up, after eight hours, in Panama City. I’ve spent a day or two there before, and don\u2019t feel like it this trip.<\/p>\n Finally, going eight hours south takes me eight hours farther from where I lift-off, in San Jose to the north. Even though that\u2019s nearly two weeks away, that’s adding 16 hours on the road and back, only to David, with another eight hours from David to San Jose, to go someplace I’m not that excited about.<\/p>\n I\u2019m going to the Caribbean.<\/p>\n I will wander up the coast in Costa Rica, taking as long as I want in any place that\u2019s more fun than I anticipated. Bocas del Toro is quite nice, I hear, and except for maybe 20 minutes, I\u2019ve seen it only\u00a0from the sea. At the end of the trip, I will have pretty much circled Costa Rica, leaving a couple of pockets for next time.<\/p>\n So, along with unnecessary items from my bag, I\u2019ve removed the weight of doing something because I thought once I would do it, not because it\u2019s something I want to do now.<\/p>\n Boquete has been a great break from the heat. I got a massage, have seen some fantastic flowers<\/a> in a gorgeous mountain community, met some nice people. Today I actually had to put on a jacket. I didn\u2019t send the jacket back, even though I\u2019d only worn it once. Some things I keep, just to be prepared.<\/p>\n Everything is quite compact, now, light and tossable. It feels good to know it\u2019s not too much, yet everything I need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today I sent home five and a half kilos removed from my pack. Shirts, shorts, hiking boots, my shaving kit, a beach towel. Cost me about $50 and will take at least a week longer to get home than it will take me.<\/p>\n I could offer all sorts of reasons why this was a good idea, but I don\u2019t think it was. Five and a half kilos, 12 pounds, was not breaking my back. The pack has wheels, after all, and could have taken another pound or two if that were rolled tight(ly). I\u2019ve done most of my \u2026 Read more\u2026