We're back - here are some high/low lights

Well we survived our 9 day camping/hoteling trip with five adults and six kids under the age of seven. It was very helpful in understanding the area and learning more about this part of the country!

Sadly, my computer is now broken for some mysterious reason that is yet to be determined. I'm on Tom's computer and I'm not sure when mine will be repaired.

In terms of the trip...things that were GREAT:
1 - Kids' attitudes were really good for the most part. Adults did pretty good too (=
2. Camping was great except for the first night
3. We met LOTS of random local people who were kind enough to stop to talk to us and answer questions about life in their town/area.
4. We had only one situation where our car was a bit out of control on the dirt
5. No one got really hurt! There is a history of this when we go camping so we were happy to break the trend!
6. We saw great little towns and communities along the coast. The island was spectacular.

Things that we would rather avoid next time:
1. The gale-force winds our first night camping....didn't know that there was a big storm going on at the time!!
2. Ryan got sick the second night. He is a trouper but just didn't sleep well AT ALL the whole time.
3. We were tired of being in the car for SURE. Usually we were able to break up the driving so it wasn't too bad.
4. Wind; just doesn't mix well with camping. It is one of those things that you are immune to in normal life that you only realize can totally exhaust you if you don't have a car to hop into or a house to stay in (=

I'll try to post a web album of photos but I'm not sure quite yet of how to do that with my computer being down. All my quick links make it much faster (=

Thanks for your prayers!!

And we're OFF!

We will be traveling in this same area but a few hours further down the coast

It is hard to believe but we are leaving on our road trip today! I thought for sure that it was going to be delayed again as Tom is still not feeling 100% but he has improved and we've just adjusted to the fact that he needs to rest after lots of talking with people. One thing he learned is that the mere fact of turning his head to talk to people is quite taxing on his brain so he is trying to be aware of that. It is a bit difficult as you can imagine! The follow up dr appt yesterday was totally useless and it is during these times you wish you were in the US or wherever where they have a broader sense of therapy or preventative approaches. We have some great info (thanks to many people who connected us to resources!!) we'll pursue here on out on our own.

Check the previous two posts to figure out what we are looking at/for as we hit the road for 8 or 9 nine days!

We are grateful for our companions who are such troopers and willing to camp with us all over the place! They finally got a four wheel drive after EXTENSIVE searching. So their kids are happy to have more room in the car for sure and we all feel more secure about them not getting stuck in the sand! We are also able to borrow a trailer which makes packing a bit simpler.

Our house helper will be coming with us - one of the many ways she is a great match for our family....she loves to camp! The first time she came with us two years ago she was very hesitant but after the first day she said "this is just like life in Ethiopia way out!" Meaning that outside the city this is how people live. Then she told me she could make us better food next time now that she knows what to expect (= Love that about her.

We are camping both because it saves significant money on hotels but also because the weather is gorgeous for another few weeks (it will probably be COLD actually.... We are taking the winter coats my sister bought us last winter!!) Part of being able to live here long-term and enjoy it is to make the most of the "winters" by being outside. It is more and more fun now that are kids are 3.5 and 6.5 and we are out of the "eating dirt and random stuff on the ground" for the most part (=

So do think of us as we are driving all over the place! We are interested to see what we will find and who we will meet.

Road Trip Extravaganza

As a result of the topic described in the previous post, we have been planning a road trip to check out the environment where all this might take place.

It takes two days to drive from our current home to the island and bay designated by the government to develop the particular mariculture species that the company is thinking "growing". We need to take this trip to look at some of the following factors:

1. Is it feasible to live as families with young kids on the island? We are two families with 6 kids total under the age of 7. Good Times.

2. What would schooling look like? Probably home school but then is there internet access of some sort?

3. If we are to do these projects and the community development/"NGO-type" work with fishermen and their families what might that look like? When the government did their pilot project with the exact same species they discovered that it was the women who actually did all the work and not the men. This was totally acceptable for the government but all the processes are set up for men to do and in a gender segregated society this will take some management. This is an example of the community development side of things.

4. What are the largest towns nearby and is it better to live there and have the guys drive a bit further?

5. Who are the local people involved in this and can we manage to meet them in the few days we have there?

6. We have heard there is only a very small village and some seasonal "resort" for surfers (= Sounds a bit random. Is there housing for rent? Grocery stores? etc

So we have lots of questions and we've had to put the trip off three times because of Tom's health. He is doing okay but still tires very easily and would not be able to ride in a car for 8 hours!

At this point the plan is to leave on Feb 12th so we'll keep everyone updated as we can!