The Packing Process

We've begun the packing process at this point. This is to say we've found the suitcases. In my thinking, we've got to cover the following catagories:

• Things to take for our comfort and amusement on the plane: Analgesics, books, various and sundy toilet articles lest we should sleep in an airport.
• Things for our comfort and amusement once we arrive: The list above repeated.
• Clothing.

In the packing of clothing we have to keep in mind that it is winter there, but that winter there means the average daily high is 74 degrees fahrenheit. During my trip to Russia, I developed the philosophy of more underwear, fewer clothes. This was based on my discovery of the effect clean underwear has on the body. They can fool you into thinking the your clothing are clean too.

Yesterday the family went on a swimming picnic at Big Hill, a local lake which is not around any particularly large hills. I am not much of a swimmer and whenever I lay on the beach groups of nature-lovers try to drag me into the water. Whenever they succeed, a crazed man with a harpoon tries to kill me. As a result, I read beneath the shade of trees on these occassions. Yesterday I was reading essays from Tim Cahill's book Jaguars Ripped my Flesh. Though he's not made it to Paraguay as far as I know, he wrote about his travels in Peru and Venezuela with great humor. It helped to get me into the mood to travel to unknown lands.