La Vida Tranquila -- Part Two

The Things We Carried

Part of the challenge of this adventure is about learning to live with less. Specifically, how to pack five Flying from Roatan to Utila with our junkpeople into five bags that weigh less than fifty pounds and can fit in the tail of a six-seater Cessna 210? Clothes and toothbrushes, the things that typically stuff a suitcase were the least of our baggage. Our biggest fashion concern was bringing the right shoes for a beach that is rocky and rugged in some places and enough bathing suits to stand up to daily use. Rashguards, bug spray and sunscreen were zipped into Ziplocs, as well as the clips to rinse and hang these plastic bags for reuse. Additionally, we brought...

            -- From Hayden and Max’s collection: 3 gallon-size bags of assorted Legos and Max’s Spotty #9 (with Spotty #10 on reserve new in bag, just in case)

            -- Piper packed: her collection of felted wool rainbow gnomes made by my friend Kim, her giraffe “Chubble” and three drawing notebooks

Piper's rainbow people

            -- For homeschooling: a magnetic dry erase board, a dozen workbooks, 2 Spanish texts, pencils, art supplies, modeling clay, beads and wire

            -- For Casa Tranquila: three sets of sheets, mosquito netting and fifteen pounds of assorted tools

            -- For our medicine cabinet: a thorough First Aid kit (one of our neighbors can do stitches!) chloroquine for malaria and Emergen-C powder

            -- For friends on the island: water filters, prescription sunglasses and internet routers

            -- For physical fitness: yoga mats (our neighbor Andi runs Yoga Utila in town) and an inflatable exercise ball

           -- For our underwater pursuits: 7 masks, 4 goggles and 5 pairs of fins (On previous trips, J has brought the kiteboarding kit and SCUBA gear)

            -- For the rescue dogs who live out at Coral Beach: a bag of rawhides (don’t tell Sampson!) Amigo, our Honduran compadre

            -- For our electronic connection: 3 laptops, 2 kindles 2 iPhones and 1 iPad

            -- For our first world addictions: a grinder and our cherry red Le Creuset French press, and my CHI flatiron, because every so often, I need to have good hair. (This has proven to be the most useless item so far as my hair is rarely dry!) 

THE THINGS WE LEFT BEHIND:

-- Sampson, who is being fostered by the family of his sister, Mercy

-- our home of seven years and a basement filled with things that we wonder if we really need

-- Catty T, Sophie and Sporty (the feline contingent)

-- hardest of all, a passel of dear friends and family who are already missed

 * *** *

To read Part One, The Adventure Begins, click here

To read Part Three, First Trip to Utila Town, click here