Preparation: 14 more days before we leave!

We have been starting to pack our backpacks. Each item has to be carefully considered--we either end up carrying it for 9 days wherever we go, or ditch it because our backpack gets too heavy. I wrap some duct tape (it is good for keeping bandaids on our blisters in place) around my pen, and wrap a piece of dental floss around my child size toothbrush. I also use 2 small sterile microfuge tubes to place a small amount of hydrocortizone and antibiotic cream in to save weight.

I have also been known to take a light jacket with me to the airport in Portland, Maine because it is cold in May. Right before I get on the plane I throw away the old jacket because I can't carry it in my backpack. Oh yeah, the other reason I need to take this jacket is because, instead of taking a taxi to the Portland airport from the Maine Mall where my dad leaves his car, he wants to walk to the airport--45 min away at 3:30AM! But I don't mind--it gets us use to it. I actually love it.

See near-future post regarding a list of what we take.

Maps: I have been copying only the area that we will be hiking from my topographical maps and then trimming down the edges to save weight. I also mark significant areas on the trimmed map: such as buildings, towns, mangroves, rocky coast, mileage etc. I use google satellite and the aerial beach photos from Locogringo.com to see the conditions of the beach that we will face. I also copy all of the info gathered throughout the year and paste it into a small document, then trim that. I place all maps, etc in a sturdy ziplock bag. This year I am bringing my small copied topo maps from Majahual to XCalak Mexico....and a full size Belize map. We are noticing that just north and south of Rio Hauch, MX there are mangroves, about 2000ft each. We may have to find the road and walk that until we pass the mangroves, then find the beach...unless the ocean is shallow enough for use walk around the mangroves. ?? There is a bridge over Rio Hauch, I hope.