Mefloquine Mondays

On Mondays now, we will take Mefloquine for most of the rest of the trip. With the heavy rains, malaria cases have been especially high in the region. To be honest, I am not a fan of the meds for its unknown long term effects and how it can mask the disease; a few friends who have contracted malaria say they just treated it when it came on. Not wanting to tempt fate however, we went with the controversial Mefloquine instead of the more popular Malarone for two reasons – Mefloquine is taken just once a week instead of every day, and it is significantly cheaper (ten years ago Mefloquine was the unaffordable drug). Both have the CDC stamp of approval; chloroquine is antiquated. Mefloquine got a bad rap among Peace Corps volunteers over the past fifteen years because of the potentially bad side effects, but we have never had a problem. It only gets as bad as some really powerful dreams on the day we take the pill, and we can deal with that.

My thoughts often drift to food, and maybe others are curious too. We have one small cooler and one box of food items and cooking utensils. So for inquiring minds, here is what we keep on hand in terms of staples as we travel around:
Long-life boxed milk, oatmeal, walnuts and cranberries (to go with the oatmeal), Weetbix or other cold cereal, rice, pasta, eggs, different sauce mixes (malay curry is our favorite), tuna, pesto, spices, bread, peanut butter, honey, Provita crackers, textured vegetable protein, whatever local fruit looks good, cheddar cheese, sodas, Mazoe (a Zimbabwean drink mix that Zane turned us on to), and rooibos tea.

Whenever we go to the store, we pick up meat and veggies, which for the most part have offered a wide selection. Avocados, mangoes, pineapples, and tomatoes are all in season right now. When we are in one place for awhile, we buy yogurt. So far, we have not gotten tired of any one food yet but we are about to change course in Mozambique and Zimbabwe where the selection is not as good so we may need to get more creative.

We're headed to Kruger National Park tomorrow for the week and then into Mozambique. We got some serious sticker shock when we paid for the Mozambique visas - over USD 100 each! But we also settled the other car paperwork so that we don't need to deal with it when we cross the border this weekend.

Russ is cooking dinner tonight for V-day and I am sure that will be delicious. Old Vic also has a jacuzzi so we are set for tonight!