T-60 Hours and counting… (’til I get on the first plane of the trip to Niger). Lots of packing and finding of items. Strike that, reverse it. I’m still not sure where my old pair of nylon hiking pants are. I used them in March. I’m going to have to double my efforts searching at my apartment, because they aren’t here in Mandeville.

I also couldn’t find my old point-and-shoot Nikon camera, but my father offered to let me use his Yashica FX-2 35mm SLR on the trip. I’m pretty excited about that — I once took some snzzy black-and-whites with that camera. Too bad they now cost 3x as much to develop as color, since nobody has machines to do it on-site anymore. I can’t take my digital because the battery wears out too fast, and it’s a non-standard rechargeable, so I can’t just drop in a replacement. Lesson learned for the next camera purchase I make.

Sleepy now, time for bed. I’m getting a ride back into town tomorrow with my sister, and she has to leave at 07:00.