Favorite Things

We've had a pretty low key week or so, here in San Juan. Either due to rain, sickness, sun burn, or all of the above, we've been pretty much laying low. We've had some good times hanging out with some Salt Spring friends who have arrived in town, but even so, everything has been pretty chill lately. This means no new posts. Well that's no good. So I've decided to elaborate on the list I started before of our favorite things. The things we've been thankful to have on our trip, and since I had a request for a food post...some of the things we've really enjoyed having in our fridge. Whether you're going to be traveling sometime in the near or far future, just curious, or not curious at all (yet)...well that's too bad, here is our list of Favorite Things:

(I've included links to pages where you can buy some of these things if you want, or know someone who could use something like this. Click the linked words in the descriptions to get taken to the relevant web page.)


Ryan's Zinc has saved him countless sunburns. He pointed out to me that it is better than sunscreen on your face because it won't melt and sting your eyes. This one is also clear, which I like because I think people with white zinc on their faces look funny.








Canon PowerShot SD780IS
This is Ryan's camera, but since mine doesn't work so well since the flash mysteriously stopped working, this is what we've both been using. It's compact, durable (it got a little bath when a wave snuck up on us...) and the photos come out pretty good!

$289.99 at Amazon.com





Polysporin! Yep, this has proved mighty useful. Maybe because its safe to say that it helps most things. I tend to scratch my bites, which have been plentiful, this helps keep them from itching too badly because it moisturizes, and reduces scarring. This one is a cream, instead of the slimy salve that usually comes in these tubes, which means I can rub it in and leave it without the gross-ness.






Ryan's Boxers: I brought like 5 pairs of shorts. One pair was a "goal" pair, and with the huge range of food here, that isn't happening as fast as I'd like, so those don't fit yet. I lost my favorite pair in a hotel room in Montezuma, and threw another pair out because I thought I wouldn't need them since I had so many other pairs and wanted to lighten the load...So now I have one pair of shorts. One. Not functional. I've come to find that Ryan's boxers, rolled to the proper length, prove to be a great, lightweight, comfortable pair of shorts. These ones are striped, but I go for the black ones cuz no one can know they're men's underwear when I have a shirt on over them. Ryan doesn't need them anyways when he lives in surf shorts. Huzzah!

Surf Board: Being a surf town, it was crucial to Ryan's existence that he be able to surf. Tyson was able to rent this one to him for about half of what the other shops in town charge. He pays about $5 per use, while he looks for a possible board to buy. This is something we could not live without. As Ryan says, he's happy to just surf, and I'm happy to lay on the beach and read. Harmony.












Pocket Sized Notebook: I always carry a notebook with me when I travel. Something I learned from my mother. This one fits perfectly in my small purse, it has the elastic strap to keep it closed (I constantly shove ticket stubs and notes in it.) and a pocket in the back, which helps minimize the amount of loose things in the pages. Its easy to whip out and jot down directions, keep track of what we've spent our money on, phone numbers, etc.

These things cost like $5-9 at any stationary store









Tide-To-Go Stick: This is something I have found endlessly useful regardless of where I am. Its one of those rare things you see advertised on TV that actually is as awesome as they say it is. Gets the stain out instantly, without needing water.

$9-12 at pretty much any store that sells things.












Fan: We literally could not live without this. We would die. We would roast in our sleep. But we would be really really detoxed from sweating out everything that was ever a liquid in our bodies. But we would be not alive anymore. Potential down side. Luckily, every place we've stayed has been hip to the jive and had at least one fan in place. They're also crucial if you want anything thats wet to dry. Ever.











Band-Aids: Kids' band-aids to be more precise. I've decided that these are different in that they don't stick to you so hard core. Which is great when you lose your razor and need to put band aids on your bites that you've scratched raw in the night. They're gentle, and they have the Bratz Dolls on them. Win/Win!

Thanks to Coriander for being cool and giving me these.





Salt Spring SoapWorks Shampoo Bar: This rocks. I didn't even know these existed. My mom gave me this before we left and it proved to be so useful. I did notice that, in order to put the bar back in the tin, it either has to dry out (which nothing does here) or find some kind of plastic bag to put between it and the tin.
It leaves your hair in kind of a beachy state when it dries which is awesome, my hair never does that, but it makes it easy to not have a flat iron. It just looks cool all by itself!
Downside was that it can be difficult to rinse totally out in cold water, which all the showers are here. Over time it builds up and eventually you get a sort of sticky/waxy spot here and there where it didn't get totally rinsed out. On the bright side it smells great, its easy to carry, and is a-okay for Ryan too since its not a flowery pink bottle of "shine-booster" by L'Oreal or something.

Thanks to Mama for finding this!

Mosquito Net: I don't think there is really a necessary explanation for this. This one is not the one we brought with us, since the owner of these apartments hung this for us. We brought one that we borrowed from Maggie (THANK YOU!) that we brought without the ring to make it easier to transport. They sell travel sized ones that somehow fold up small, but we ran out of time looking for one, and the one we have has been GREAT. The smaller bugs can get in, but they don't bother us. I just don't want to know how many of them I've swallowed in my sleep though...
My one complaint about these nets is when they rest around my feet and I get caught in them. I feel like a fish, and thats weird. However, we're so thankful to have a net because a lot of places don't provide them.

Thank you to Maggie for lending us her's!

The one we brought is $10.55 on Amazon.com, about $25 normally. The Travel ones are available at outdoor stores, travel medical places, at least thats where I saw them, for about $40, Amazon has them for $25.


Neil Gaiman: He is a great author that both Ryan and I have enjoyed on this trip. It's nice to be able to share books. Ryan recommended "American Gods" to me, which I read fast and loved. This photo is the cover of "Anansi Boys" which Ryan just read and I'm next. He has also written "Stardust", "Coraline", and "Neverwhere".
Stardust and Coraline have both become major motion pictures. Stardust is a favorite of mine.
His style is really fun, a little dark. He mixes fantasy, fact, history, and modern day reality really well. I noticed that his writing style varies greatly from book to book. While American Gods is more adult and straight forward, Stardust has the "Once Upon a Time" feel to it. I highly recommend "American Gods", Ryan really loved Anansi Boys too.

Neil Gaiman's books are available on Amazon.com for $5-10


Let's Go Guide to Central America: I go with Let's Go across the board. While cross referencing is the best way to go, if you don't want to carry a bunch of books and don't know which to choose, this is your guide. It's just the right amount of info, easily laid out, and well written. I like these books because they write more 'humanly' than other books. For example, when it comes to accommodation, they rate based on value, not price. You will find their pick for the best room for your money and safety. While there isn't much on San Juan in this book, its been very helpful. This one covers a lot of territory in a reasonably sized book, so some of the smaller towns are not included. You can buy more specific books which would have more included in that particular area. These are updated almost yearly (so check the date to make sure its the newest one!), and are available for pretty much anywhere you could possibly go. Written by students, its "user friendly" and chock-full of useful information.

These are usually $20+, but on Amazon, they're about $7. This particular one is $4.99.


Ryan's Guitar: Tyson came through again when he happened to have an extra guitar to lend Ryan. He was starting to get restless without one of these babies to soothe his musical needs. I don't know how much longer he could have survived without one. This is a photo of his makeshift capo made out of a pen and a hair tie. He's been strumming sweet nothings into my ear ever since.


Thank you to Tyson for this!




My trusty orange change purse: My Mama is to thank once again for bringing this to me from Florence before I went to Australia. It's for smaller amounts of money, to make it easily accessible when you don't want to be digging for cash in public. Keeps things quick, discreet, and if someone does steal it, its only a little money. The orange makes it easy to find. I've been marking it everywhere we go, which is whats written all over the back..The toothbrush is for size reference.

The Netbook! This thing has been so so awesome. A birthday present for Ryan this October, this has turned out to be so useful to us. Its so nice to to have to sit in internet cafe's in the heat. We can also Skype with family and friends when the connection is good. Ryan can work on business stuff with his brother, I can blog, and its also been our movie theater. Small, light weight, ever-s0-portable, and affordable. If this gets stolen, we both have our primary computers at home, and its cheap enough that we don't have to cry about it. It has also been a great way to back-up photos, both onto the hard drive and onto online albums in case of theft.

$279 at Future Shop


Amazon Kindle: This is one of those things that I never would have bought for myself. I love real books, and am a huge advocate for keeping paper and ink books going, this was just not something I ever thought I would need, but it has been the most awesome thing in the universe. I cannot express how great it is not to carry books with me everywhere I go. The weight is a surprisingly huge amount that adds up really fast. Its also been wonderful to be able to choose my books as I go, from a huge collection. I can get new books whenever I want, I can check my email or Facebook, I can even listen to music while I read or listen to audio books. The internet connection is not ideal for things like email and Facebook, but you can do it if you're far from a place where you can get online. Free 3g is hard to beat as well. While you do have to pay for the books you buy, they range from $.99 to as much as $17.00, its totally worth it. I download endless samples, which are free, and give you the first several pages to give you an idea of whether or not you want to buy the book. There are also email lists you can join that send you lists of free books, mostly promotional stuff, but I haven't figured that out yet. The battery life is great, its durable (so far) and just all around awesome.

Thank you to my Dad for this birthday present!!

The Amazon Kindle has evolved a lot in the past year or so. This one is the basic Amazon Kindle with 3g available for $139

They range from $79 for the basic basic to $199 for the Kindle Fire which is giving the iPad a run for its money. In between are a good range of them, so check it out, I highly recommend these for traveling.....but KEEP BUYING REAL BOOKS TOO....

My Rainbow Trading scarves: "What's that you say? SCARVES? PREPOSTEROUS!"
Yep. These are awesome. I use them as headbands, shirts, wraps. While they're not as big as a sarong, and therefore not as useful when it comes to dresses and beach blankets, these are light, flowy, pretty, and you can tie them however you want. I find they're just big enough to be a flowy tied top over a bikini, or a bandana style triangle shirt a la Kelly Clarkson circa 2002.

I've seen these for like $15 at some stores. I get them on Salt Spring like 3 for $10. While I don't know where you can get these outside of Salt Spring, I have seen people wearing them in the US as well. I would check any stores that import from India. Any lightweight square scarf is equally great though. I just like the tinsel threaded through these..

Sephora Deluxe Anti-bacterial Brush Set: I've sort of remixed the original brushes with some of my Bare Minerals brushes, but this has been awesome. The magnetic front and flexible case makes it easy to pack extra things in there. I can slip a mascara, a lip thing, a liner, and a toothbrush in there and call it a day. I have a lot of makeup and products but the essentials all fit in here.

This has turned out to be one of the best presents ever.

This is $60 at Sephora

My Underdog Purse: I call this an underdog purse because I really did not expect this to be as useful as it has been. This was given to me by a regular customer at Barb's before I went to Australia. While it wasn't something I would have thought to buy for myself, I immediately felt like this was more special than most things because of how it came to me. I was so touched to get a present from someone who didn't have to give me anything. Gotta love the holiday season, and the spirit it brings! This little purse (my thumb is a size reference) is perfect. Its compact, has a zipped inside pocket for things like a passport, a front buttoned pocket and the perfect sized slots for small things. It holds a deceiving amount of stuff too. Once I had two cell phones, a passport, a wallet, a lip balm, a notebook, sea shells, a pen, and a few other things that escape my memory. And it was still a breeze to find everything! No matter how much stuff I cram into this thing, it always looks orderly and everything is visible.

Thank you to Celeste Mallett for this. I don't know where she got it, or how much one of these costs, but if you find something similar, buy it! Its so worth it!

This shell I found: It's not a travel essential or anything, but I would be pretty bummed if we didn't have this. I found it on the beach. Its awesome. I love it.

Free at any beach where these are...










Last but not least for the Favorite Things list...I asked Ryan what else he could think of that he's really been happy to have on this trip and he said, "You" which was like the best answer possible, and the best thing I've heard all day. So here we are, because Ryan's definitely on my list of favorite things:

Part 2: Munchies

As promised: The food post. More or less...

Veggies: We were so happy to have a kitchen and a place to store vegetables. Real live vegetables. We do disinfect them, although some people don't. Its just a way to prevent having to de-parasite yourself...









Frozen Oreos: I don't really know how this came to be a staple...On Halloween I bought a box of Oreos for us to eat whilst watching "Hocus Pocus", "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown", and "Garfield's Halloween Adventure" or whatever its called. At some point, once we were at Tyson's I wanted something sweet and ice cold, and Oreos were all we had, so I froze them. Turns out this is awesome, and now we have one of these in the freezer at all times. Crunchy, cold, sweet. Totally.




Disinfectant: This is what we use to clean our veggies. Turns out you could just buy a big thing of bleach for like half the price, but whatever. This is pretty much just bleach. Sounds horrible, but its not. We put a capful or two of this into a bunch of water, soak the veggies, rinse them, and dry them thoroughly before we eat them. So far so good. Its nice to be able to eat fresh veggies with peace of mind.
(65 cordobas is like a little more than $3)










Flor de Caña:
The Nicaraguan rum. We had to try it. Turns out its pretty good. I feels might Jack Sparrow-ish here in the tropics with the rum, aside from the fact that we're not actually in the Caribbean...I'm not much of a rum person, but this is really nice. For the record, this is not a "can't live without it" situation, its just something we have that's quite Nicaraguan.











Raiiisin Braaaan: I don't know whats so great about Raisin Bran, it just is. We eat this at night for dessert more often than for breakfast. This Post stuff isn't the real deal, but we'll survive...














Lizano Hot Sauce: This seems to be the only option for hot sauce here. It's not bad. I haven't actually compared it beside other brands, but on its own, we like it. It goes on everything so its a must-have for our fridge.














UHT Milk: Oh man I like this. Its that weird milk you buy off the shelf, not out of the fridge. Here's the deal. It doesn't have to be refrigerated before its opened, but there are no preservatives. "UHT" stands for "Ultra high temperatures" so instead of heating it to lower temperatures for longer, they heat it high (72 C) for about 15 seconds. There are all kinds of reasons why this is preferable for the environment. A huge factor being that you don't have to use the fridge for it before its opened. It's actually kind of interesting, you can read about it here if you're interested.
I like this because it tastes goood. Its different, some people say it tastes "burnt", I disagree. It tastes like how I imagine milk should taste...maybe because it kind of does taste like steamed milk, but not hot...I also like that the box states that breast milk is best for babies. I think thats legit.



Fud! This is new. We actually don't have any kind of attachment to this yet, but Ryan brought it home yesterday, and I love that its called "Fud". That's hilarious.

For the record, its bacon.
We ate some this morning, and it was good. Bacon ftw.






Crema: This is the closest thing to sour cream we've found. It's milder, a little sweeter, but awesome. Just the right amount of sour. It's more liquid, and goes great with our tacos, tortilla soup, burritos. And its super cheap. Huzzah.

Soon I'll do a follow up of our favorite places in town, but today was a "stay in the apartment and rub aloe vera on Ryan's back and write blogs and watch a Disney movie and eat the fresh salsa Ryan just made" kind of day.

Adios