More Jabs And Shopping at Mountain Equipment Co-Op

Yes, more jabs. But fortunately for me, it was Elena who got stuck 4 times. Her arms hurt all day. She was mostly angry with herself because she takes a weight lifting class on Thursdays and because she had jabs in her shoulders she couldn't take the class. She wished she would have gotten her jabs today instead of yesterday.

After Elena got jabbed, we got some stuff at The Travel Bug on Broadway. I got phrase books on Moroccan Arabic and a small Swahili phrasebook. Elena got a book on cycling in Europe. We had late breakfast at Tomato which has moved from the construction snarl on Cambie to Broadway. It's gotta be tough to have to move a restaurant from one neighborhood to another. Oh well, the infrastructure improvement will be nice. I'd much rather take the train from the airport to downtown than the B-99 bus.

Then we went to our favorite store, Mountain Equipment Co-Op. It's like REI in Canada and the flagship store is in Vancouver. I bought 3 things.

This is a lantern that is chargeable either through a cell phone charger or by cranking it. It has a little work light for reading or preparing food or whatever. The lantern part is adjustable from a low light but long lasting light to a brighter but shorter lasting light. It's solidly built and very cool.





The same company also makes a flashlight. Here it is:



One of the things about Africa is that there is a long of bartering going on. So if I find that these are less useful that I think they might be--or I find I use one but not the other, I can barter them for stuff. Since my last stop will be Ethiopia, I think I can barter them there since I want to leave them in Africa. I may also give them as gifts if someone does something especially nice for me like let me stay at their place for a while.

Finally, I bought a sleeping bag liner. Not for a sleeping bag, but because I suspect many of the places I stay in Africa will be totally gross and disgusting and I'll want to be in this bag rather than directly on the grimy sweaty bedding. It rolls up pretty small. I'll be spending a lot of time in this bag, I suspect.