Shawn Luca
>Thanks so much to all of you that replied to my request for advice on
>traveling raw.
>When I'm in South America, I'll try to get onto the list from time to
>time (using a friend's computer) and let you all know how things are going.

Hey, that would be nice.  But I gotta warn ya, I'm not sure how long I'm
likely to last on this e-mail list without getting burned out.
Reading/responding to 20+ messages / day could get old fast.  But you are
all welcome to keep my e-mail address and send letters/questions to me
personally if such a situation transpires.  We raw fooders need to stick
together (like cholesterol in a SAD artery).

>Kirt, I may even try the ceviche in Chile, though just a little at
>first, and see how I react to it.  I think my major concern now would
> be worrying that I won't find something suitable for me to eat at my next
>destination (esp. if I'm too tired to go out searching), so I'm sure I'll be
>stashing for a while, until I get over that.

If you bring organic dates, figs, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, legumes,
and/or grains with you in your luggage (or stock up on them upon arrival
in a major city), they should make a good emergency supply if you get
stuck out in the boonies without access to food.  You might have to worry
about Customs though; they are often touchy about people transporting
food across borders.

>BTW, what malaria medications did you use there (if any)?  I have been
>doing some major detoxing this year, so along with the raw diet,
>hopefully I won't have to worry much about viral and bacterial
>infections.

All medications are poisons; if it were my body I wouldn't take them,
even for malaria.  I might take a small jar of  vitamin C powder with me
to use in such an eventuality.  But the main thing to remember if you get
seriously ill is to stay in bed and fast.  I do believe that the only
people who die of malaria or other plagues are people who keep trying to
eat before the symptoms have vanished.

>Ric, as you suggested, I will usually keep a bottle or two of purified
>or spring water with me wherever i go.  I don't even use the tap water
>here in DC (it's pretty toxic) except for washing.

If going on a short trip by car, like a few days,  I take 2 or 3 gallons
of distilled with me.  For longer trips of a week or more, I take the
distiller because I don't like having to look for and lug gallons of
bottled water around.  I also take a small pint bottle or two that I can
fill from the distiller and keep in my knapsack during the day in case I
get thirsty while I'm out roaming around.

>Robert, what kind of water distiller do you use?  Is it small and
>portable?

Well, not too small and portable.  It's a stainless steel tabletop
Ecowater unit (same as Waterwise) that comes in 2 pieces (3 if you count
the plastic water jug that fits neatly inside the tank for travel
purposes), the water tank (which is about 10" high and  8" wide at the
base) and the condenser coil top (which separates from the base and adds
another 6" in height when the 2 are stacked up).  I guess whole gizmo is
about 5 pounds (can't weigh it for you just now because it's got water in
it at the moment).  When traveling by plane, I put the jug in the base
unit, which then fits in my knapsack.  The top part fits in one of my
suitcases with my clothes.  I carry both of these on the plane with me so
that they don't get roughed up by baggage handlers.

Waterwise and Ecowater both have 800 #'s; I think Ecowater is
1-800-86-WATER, but you can check 800 info to be sure.  You should be
able to get one for $200 or sometimes less when they're on sale.  Mine's
about 8 years old and still cranking out clean pure water.

>I lived in Japan for about 6 months, so I can tell you that the
>electricity there is slightly different.  Ours (in the US) is 110-120v, while
>Japan's is 100v.  They also have differing cycles, 50 in the NE and 60
>in the W  (ormaybe viceversa).  I think the US has 60 cycles, but I could
> be  mistaken. So using some smaller American appliances in Japan is
>usually no problem (except that clocks will run slow) but those with
>motors that use a lot of juice could have problems.  And converting isn't
>that simple, because you'd need a "step-up" converter, and I've heard that
>they run around $300.

Thanks for the info.  If I should go to the Orient, I see I have some
planning to do.  $300 for a converter is out of my budget range.  I might
then just deal with the bottled water lugging or (gasp!) feed my sprouts
tap water if necessary.  For myself, unless I'm going into a hot, humid
climate, I can go without drinking water at all so long as I can get
plenty of water-containing produce.  In the past 2 months I've drunk only
about one half gallon of water total (no juice or other beverage either);
the rest of my liquid refreshment has come from my food.

			Bob