I'm nervous

and I feel unprepared, even though I'm probably packing more than I need. I never got my hair cut, I'm bringing baggy clothes, and I feel like I don't know enough about Ecuadorian culture and world news. I'm worried I'm gonna stand out as an ignorant American... but maybe that's natural.

Health insurance troubles

I think I now have everything I need, thanks to the help of one Jacob Amos Keith Long. Unfortunately, concessions were made: I tried to get a refill of my malarial medication only to find out I no longer have health insurance (DUN DUN DUN). The only reason I can think of is that I was covered under my moms medical assitance, and now I have to apply for it myself :/ Actually, I probably would have been alright with this had I known sooner, especially since the U of M's student health insurance costs $930 a semester :O Now I had to enroll in the U of M's plan at the last minute, which is an unexpected expense, one that I think may prevent me from hanging around Ecuador for awhile, or at least, going to the Galapagos like I hoped. Meanwhile, I'm going with an unsatisfactory amount of malarial medicine, which I hear takes a long time to get in Ecuador. Fortunately, I did purchase tons of bug spray, including permethrin, so maybe that will help? Oy, let's just get on with it.

Packing

Started putting together a packing list today, and it seems I'm gonna have my work cut out for me. While I do have essentially all of the clothing I need, it's split up between places right now. Moreover, clothing is kind of unimportant as I can just buy some in Ecuador. However, I can't buy everything there, and it's gonna be tough getting stuff here too. So I figured I'd post a list of things that seem the toughest to track down. If you know where I can buy one of these, or perhaps you've got one just lying around that you'd love to donate :) I'd be much appreciative.

-Money belt or undershirt pouch
-Water bottle with filter (0r filtration tablets)
-Strong sunscreen
-SPF Chapstick
-Permethrin (you can spray it on clothes and it will repel mosquitoes for up to 3 weeks, can't spray it on myself though so also:
-Bugspray with 30% DEET
-Light raincoat (thought I had one of these but I guess not)
-Thermometer
-Box of latex gloves (for my public health internship)

Introduction

Here it is, the EcuaDane blog, which isn't so much of a travel blog, so much as a way I can keep in touch with people without checking facebook, because there's way too much going on there. For those unfamiliar to blogger, it's much more simple: in the right bar you can sign up to follow my posts, which can be e-mailed to you - or tweeted to you, I guess. I don't really use Twitter so I don't quite know how that works... ANYWAY, on the left bar then is my mailing address in case you want to send me something, which I won't lie, I would love. I would also love to show you guys stuff, so I plan on putting up a slide show sometime for all my pictures. Here's hoping this works, and wish me luck! I'll be leaving August 30.