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We've shared a lot of adventures with you, but I want to let you in on what happens on a daily basis. Who travels together? Where do we eat? How do we know where to go? Right now, I'm travelling with Kavitha: usually the group splits off into pairs to cover the longer distances. We rotate partners so we don't get sick of each other! It's safer and more fun to travel together rather than by ourselves.

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We usually wake up in the morning (see me in my sleeping bag?) and have a breakfast of granola and oranges, apples, or whatever fruit we picked up the night before in the market. We try and save on restaurant bills by buying local produce: besides, it's fun to try out new foods and we get to learn their names. We found out that "pawpaw," an ingredient in some of the juices we've been tasting, is another name for "papaya".

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We live with our guidebooks! They are filled with tons of information - places to sleep, where banks are for changing money, and cool sites to visit. In the states, we have someone who helps us out by emailing ideas. You can check them out at: Odyssey Travel Plans. If we have to travel a long distance, like Kavitha and I just did, on the bus from Johannesburg, South Africa, to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, we then decide how to do it: minibus, bus, train and how much it should cost.

When we do arrive in a new city after some tiring travel, we have to negotiate with taxi drivers, or walk, to get to the place we'll stay. Sometimes that's a hostel or hotel, a family's house or the organization where we'll be working. Yesterday, when we arrived in Bulawayo, we had all our heavy packs, duffel bags and groceries, so we took a taxi to our hostel.

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Today our plan is to withdraw Zimbabwean currency, stock up on supplies, visit the National History Museum, and make reservations for a train we'll be taking later in the week. Thanks for your questions, encouragement and support, and make sure to visit us on the web every Wednesday and Saturday for more dispatches! To e-mail me, click here: monicaflores@bigfoot.com. I really appreciate hearing from you!