Four days of no shower and eight layers of bug repellent
Not the river where I had a wash, but you get the idea. Hey, you don’t take your camera into the bath!
We’re ahead of schedule. The roads have been so good—much better than Will expected—that our itinerary is changing almost daily. We’ve had a bonus stop at the Sumela Monastery, not far from the Black Sea in Turkey, and already two extra stops in Georgia.
Because we don’t have any reservations with hostels or campgrounds, we’ve been bush camping as we go. That means no showers and no shortage of bugs. Every morning, before I get out of the tent, I apply a layer of bug repellent. I repeat this well before sundown. By my reckoning, I have at least eight layers of repellent that have not yet been washed off—although they probably have run off in the sweat.
In spite of repellent, the ever-persistent mozzies (mosquitos) always manage to find the ‘missed’ patches of skin behind a knee, at the back of the neck or on the ear. A few days ago, Toni got a doozie of a bite on his hand, which then swelled up impressively. It’s getting better—slowly—and he swears it doesn’t hurt or itch.
Anyway, no idea when the next shower will be, but today I changed into clean undies. Twice in Africa, we went 14–15 days without a shower. I like to think it won’t get to that extreme.
Update: Half way through day five and 10 layers of bug repellent, I got clean. It wasn’t a shower, but a great wash (including my hair) in the Aragvi River by our bush camp in Mtskheta (no I can’t pronounce it). Quite a few of us had the same idea. Thank goodness my wash was over before Will arrived with his laundry and noticed a snake in the water. Later in the evening, Gary and Lene headed across the bridge to the pub and spotted the snake’s parents—big burly things.
Where to next? 
Just a snake? Lucky no crocs!
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The report of crocs in the rivers of Georgia is grossly exaggerated. 🙂
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