Things to Consider when Travelling Long-term with a Child!

So you want to run away for the winter, or just take your kid somewhere and expose them to a different culture, well here are some things to consider :

No TV- I  LOVE THIS! I hate commercials, the brain rot that children are exposed to these days makes me crazy...Buy this or you'll stink, Buy this or you'll be ugly, Buy this or you'll be stupid, Buy this or you won't be COOL ...the list goes on and on....  I just love going 5 months with pretty much no TV, I mean you probably can't avoid it completely but you can try.  And for adults I believe it's so healthy not beening bombarded everyday with some horrible thing that's happening in your town...or in the world...Yes it's good to be aware, but sometimes it's just so overwhelming you just become numb and/or depressed. That's not to say you won't see News in Mexico and other places but at least you'll get a bit of a break.

Limited Internet- When we travelled we probably spent 3 hours a week on the web...sometimes less, and these days we are all so connected to the web, when the computer breaks in our house, withdrawl sets in...pretty sad...but I think it's a reality in some many homes these days.

Life's Focus is on Nature, Environment, Eating, Exercise, People, Family, Friends, Reading, Learning, Language-Spanish, Photography, Art, Painting, Daily Survival- laundry, food, water, & lessons.

Cultural Differences :
Throwing toilet paper in a basket and not down the toilet
No drinking water from taps- this includes brushing your teeth
Use Bottled water
Washing dishes, make sure they are completely dry before use.
Use microdyn to wash all fruits and veggies
No baths
Basically your camping for 5 or 6 months
Cold Showers

Here are some tips to help with the above:
* Kids hate cold showers - a trick we worked out was to fill a couple of water bottles with water and then put them in the sun for a few hours, buy a small dish tub(or the biggest you can find) and pour the water in and viola, you have a mini warm bath for your child.

*You must rinse the salt water off. We ended up a with a nasty rash from the heat and the salt and all the tan from the back of Angel's leg left and was all pink and raw and exposed to the sun.

This happened for 2 reasons-
1) We forgot to shower off after visiting a beach an  hour from home
2) She didn't like wearing cream, she hated the feeling

People actually thought she had El Hongos which translates to fungi
But a Oaxacan doctor told us she was allergic to the sun and his advice was
-at the beginning put a tiny amount of hydrocortizone on it
-then Almond oil in her bath (that's where the dishtub came in)
-sunblock(Personally I don't like it, I think it has a lot of chemicals, so we used it in moderation)

The second year she was accustomed to the heat, and I was more prepared and we had less issues.

For little babies, my friend recommended corn starch...she used it for her little boy and it worked great.
She recommended to a very earthy mom but she didn't want to use it, because of breathing issues it might cause. We couldn't figure that one out, as the baby had a terrible heat rash and had been playing in dusty sand...so go figure.

On that note...travelling with very young children ...I wasn't able to return to Mexico until Angel was 6. I believe everything happens for a reason. I just don't know how I would have managed the diapers, putting things in mouth, buggies/strollers, all that with a little baby...those things are challenging enough in Canada...so please keep this in mind. It's different if your Mexican and this is your culture, but as an outsider it's something your going to want to consider very seriously.

Mosquitos
- Angel does much better with mosquitos than I do...I am allergic and must use Off Crema -which they charge a fortune for $6-8 a bottle

Sunblock is also horribly expensive $12- $14 a bottle and when your there 6 months, this can really eat up your budget.

Okay, that's it for now. Check back I have more advice I will share later.

This lady doesn't have kids, but she makes some really great points about making the Great Escape! Reasons I Had to Escape