Random thoughts of the day

Want to help lift someone out of poverty in a developing country? It is easy to do right from where you are sitting now. An organisation called Kiva organises this for you. You lend a minimum of US$25 to someone in need. The person you lend to uses that money in a variety of ways from buying stock to fixing up their taxi. The money is returned to you when the person pays back the loan anywhere from 6 months onward. I chose 12 women in various parts of the world, mostly South America, and I hope my small contribution helps them better their lives for themselves and their families. Have a look: Kiva.org

Lonely Planet has been slowly rolling out destinations for their Pick & Mix Chapters where you can buy their travel books in pieces for downloading in PDF format. Tom, Sofia and I are travelling to Poland in a couple of weeks on a budget airline, Wizz Air. I have a large Eastern Europe book that I could take, but in order to save space/weight I bought two chapters out of the Poland book and will put it on Tom's phone. I also bought a Polish language guide out of their Eastern European Language guide. Have a look for yourself: Pick & Mix

We have been trying to plan our trip to Chile/Argentina in December/January. Too many decisions to make. Chile is such a long, stretched out country that getting anywhere requires loads of driving or some internal flights. And, travelling with a baby to some of the more remote areas makes me a little nervous. We have come up with several different options, but really can't decide what to do. We have about 18 days and for some reason when we are planning it just doesn't seem enough time. I guess I am not complaining, I just wish it would sort itself out.

Sofia spent two half-days at nursery this week. She did better than I thought she would and it gave me some time to get some things done without keeping an eye on her, too. She came home yesterday with food in her hair because she wouldn't nap in the morning and ended up falling asleep in her highchair at lunch. She also made her first handprint painting with blue paint and sparkles. Definitely one to keep!

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Kiva is great! I've been using it for a while and, like you, hope it's helping.