Julia wrote: > I am curious about something tho: Just how many condoms does one take on an > expedition to Papua New Guinea?
Frank replies: That¹s another funny story. When I was helping unpack the expedition¹s 18 tons of supplies and equipment at our Telefomin base camp, I opened a crate to find thousands of Durex brand condoms. (And this was long before the era of Aids and Safe Sex concerns.) ³Wow !³, I exclaimed to my British companions , ³Is there something you Brits do on caving trips that I wasn¹t aware of when I signed on?² Turns out that Jon Buchan, the expedition¹s Yorkshire-caving doctor who had no prior tropical experience, had read an article about a parasite in Amazon waterways that enters the human body through the penis. Not knowing that this organism didn¹t exist in New Guinea, Jon planned to have each member of the expedition wear a condom during our daily treks when we would frequently be wading through jungle streams. Thankfully Jon¹s concerns were alleviated by local medical authorities before we had to test his hypothesis that the condoms would stay in place, all day long while hiking, even if our male equipment wasn¹t...ahem...standing at attention. I wish I could report that we were able to put those thousands of expedition condoms to some more appropriate use than shielding shotgun barrels from rainwater, but alas they remained unused to the end of our time in Telefomin. I did take a few back to Texas with me to keep in my cave packjust in case of future opportunities. It may be time now, however, to change them out for some with a fresher expiration date. Frank > > Frank Binney Frank Binney & Associates Interpretive Planning and Media Development P.O. Box 258 Woodacre, CA 94973 415.488.1200 Voice 415.488.1500 Fax 415.999.0556 Mobile fr...@frankbinney.com >
