I Find Out I´ve Got Dengue Fever
So, We´ve been back in El Estor for two days….and of course, I have been pretty under the weather. Today, I finally found out what I´ve been suffering from: Dengue Fever. It sounds very exotic, I know. I suppose I can cross that off my list now!
Well, it´s from mosquitos..I think I got it from the large containers/tanks that served as the water tanks for the shower and toilets in the bathroom at station in Polochic. I would have never guessed that is what it was because I thought that it was only in urban areas(don´t know why I thought that) but anyway, that´s where I got it. So pretty much, by the time I got off the return boat, all I did was go to the hotel and get into bed and sleep all day.
The boat ride back was quite an adventure. It was supposed to leave Polochic at 5 am, and we had pretty much been up all night, so at 4 am, we got dressed and realized it was raining. Great, I thought! This will be miserable, bailing out the tiny canoe in a torrential downpour. But it actually stopped raining byu the time we left our place and were walking down the path.
We got to the canoe and got in, then waited about 1/2 hour for everyone else to arrive. It was pitch black, totally dark, with swarms of bugs out, things rustling in the trees and the water(there are alligators there) and bats flying around by our faces. A very long half an hour.
Everyone loaded up the boats(ours ended up carrying over 1000 pounds of maiz, along with 10 people at least!) and we slowly spluttered and hummed our way thru the swampy areas of the river. By the time we got to the lake, the sunrise was just appearing, and it was the best sunset of my entire life. It was mirrored in the lake, and really beautiful-totally worth every inconvience I had suffered, it was that beautiful. There were loads of birds perched in the trees and flying around the water; the sound of turtles, hundreds of them, plopping back into the water as we sped along; and howler monkeys, balled up in tight black little balls on the very ends of the branches of the trees, fast asleep.
It all really was so worth it!
Today it´s Tuesday, and I´m feeling better-lots better, just not eating much. It´s the Dengue Fever Diet-! The fevers and everything have passed, and I´ve since learned that there wasn´t alot I could have done to have prevented getting it, other than what I was doing already. It would´ve have only taken one bite when I got out of the shower of something. Anyway, it was awful while it lasted, but it´s pretty much overwith. Thank God!
Tomarrow we are heading for Tikal, and should be there by nighttime; then spending two days in Tikal, and heading back towards Guatemala City, then home to La Esperanza.
gg
