Mosquitos are the worst

You know that feeling right before you get really sick with a bad cold or flu?  That’s what dengue feels like but for an entire week along with super fun night sweats.  The kind that wakes you up in the middle of the night in a pool of your own sweat, and then you freeze.  And then there’s the muscle aches are weird and painful, couple those with achy joints, it makes you walk like a 103 year old.  Then when your fever finally breaks you get a lovely rash all over your body. 

I started feeling bad Sunday and just thought I was getting a cold.  I figured I was due for a cold, I hadn’t had one since training and I was sure I had been exposed to enough germs that I was bound to get one sooner or later.  Alas the cold didn’t develop the next day I just got worse, but it was a holiday and the office was closed so I couldn’t go in.  Tuesday morning I called the PC medical officer (PCMO) and told them I was coming in.  Packed a bag and was on my way.  When the PCMO finally checked my temperature it was at 101, which as you can imagine is very high for the third day of a sickness. 

It was then decided that I would stay in town for 2 to 3 days until I felt better and that I needed lab work to see which of the mosquito related illness I had.  There was some debate if I should go to a hotel or a hospital.  I managed to assure the PCMO that I could take care of my fever and eat and should go to a hotel and not the hospital.  That hot shower was divine, it felt so good on my muscles, and it felt so good to wash all the yuck off my body. 

My initial test results were negative for both dengue and malaria but I was told that was because my body had not built up antibodies yet.  Some of my blood was sent to the CDC to check for Zika and Chikungunya.  After I was feeling human again I was sent home with instructions to drink plenty of fluids, and rest, and come back in two weeks to do a follow up test.  Shortly after I got home I noticed my skin seemed rather red and thought I had a sunburn, until I showered…  It was a rash, but not an itchy one, just there making me look red. That took 2 days to fade and I think I’m completely back to normal.  It’s now been a month since I got sick and I got the results today, I did in fact have dengue. 

I now feel like a true Peace Corps Volunteer, I had dengue and survived!  Fingers crossed I don’t get another mosquito related illness! 

3 cars, 2 boats, and a minibus

To get anywhere in Guyana is a struggle.  The roads are less than good and with all the rivers, boats are generally required at some point in your journey.  Recently I went to the other side of Guyana, closer to Venezuela to visit Victoria and to watch the new batch of Volunteers swear in.  To get there from New Amsterdam it required me to take a car, another car, a boat, a minibus, another boat, and one last car.  I think it took 6 hours of actual traveling time but more like 8-9 hours factoring in the times it takes to wait on the car/boat/bus to fill up.  To get a true picture of what traveling in a minibus is like check out this video.  It was made in Jamaica in the 80’s but is accurate to what it’s like here in Guyana.  

Two White Girls Pon a Minibus

 

Traveling in a car is not much better but obviously you can fit less people.  While I respect the drivers aim to make as much money as they can, I do get slightly irritated sitting with 4 people in the back of a car, sometimes with a child or two in your lap.  The term used to fit this many people in is called “small up”.  There are two ways to catch a car or bus.  Either you go to a car park where the cars will go to a designated place, like if I am going to Georgetown from New Amsterdam, I would go to the Georgetown car park.  Or if you are going more local, you stand at the side of the road and hold out your hand, point your finger down for a short drop, point it up for a longer ride. 

Boats are similar in that you go to a designated spot to catch a specific boat and they will cram as many people in as possible.  Only now you are required to wear a life jacket (this is mostly because very few Guyanese people can swim).  Boats are actually a cheaper way to travel in Guyana so they are preferred by most Peace Corps Volunteers. 

So with all forms of transportation they goal is to make as much money as possible.  This means you don’t leave until the car/bus/boat is full.  The only exception is getting a car on the road, then you make as many stops as possible to get as many people as you can.  One of the more frustrating aspects of traveling is that there are no designated bus or car stops (with the exceptions of the car parks).  So your bus will make as many stops as there are people in the car, and sometimes only feet apart from each other.  This makes the trip very long.  And of course there is no AC, so it’s a hot and sweaty ride. 

In the end you do all this to get to see your friends and more parts of your host country.  It becomes normal and routine.  In fact I’m so used to it when I get back home I am not sure how I’m going to get around!!!

Worth the struggle to get to see views like this!

Lessons learned from Mom!

Lessons Learned in the Guyana Interior

Prior to my trip to visit with Missy and tour her adopted country, I read that traveling to Guyana was not a vacation but rather a life experience.  I'd have to agree.  And as with any life experience it is important to embrace those lessons learned, sometimes the hard way.  So here are the lessons I learned during our journey to the interior of Guyana. 

1. It's always wise to put the toilet seat lid down. 

2. Spiders get annoyed when you turn on the faucet when they are chilling.  A second related lesson - keep your toothbrush in its case.

3. Sleeping within a mosquito net is logistically challenging - glasses, headlamp, alarm and book are never where you want them - and forget it if you need a tissue or some such thing.  A second lesson - lights after dark (which is 6 PM year round) is a great way to need the mosquito net even more than normal. 

4. Sometimes art work on the walls moves. 

5. Water not heated by the sun, or taking a shower when you are not heated by the sun, is just plain torture. 

6. Even wild, savannah raised cats crave attention.  But then, don't we all?  Just need to ignore that this same kitty ate a bat for breakfast.

7. Adapting is the key success - playing cards in the breeze requires developing a seamless two finger technique between players to hold the cards in place.  Playing cards with no breeze requires as few movements as possible.

8. Go for the higher hammock - much easier to get out!

9. 5:00 AM is the new 8:00 AM and well worthwhile crawling out of the mosquito net! 

10. Simply prepared, local food is nothing short of awesome!

11. Bug spray is worth more than liquid gold.  Sunscreen is a close second.  Anti-itch cream is a close third.  Our four legged bug eating friends and the tree canopy can only do so much.

12. Always have an extra three men on a trip to push start the jeep.  

13. A dog can look a lot like a fox, especially if you've just seen a fox.  No, really!  (In my defense, the dog I saw was while in a moving truck and in the savannah - just saying.)

14. Always carry a cutlass (machete) for you never know when you'll need to bushwhack. 

15. Rum soaked in passion fruit + fresh lime juice + a hot, satisfying day = WONDERFUL

16. Nothing is finer, aside from rum punch mentioned above, than fresh cashews.

17. Fresh skeleton of a porcupine or caiman (alligator) is as close as I want to get to a jaguar. 

18. Time is relative for those living in the interior - "Jus now" could be most anytime in the somewhat near future but certainly not "now" so get in your hammock and relax for awhile.  And "a few weeks back" could be a few years back.  We learned about a pet Tapir at the next lodge we were going to and disappointed he died just a few weeks back.  But alas, "several weeks back" might have been more accurate.

19. The term Highway is up for interpretation.

20. Think carefully about what you eat before flying, even when there are only simple, innocent looking, white puffy clouds.  And then those scales...