I did say "if all goes to plan"
9 Dec 2009 09:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wayfaringwordhackLast night, over supper, I told Julien that I was ready for this morning to roll around so that we could be on our way to our trekking adventure. I had a nervous feeling in my stomach that something was going to go amiss. Having been scammed by a guide before* and just having dealt with the &*^%$! moneychanger, I guess that apprehension could be considered normal.
However, trouble didn't come in the form of our guide (who was 15 minutes late this morning, so don't you know the suspicions were aroused!); it came from Montezuma's Revenge (food poisoning for Julien and diarrhea and early morning puking for me). Julien went to bed not feeling so great. He woke up about an hour later with chills and a fever, just after I had booked our non-refundable plane tickets to La Paz.**
The plane tickets weren't really that big a deal, but add them to our trek, which we already paid for, and we are out a pretty penny. I didn't burden Julien with the plane business, but he still worried about missing the trek this morning. He didn't need to be doing that with his fever, but like me, he could stop the worries. I watched over him while he fitfully dozed, catching a total of 30 minutes sleep myself.
When he vomited, I felt relief that it was most likely food that didn't agree with him rather than the H1N1 flu. But we've shared all of our dishes, and I wasn't sick to the same degree and didn't have a fever. He vomited again about an hour later, but he was still hot to the touch.*** I kept checking the time, wondering when it would be okay to try to call a doctor. My Spanish being so limited, it was a real dilemma.
This morning, he felt a bit better, but there was no way, after being ill and spending a sleepless night, that we were up for 5 hours of biking, albeit downhill, followed by two days of hiking through the jungle.
We went to our appt with our guide to tell him we had to cancel, and surprise, he wasn't there. As I mentioned, someone did show up but over 15 minutes late. The guy told us we probably won't get any money back, but we still have supper and one night in a hostel in Aguas Calientes (otherwise known as Machu Picchu village), our tickets to see Machu Picchu on Saturday and the train/bus fare back to Cusco. All is not lost; just a big chunk of it. We also have the joy of coordinating our late arrival in Aguas Calientes with the group that just left, as well as having to re-book the plane to Bolivia.
Joy. All we've done in Cusco is waste our time on such things.
Sometimes traveling is fun; sometimes it... I'll let you complete the rest of that.
______________________________
* I know I meant to post about this after our Madagascar trip, but I never wanted to dig into all the rage and disappointment again. Long story short, we paid a guide 2/3 of our tour fee, and he never showed up. Julien worked with the local police and caught him, but we never got our money back. Well, we did get back about a 1/3 of it. The whole experience really colored our view of Madagascar, but, on the brighter side, it did make us more wary and world-wise, and gave us a truer picture of the island.
**Found out this morning there was a problem with my reservation, and the company cancelled it. That's all good, but we still have to go book it again.
***Our thermometer mysteriously went missing from our first-aid kit along with some of medicines, most notably our intestinal infection pills...
However, trouble didn't come in the form of our guide (who was 15 minutes late this morning, so don't you know the suspicions were aroused!); it came from Montezuma's Revenge (food poisoning for Julien and diarrhea and early morning puking for me). Julien went to bed not feeling so great. He woke up about an hour later with chills and a fever, just after I had booked our non-refundable plane tickets to La Paz.**
The plane tickets weren't really that big a deal, but add them to our trek, which we already paid for, and we are out a pretty penny. I didn't burden Julien with the plane business, but he still worried about missing the trek this morning. He didn't need to be doing that with his fever, but like me, he could stop the worries. I watched over him while he fitfully dozed, catching a total of 30 minutes sleep myself.
When he vomited, I felt relief that it was most likely food that didn't agree with him rather than the H1N1 flu. But we've shared all of our dishes, and I wasn't sick to the same degree and didn't have a fever. He vomited again about an hour later, but he was still hot to the touch.*** I kept checking the time, wondering when it would be okay to try to call a doctor. My Spanish being so limited, it was a real dilemma.
This morning, he felt a bit better, but there was no way, after being ill and spending a sleepless night, that we were up for 5 hours of biking, albeit downhill, followed by two days of hiking through the jungle.
We went to our appt with our guide to tell him we had to cancel, and surprise, he wasn't there. As I mentioned, someone did show up but over 15 minutes late. The guy told us we probably won't get any money back, but we still have supper and one night in a hostel in Aguas Calientes (otherwise known as Machu Picchu village), our tickets to see Machu Picchu on Saturday and the train/bus fare back to Cusco. All is not lost; just a big chunk of it. We also have the joy of coordinating our late arrival in Aguas Calientes with the group that just left, as well as having to re-book the plane to Bolivia.
Joy. All we've done in Cusco is waste our time on such things.
Sometimes traveling is fun; sometimes it... I'll let you complete the rest of that.
______________________________
* I know I meant to post about this after our Madagascar trip, but I never wanted to dig into all the rage and disappointment again. Long story short, we paid a guide 2/3 of our tour fee, and he never showed up. Julien worked with the local police and caught him, but we never got our money back. Well, we did get back about a 1/3 of it. The whole experience really colored our view of Madagascar, but, on the brighter side, it did make us more wary and world-wise, and gave us a truer picture of the island.
**Found out this morning there was a problem with my reservation, and the company cancelled it. That's all good, but we still have to go book it again.
***Our thermometer mysteriously went missing from our first-aid kit along with some of medicines, most notably our intestinal infection pills...
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no subject
Date: 9 Dec 2009 03:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 9 Dec 2009 04:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 9 Dec 2009 05:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 9 Dec 2009 05:27 pm (UTC)~D
no subject
Date: 9 Dec 2009 06:14 pm (UTC)Get well soon, both of you :)
no subject
Date: 9 Dec 2009 09:07 pm (UTC)Yuo two must have been really mean to Peru in a past life.
no subject
Date: 9 Dec 2009 09:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 9 Dec 2009 10:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 9 Dec 2009 11:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 9 Dec 2009 11:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 9 Dec 2009 11:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 9 Dec 2009 11:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 9 Dec 2009 11:15 pm (UTC)And yeah, what's up with the Peru hate. I so wanted to visit this country, but it doesn't seem to want us here.
no subject
Date: 9 Dec 2009 11:16 pm (UTC)The arrangements seem to be ok. The plane is booked, but the tour guy is a bit hard to get ahold of... :(