April 6, 2008
Day 921
I had a horrible night last night. It was more rolling and shaking and waiting for death to approach. Tina brought me a banana and some yogurt, but I couldn't eat. I had the yogurt in the morning, but it took half an hour to get it all down. I couldn't even touch the banana so I put it in the tent to keep the bugs off it.
I went to the hospital, but the lady working there obviously had no idea what she was talking about. She quickly threw some pills my way when I described my symptoms, but when I asked if I could have malaria, she was very dismissive in telling me that there was no way. She didn't even have the capability to give me a simple blood test. I was eight hours from the nearest city and didn't feel like sitting on a bus that long to get a diagnosis.
Luckily all of the tourists I talked to at the hostel seemed to know all about malaria and dengue. They all figured I had one or the other, but since there was no treatment for dengue, I should take the malaria medication as it wouldn't hurt me in the long run if I didn't actually have malaria. My judgment wasn't the greatest, but I was in no position to argue, so I took the pills.
I slept most of the day, but the fever came back once more in the early afternoon. By late afternoon, I was finally feeling better. I still had the headache, but at least I wasn't shaking anymore. I was only awake a few hours all day, but I was already ready for bed by 9:00.
When I went to open my tent, I saw a small hole in the wall that looked new. Then I noticed a much bigger hole next to it. At first I thought someone had robbed me. I glanced inside and didn't immediately notice anything missing. Then I opened the door and figured out the problem: Dozens of cockroaches were crawling all over the banana I had left inside. The platform I had been camping on must have been infested with them, and they must have chewed through my tent to get inside. I didn't even know they could do that. My tent was ruined. I spent half an hour killing the cockroaches and slept with my flashlight on the rest of the night to keep them from coming back.
