Yes, as promised, the chigger chronicles. One day a few weeks ago, we were following the chimps into a muddy, swampy area. Ugh. There is a log "bridge" across the latter half of the expanse of hot smelly water. But to reach it, one must risk filling your rubber boots with water. This water was deep, and we were all hesitant to cross. Can't we just watch the chimps from this side?
Audacious Shannon jumps right in, tromping through the mud up to her bellybutton! So we must follow, and fill our boots with this sewage-looking water that the locals drink and bathe in. It can't be that bad, right?
So we all get gross and muddy and have a laugh. My boots are too small, so the thought of walking home in tight wet rubber boots chafing my already raw blisters was not appealing. I walked the 1 kilometer dirt path barefoot, as many people admonished against chiggers.
Chiggers are flea-sized bugs that crawl into your feet and lay eggs, an itchy and painful experience. Though I wouldn't know! Poor Shannon walked back in her muddy boots, and took them off as soon as we got home. Problem is, her feet were soft and moist, easy for chiggers to enter, but mine were dry and hardened from the walk.
About a week after the swamp adventure, Shannon removed 12 (?) chiggers from her feet- as many as 4 in one toe!! Imagine popping the biggest, pus-filled zit you have ever seen. Then remember that it is an insect and its offspring living in an egg sac under your toenail. Ew!!
Shannon has also been suffering from self-diagnosed cholera, probably also caused by nasty water. Sickness has become a way of life, and each meal is a gamble. We have both decided to enjoy the food as we eat it, no matter the consequences, and to take an immodium with the first bite. Each day is better than the last, and hopefully we will both have clean bills of health soon. As leonardio dicaprio put it in the film Blood Diamond, TIA!! (This is Africa)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment