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In Colonial Granada |
An all-important topic – A unhygienic place – Roadside explosion
So far I have kept off that all-important topic that every traveler obsesses about, enquires about, and frets about. The topic is that of one’s bowels. For over 200 days, I can happily report that my bowels were WNL (Within-Normal-Limits). But now they are grumpily complaining and making themselves known.
After eating at yet another unhygienic place in Utila I noticed a slight rumbling and the initial symptoms of extremely pungent flatulence. At Dan’s Hotel, in La Ceiba the inconvenience had started, but I would not know the true extent of its florescence until later. Neena suggested that I take Immodium and put those cantankerous nethers to rest, but I am of the position that the body is trying to eliminate something (albeit with sometimes excessive force), so it is best if I let it do so.
Traveling with diarrhea can be quite a drag. On the long drive to Comayagua, except for a brief explosion in a Texaco bathroom, I managed to keep everything under control. That night I burned with fever and I decided to start a course of Tini-NF, that potent one-two punch of Gastro-Intestinal distress. After a good night’s rest and maybe because of the Tini-NF the fever went away and I managed the drive and border crossing to Matagalpa, Nicaragua, where we dropped off the intrepid travelers from Holland, Dirk and Sevda.
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Volcan Telica, enroute to Leon |
Victory was short lived. On the rough road to Leon the constant vibration and bumps churned the frothy mixture in my GI tract and it could not be denied and erupted like the volcanic landscape we were passing. By the side of the road, dressed only in the lime-green shirt Madhuri Yechuri likes, I bemoaned my fate as I cleaned myself and made myself presentable for the journey beyond…
Who would but Shreesh, would write on “everybody wants to know but afraid to ask”. In–t-e-r-e-s-t-i-n-g…. Hope you are feeling well by now. I am sure you are up to date with the shots. Some of the bugs are not very welcome. Take care. That’s one reason even if I want to I hesitate to travel to these countries.
I live thru yours and Nina’s writings which have been so great.
Among all these which would you recommend to visit with least to worry about health, security etc?
Inevitable; one simply needs to keep a sense of humor about this time-honored traveller’s event.
Nice post! 🙂
Before traveling to Bali three weeks ago, I did some research. See http://campushealth.unc.edu/images/stories/MedicalSrvs/travelersdiarrheaflowchartjuly2007.gif
Jan
Shreesh,
I hope by now your bowel problem is under control. I can imagine how inconvenient and scary this can be. Once I had planned to travel from Pune to Mumbai (which is only 4 hours trip), this problem started that morning. Fortunately, by taking Enteroquinol followed by Imodium it was under control. Please take broad range (antibacterial and antiamoebic) medicines to control it. If it gets too bad, please stay put at one place, drink plenty of water and take rest until it is cured.
Please keep us informed.
Aai
Shreesh, You have posted on a subject about which all travelers have similar stories. MY story was on the Inca Trail. The night was cold and raining, the “facility”, read pit toilet, was half a kilometer from the tent, and the flashlight went dead. Not the most pleasant of memories of Peru!
Best post ever 😀 i agree, vanity with respect to bathroom is overrated. Let the lime green shirt uphold all things rightful!
Just stay away from poison oak leaves for cleanup after these roadside adventures 😀
You make this sound so much more pleasant than I imagine the actual experience was. Glad to hear you made it through. Speaking of meds, are you able to find anti-biotics if you need them?
Hello everybody,
We finally found a working internet connection after quite some time! The poop saga went on longer than expected. The Tini-NF was out-of-date and hence was not as potent as it needed to be. A doctor I saw was convinced that it was Giardia so I went through a full anti-parasite course as well. All to no avail.
Finally I started a course of Cipro (in-date) and that knocked it right out. Yay, to have healthy bowels!
Hi Ada,
Yup antibiotics and pretty much anything else you need is very readily available. A side effect of Shreesh’s diarrhea is that now our med kit is completely up to date!
Hi Shanta Auntie,
The safest and cleanest country we have been to so far has been Costa Rica. Belize is a close second, with Mexico third – by a significant margin.
Honduras and Nicaragua are fairly safe but Nicaragua is pretty dirty. Trash everywhere, but the drives through the pastoral landscape are very nice. Guatemala has some serious security problems, but luckily nothing bad happened to us while there. The city of La Ceiba in Honduras looked like a pretty rough place too, but the rest of the country had a safe vibe.
Our favorite country has been Mexico but the most amazing experience has been driving the Dempster Highway in Canada.
Oh my goodness! What is it about traveling in Guatemala. I spent an agonizing three weeks seeing beautiful sites and meeting delightful people…all the while having my ears assaulted by the unending status updates of the bodily function condition of my two male traveling companions…. blah! hope you feel better soon.
Really funny post, guys.
Been visiting your site off and on to keep in touch vicariously.
Girish
Hi Girish,
Thanks for checking in! I was afraid we had lost touch forever when you left the USA. Regards to Manisha and the kids!