...the bad news is, this is still going to hurt. When you hear these words from a Peruvian doctor you know things aren’t exactly going according to plan.
I arrived in Cusco last Friday, travelling with my friend Meredith, who I met at the research station in the Amazon. We nearly missed our flight from Puerto Maldonado because there was a power outage at the Laundromat where we left all of our clothes. A half hour before we needed to leave for our flight, I was standing in front of the closed shop door dressed in a tank top and shorts. All of my other clothing was inside the shop. Meredith’s plan was to find someone at the surrounding stores who knew where the owner lived and rent a motorcycle in order to show up at the owner’s front door and demand the return of our clothing. It turns out that the motorcycle wasn’t necessary as the owner lived a few doors down. We were in Cusco by that afternoon, with all of our clothing.
My original plan was to relax and shop for a few days in Cusco and then either head to the countryside near Cusco to do some painting or head north to do some rock climbing near Lima. Cusco is a beautiful colonial city that most people use as a starting point for hiking to Machu Picchu. Since I had been to Cusco years ago, I wasn’t feeling pressured to see all the touristy sights. I was content to be in a place with good food, amazing scenery, hotels with hot water and not a mosquito in sight. Meredith and I spent leisurely days in internet cafes, browsing markets and frequenting the touristy salsa club at night.
After a few days in Cusco, I was mildly concerned that some of my bug bites from the Jungle were not healing but I was told that it takes about two weeks for some bites to heal so I was watching and waiting. By the fourth day, I knew I had a problem as some bites were getting worse instead of better. One of them was causing an occasional and severe burning pain in my leg which meant it was infected and I needed to take antibiotics. Apparently, infections can happen really easily in the jungle because the severe humidity doesn’t allow minor wounds to heal. A couple of weeks earlier, I had gotten a splinter in my leg and had the same painful reaction so I took Penicillian until it healed. This time though, the Penicillian wasn’t working and after another day of random shooting pains, it was time to call the doctor. The doctor switched me to a better antibiotic, but not before some unpleasant probing of my wounds during which I almost kicked him.
In addition to the infections in my leg, I managed to come down with a cold or flu. My solution to this problem was to check myself into the cutest little hostal that I could find. Rather than painting, hiking or rock climbing, I’ve spent the last few days lying about in bed, napping, reading and eating yummy foods (like cooked bananas covered in chocolate and ice cream, yay!) I feel thoroughly pampered. If it wasn’t for the all gross stuff oozing out of my body, I would feel pretty great right about now.
I have one more day to pamper myself lounging about in Cusco before I head to Lima and then onto New York. (And yes mom, I plan to see a doctor immediately when I get home.)
