El flu in Perù

written 2/25/09

I am happy to report that we have enjoyed the best of health so far – from suspect water supplies to marathon bus rides with less-than-hygienic Europeans to ceviche that was a little too raw to be entirely a good idea – we had tempted fate and food-borne bacteria, but came away unscathed. That is, until now.

I started to feel a little under the weather the night before Elizabeth's birthday, and awoke to some aches, sore throat and a mild fever. I felt a bit better after a walk in the brisk air, so we continued about our day – floating reed-eaters and all. Around dinnertime I started feeling a little run down, and was more than happy to head back home at 7:00 with every intention of going straight to bed. Elizabeth started feeling a under the weather as well, as evidenced by her complete lack of desire for a piece of birthday cheesecake, something she had been planning on for 2 days.

Arriving back to our humble abode, and after catching my breath from the two flights of stairs (the high altitude coupled with the flu is not pleasant) I decided to check up on my earlier fever to see how I was doing by common medical standards. One hundred and one degrees of misery were staring me down from the small LCD display an inch and a half in front of my nose. The thought of a 7am bus was not all that appealing in such a state, so I headed to bed.
Morning came, and though not nearly at 100%, my fever was down and my sickness reduced to a general malaise. I wish I could say the same for Elizabeth. She looked like “death, warmed over” as she so poetically described it. With a raging fever of nearly 103, it seemed like a good idea to cancel the trip to Bolivia and spend the day resting up and getting better. After a partially refunded bus ticket, a trip to the farmacia for some flu meds (interesting enough on its own, since I speak so little Spanish I resorted to pantomiming Elizabeth's symptoms to the much-amused crowd in the store) and about 5 hours of awake-time between the two of us during the course of the day, we weathered the storm and came out the other side only slightly worse for the wear.

We hopped on the bus this morning for the (relatively) quick bus ride to Bolivia, billed at around 3 hours. About an hour in, we were informed of the new Bolivian policy, installed January 1st 2009, that requires all US citizens to pay the Bolivian government $135 each for the pleasure of visiting their country. No one but Americans. Thank you, failed foreign policy. We were doing so well with our budget, too. A little disheartened but not discouraged, we find ourselves now in the small but bustling town of Copacabana – perched on the shores of Bolivia's end of Titicaca, the main draws here are trips to Isla del Sol and Isla de la Luna, the former hailing itself as the birthplace of the Incan empire. Not wanting to miss that, we booked ourselves a little sight-seeing tour of the island for tomorrow morning. We plan on jumping to La Paz tomorrow night to make up some ground on account of our sick day, so will likely check in again in a few days time. Hopefully we can get these posts posted up tomorrow, so enjoy the flurry while it lasts.