Run the equator: Ah, the irony!

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Ah, the irony!

I am in a bungalow in the middle of the jungle on a forgotten truck road in Yucatan, near the tiny village of Xpujil. I have a wireless connection and Internet via satellite, the other couple that we share this restaurant patio with has two laptops, and Ian, an Englishman who, together with his wife, is traveling with no time frame or end in sight has just sent a fax.

There is no escaping technology on this trip. So far, everywhere we went the net was readily available: hostels, Internet cafes, wireless in coffee-shops. Most places would give me an Ethernet tap upon my explaining that I need to hook up my laptop. If they won't, I just walk across the street to the competition. And I can check my bank accounts online without worrying that every one of my keystrokes gets recorded.

So how are we doing so far? We've had our share of heat exhaustion already - no matter how much sunblock we use or how much water we drink or whether we're wearing hats, we are just not used to this insane Mexican summer heat. Occasional headaches are the most prevalent symptoms, but they should disappear as we're getting better accustomed with the weather.

Unfortunately, although I have taken many precautions, I wasn't able to avoid getting my stomach into trouble. After a few days of diarrhea, not wanting to take the kill-em-all antibiotic prescribed by the travel clinic, which we keep as a last resort, I decided to see a doctor today and bought some Metronidazole and some charcoal mixed with Furazolidone. They seem to do the job so far and hopefully they won't scorch me on the inside and kill the good together with the bad.

One thing that we realized so far is that we need more down-time days. A couple of consecutive days at the ruins or on the road in this heat would drain the last shreds of energy out of anybody... Hanging out on the fresh patio of this jungle lodge run by a crazy and sarcastic English lady is a welcome break from the loaded schedule that we prepared for ourselves.

7 comments:

Meg said...

Hi Guys! I have to say I am quite surprised to hear that Angela didn't have stomach problems first! :-)

It sounds like you guys are off to a great start! I have been keeping up with you two and love reading the entries.

Stay safe and keep the pictures and entries coming!

Megan

Anonymous said...

HI FRITZ
WE LOVE YOUR PICTURES AND WRITINGS.
HOPE YOU ANDANGELA KEEP WELL. STAY
COOL AND SWEET . GOD BLESS




GRANDMAANDJERRY

Anonymous said...

Hey Fritz, don't worry about the stomach problem - it will make you lose weight and look all hot and sezy.

I&R

Anonymous said...

No need to blame exotic foods, I got something similar eating sushi here in seattle few days ago...

But anyway, I guess you deserve the rest, you wrote half of a book in the past week :)

Take care - lemo.

Anonymous said...

Hi Guys,

How is my friend? Tell her she better e-mail me. The pictures are amazing. What a great trip already.
Enjoy your wonderful life and take time out to relax and enjoy the view. We miss you.

Love,
Brookie

Big Fat Rat said...

Guys, I am all fine now! Modern medicine worked!

I'm still trying to figure out who "I&R" are. Browsing thtough the initials of my friends...

Not with a bang but a whimper said...

"Hey Fritz, don't worry about the stomach problem - it will make you lose weight and look all hot and sezy." haha nice.

Agreed re: downtime. We always forget to schedule it in and it ends up finding us burned out, exhausted and stuck somewhere unappealing - oops. And that's on a one month trip; I can't even imagine sustaining that for a year!