From Anchorage to Ushuaia by Bike

Our departure from Lima was again delayed! This time, I (Sébastien) got progressively sicker all week. Since Monday, I had been having really bad diarrhea, the worst since Alaska, over a year ago. It was pretty bad Friday night and by Saturday morning I had a high fever. Nothing seemed to work – I’ve never shivered so hard in all my life.

We went to the government-run health centre right beside the hostel where we were staying. We didn’t discover until the night after we went to the Anglo-American clinic. It was an entirely different experience. It was also clean, but it was clear that they were seriously lacking in funds. The security guard led us to a small sort of cupboard, and 10 minutes later the doctor came in to examine me, tapping at my stomach. She told us that we should be more careful about what we eat – she thought it was food poisoning. As she was writing out the prescription, she asked us if we could afford to pay, and adjusted the script for rehydration salts accordingly. In the end, we paid 5 soles (US $1.65) for the 10 minute consultation and another 8.50 soles (US $2.80) for the prescription. 

The day before, we had paid a lot more! 245 soles (US $85) for the doctor and another 100 soles (US $33) for the medication. The difference in price between these two clinics was pretty astounding, and they are only a few streets apart.

We think we have figured out why we’ve been sick: we are pretty tired of eating chicken and rice at every meal, but it’s usually the only (relatively) and safe thing on the menu. In the past month or so, we’ve been branching out and eating more and more what the locals eat. Here, the local specialty is “ceviche”, a kind of raw fish marinade. I really love it, and probably ate too much of it, and I had eaten some salad too. I guess this serves as a lesson to us: we’re not invincible, and need to be careful to choose food that has been well cooked.

We’ve been following some travelers’ blogs, and they all got sick in the Andes too, in either Peru or Bolivia.  Apparently, according to the doctors, the bacteria are different in this region and travelers need to be extra careful.

By Saturday the antibiotics had started to kick in, and I was feeling a little better. Sara and the hostel manager cooked up a meal that the doctor had recommended: rice, potatoes and carrots, all cooked in boiling water, with a little bread thrown in. Then they mashed it all together and I drank only the broth. Sara also made a drink from the juice of the “membrillo,” a local fruit. I was still a little shaky, but starting to feel a lot better. But then, at around 9 pm, I had really bad stomach cramps. I was huddled up on the bed in pain. I dragged myself to the bathroom, and the happily a hot shower seemed to cure everything – I got out feeling as though nothing was the matter!

And after a good night’s sleep, I was as good as new. Yesterday was Sunday, and since we were both feeling better, we updated the blog and worked on our microfinance projects. Today, we both nearly fully recovered, and getting ready to ride!

Sébastien