17: The time I got food poisoning and athlete’s foot within 72 hours. Thanks Peru.
People told me that I should bring a pair of sweatpants in the chance that I get sick I’d want something comfortable to curl up in (and feel like dying) and wear. Well, in 3.5 months I didn’t need a pair until yesterday.
Nothing is quite like the great equalizer than vomiting into a trash can while also sitting on the toilet. Who doesn’t love a bought of food poisoning?! 10 hours of vomit and diarrhea and no sweat pants in sight.
Food poisoning was just one of the highlights of the shittiest (pun intended) 72 hours so far.
The view of Cusco, Peru from the Sacsayhuamán ruins. Pronounced saxy woman NOT sexy woman.
This fun little journey all started when I was rudely awoken somewhere in the early hours of Saturday morning. See, there’s unspoken (and spoken) rules of dorm room sleeping. These rules are essential to establish balance and harmony in your room. Basically, you don’t fuck with these rules and when you do, it makes for very, very unhappy amigos, namely me.
I bought some junk from a store and they INSISTED I take this tourist picture. Ok.
Megan’s Rules (and therefore everyone’s rules) to follow between the hours of 10pm - 8am:
Do not turn the lights on in the room if it’s dark out. If it’s absolutely necessary to turn on the lights you have a 5 minute grace period to do it. No more.
Absolutely no talking. Do not talk in normal voices and if you must talk, the only acceptable tone is a whisper.
Pack your shit the night before. Seriously, this is so obvious. The last thing anyone wants to hear at 6am is you rustling through your bags and zip… unzip…zip…unzip…zip…unzip.
Don’t dilly dally. Don’t make other people suffer, get up and get out quickly.
If you use your alarm keep the volume on low and turn it off quickly.
As you can probably guess, my 5 tourist friends broke every rule. This group of 5 friends traveling together challenged absolutely all of my patience.
They took a luxurious 45 minutes getting ready at 6am, talked in full voices, re-packed their bags, left the lights, organized their stuff which apparently everyone packed in plastic bags because that went on for what seemed like 20 minutes. Needless to say it drove me crazy. It was around 6:30 when I finally said something to them but honestly they didn’t really care.
That was the kickoff of my Saturday and it didn’t get any better from there. I was in a heated mood that day. I was nearing the end of my Latin American adventures and I was majorly over it. I didn’t want to be there. I didn’t want to hang out in Cusco anymore. I didn’t want to sleep in dorm rooms or talk to more 20-something backpackers.
And as the day spiraled thinking it couldn’t get any worse, I was noticing some flaky skin on the bottom of my feet. So now, of course, it did get worse. NOW I ALSO HAD ATHLETES FOOT!! I am sort of prepared for bed bugs but something as gross as athletes foot, ewww. I never ever walk around barefoot and I don’t even want to think about where or how I got it but thanks a lot backpackers. You’re disgusting and now I’m disgusting too!
My mood was very, very sour for the rest of the day and I knew the only way to break this bad luck streak was to leave Cusco on a tour the next day. I knew I would feel better if I could get a break from the city. Also mind you I had not planned on being in Cusco for as long as I had been. My plan was to acclimate to the altitude for a few days, see Machu Picchu, and head to Bolivia. The Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia are so supposed to be insanely cool and I wanted to see them as my last hoorah in South America.
Of course, in true American form we’ve done something to Bolivia and in retribution they make all Americans pay a $160 visa. Well folks, I’m on a budget and I haven’t heard that there is much to do or see in Bolivia other than the flats and my plan was to only be there for 3-4 days so paying $160 seemed outrageous. So, I was stuck in Cusco and fortunately Cusco and the surrounding area are amazing so it wasn’t the worst place to be to be stranded (like Panama City).
Cusco is the best of all cities. Great food. Awesome shopping. Tons of sites to see. It was incredible. But at some point it also gets a little boring.
I’d say 99% of tourists there are intending on doing some form of hike/trek/walk to somewhere. Not me. My typical MO is to show up at a place woefully and blissfully unprepared and see what there is to do or who has recommendations on where to go. Cusco was no exception. I didn’t entirely grasp that it was the hiking capital it is. And considering I’m heading to Nepal next for a 14 day trek you would think I’d try to at least do some training runs. Well I actually did try! I went to about a dozen stores in Cusco looking for a pair of hiking or trail shoes. I went to Patagonia, North Face, etc. and each time they laughed at me when I asked if they had any women’s shoes in a size 10. Clearly my gigantic American feet are ridiculous because no one carries those sizes in Peru. I did however find 1 lone pair. One pair in all of Cusco that feet me and I waffled for a day before I decided to call REI and ask for their advice. I didn’t end up buying those shoes and waiting instead to head home to California to find a better pair.
I walked up these steps and was severely out of breath. Hello elevation!
So any real hiking was out of the question. And then once I started walking up hills and stairs in Cusco and the altitude kicked my ass it wasn’t a real inviting invitation to put myself through more of that by paying for another trek. I’ve been walking miles every day for the last 4 months and I’ve been in Cusco for 9 days at 11,230 feet elevation. Hopefully that will be enough to prep me for Nepal, said the woefully unprepared backpacker.
Back to the story. I left town for a day trip that was the palette cleanser I needed. I went to local sites just outside of the city, Moray and the Salt Mines of Moras and they were incredible. I didn’t feel spectacular on the van ride out but I was in much higher spirits than the previous day (even though I still had athletes foot and was now actively treating it).
Salt Mines of Maras. There’s over 3,000 pools here. The pools were created in 800 AD and is now owned by the local town. Each local owns between 5 and 80 pools, producing around 100-200 kilos of salt per month. However each pool will only bring in an additional $12 USD in profits per month.
The terraces of Moray were incredible. It’s believed these were considered Incan greenhouses used for testing different growing techniques and cross pollinating processes.
These terraces have not been restored but are on the site.
I came back to the hostel that night to receive a text from my new 24 hour friend Kevin (another American). We were going to grab dinner, I invited my other new British friend Alex who I had just met in the dorm. We found this great Peruvian Chinese food place and had an awesome and delicious dinner. It was a great second to last night in Peru and felt like a nice way to end my time in South America.
And then Monday morning hit. It was around 10am when the fun began, it started with a small stomach ache that grew to full blow food poisoning. I incapacitated and I was flying out the next day at noon. It was an awful 10-12 hours but luckily it passed in time for me to make my flight the next day.
It’s a little surprising given that I’ve eaten absolutely anything and everything for almost 4 months that I get food poisoning on the 2nd to last day but perhaps that just means I won’t get sick in India…ha! Good luck, right?!
- M
