New @ Repelling

I'm flabbergasted at what it takes to get ready for South America.  

  
We've been a few places, but nothing has required prep like this:

Evidently there is much to repel on this continent.

We've had our Tetanus and Diphtheria shots; and our Hep A & Hep B combo shots; (but we are still looking forward to the final "booster" this week for those ~ lucky us, we're taking the "accelerated" version). Whichever arm is offered up as sacrifice for this treatment is hugely sore for the next few days.  Like somebody punched you full force.   (Mr. C is offended that his golf swing was affected).  Then on day 2 or 3 the stomach starts to react. Yucky.   

Just about the time that all starts to settle down, we visit the County Health Department for Yellow Fever shots.  After a private consultation with a travel-savvy expert nurse (a personalized hour-long session, complete with maps of the disease "hot zones" in each country ~ impressive!) we walked out with everything under the sun but Yellow Fever shots.  Turns out they are sort of dangerous after age 60 (organ failure, that kind of thing);  in the same percentage range as you are likely to catch it you are likely to react to it.

Hmmmm.......  That's certainly food for thought.   Our jungle stay is actually our last 2 days of the trip, so we are thinking we would be back to our home hospital by the time symptoms might present; the nurse agreed.  (By the way, just to be clear, I've got a couple of years yet to think about the Yellow Fever deal before the age of 60.......)  

The fun thing is that, instead, we walked out with things like live culture Typhoid Fever pills, which we take first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.  Nothin' quite like a little Typhoid for breakfast.  Especially before coffee.

And Malaria pills.  And Altitude Sickness information and education and pills.  And Traveler's Diarrhea information and more pills (yes, this is actually what they call it.).   And sea sick pills (for the Galapagos Island cruise).

Along with sunscreen and Deet mosquito repellent for skin and Permethrin repellent for clothes ~ How do I get this all into my one suitcase?  

Oh, and my poor tummy.   It's not really so happy about all these live cultures hookin' up and throwin' an uninvited party down there.

We are sort of wishing we'd started some of this a little earlier, but then......then I realized it would just mean that we are this miserable for a little longer......

Luckily, and on the brighter side, I have home-made chicken stock in the fridge.   Maybe that's what's for dinner this week.....

And thank goodness for our Canadian buddies who are in Peru right this very minute, sending back glowing reports of what they're seeing and doing and experiencing.......so we are assured that once we get there, all this painful preparation will be worth it.

Right now I'm not looking forward to roasted Guinea pig.