Just a grateful gringa

Sloth in the Centenario Park in Cartagena, Colombia (just a city park in the city centre!)

I spent last week in Cartagena, Colombia and it was quite the rollercoaster of a week. To sum up Cartagena:

1. Sloths

2. Monkeys

3. Pushy vendors

4. Bed bugs

5. Mosquitos

6. Hospital visits

7. Swollen arms

8. Bum injection

9. Hot and humid

I stayed at a hostel in Cartagena and had a few mysterious bug bites after my first sleep there. The bites turned into huge welts which was a bit unusual for me. At first, I thought it must’ve been mosquitos because I had gotten bites on my arms, shoulders and neck, and I had walked around the old walled city in a tank top the night before and it did rain a bit after the sun set - the typical mosquito feeding time. Soon enough, the bites on my arms became very swollen, painful and hot. My forearms were larger than my biceps. After too much time on Google and thinking of all the ways these swollen arms would lead to my demise, I decided to go to the hospital. I had found a decent hospital with 4 star reviews on Google and took an Uber over. As soon as I arrived, I was welcomed by a long line of people who were very clearly in need of urgent care. But I thought that my arms might be cellulitis or lymphangitis, and that I must be at risk of dying. After a bit of a wait, I was seen by the triage nurse to get assessed and admitted. She immediately called on a doctor and the doctor just saw me on the spot and assessed the situation. Asked me a bunch of questions in Spanish which I successfully answered. Finally, she diagnosed me with a severe allergic reaction, wrote me a prescription and I was on my way.

Now looking back, I can’t think of this without laughing. This gringa went to the emergency room for an allergic reaction to her bug bites while the line was filled with people who were very ill.

One of the medications that the doctor prescribed me had to be injected in my glute muscle. The pharmacy next to the hospital handed me the needle, the medication and a week’s worth of allergy medication (which I should mention cost less than C$2!), and I was told to self-administer this needle. As I headed back to my place, I decided to ask the pharmacist near my hostel whether they could help me with it. The three male pharmacies all debated this and finally one decided that he could do it but said that we’d have to go back to my place to do it. Right away, I thought “this is exactly what my mom would advise me against - bringing a strange man to my home and show them my butt”. Anyhow, I declined the offer and said I would try it myself or ask one of the hostel staff.

Back at the hostel, I asked the lovely cleaning lady, Julia, whether she’d help me with it. She said “estoy muerto de miedo” which basically means that she’s scared to death.  So she convinced me to do it myself and told me that she’d coach me. We watched a YouTube video together and I made my first attempt. I put the needle right up to my bum cheek and I just couldn’t. So I ran downstairs and asked this young woman who was waiting to check out whether she would help. She very enthusiastically agreed even though she’d never done it before. So here we were huddled around the bed, with my butt out, replaying the YouTube video a few times while Sofia held the needle - all the while communicating in very broken Spanish. At first, my quasi nurse was very nervous of hurting me and I convinced her that it wouldn’t hurt and that I’d be fine. Somehow it was easier to convince her than it was to convince myself - funny how that works.

Anyways, after a few more minutes of deliberation, the bum shot was administered. And within a few hours, my arms were feeling so much better. On my final night, unfortunately, I finally confirmed that it was indeed bed bugs. The hostel owner was kind enough to reimburse me. While I was heading to the airport to go to Panama, I ended up splitting the cab both to the Cartagena airport and from the Panama airport with this fellow from Basque. He had been travelling for 8 years and he comforted me in telling me that he had encountered bed bugs in every single country that he went to and that eventually you just get used to it. It’s just one of the costs of being a world traveller, I guess. Despite the unfortunate events, I really enjoyed Cartagena. I am also just forever grateful for the kindness of folks that I’ve been meeting especially those who are willing to stick a needle in my butt cheek and/or coach me through it.

Sunset along the walled city in Cartagena

I’ve been liking Panama. My B&B here is awesome and they were able to wash and dry all my clothes in the case that any of those little buggers tagged along with me. I had a chance to visit the Panama Canal, Casca Viejo (their new old city) and one of the islands here to go diving.

All in all, I am forever grateful for all of the wonderful people I’ve been meeting and how fortunate I am to have this trip and this time away. And for all these puppies: