I am going to consider, against all precedent, that this day began at 4.30 yesterday, since, to all practical purposes, it did. The bus journey took about 22 hours, + tho’, as I have said, it wasn’t all that bad, like any bus, it was crowded + noisy + smelly. And then there was the other problem… but I’ll come to that. The dark hours on the bus were periods of drugged numbness, sinking too slowly to sleep, only inevitably to be awoken for some stop, usually a 20 minute rest, but the craziest being customs + immigration, I don’t know, some 150 miles into Mexico. Along with nearly everyone else, we had to drag ourselves + our luggage off the bus + thro’ customs. Many were searched – we were waved straight thro’ + back on the bus. Later, that problem I mentioned – I discovered I had diahorrea. Great.
The daylit hours were not much more interesting, but we finally arrived at Los Mochis on time. Set about finding a hotel, the one mentioned in the guide being far too expensive, but fortunately Val had the energy to find us another for $200 (that’s pesos) – about $US8. We wandered, getting various bits of shopping, + buying our train ticket for Creel the next morning. We then returned to the hotel… + there we stayed. Val slept for a while, tho’ she was a bit ill too; I was just ill. She woke several times to see me sitting on the toilet – there was no door. Eventually I took some Diocalm, + half an hour later I was sick. Then, at last, I could sleep. I had been, as well as ill, profoundly depressed all day. I think mostly it was culture shock, suddenly thrust into a world over which I felt I had no control. Mostly, of course, this is a language problem – my Spanish is schoolboy, + rusty at that. I think also I am feeling homesick – tho’ that, too, must be associated with ordinary sickness. When ill, one wants the comforts of home.
So, stomach problems – destined to be a part of our lives for quite a while, and disturbing, seeing as we had eaten very little since arriving in Mexico. Possibly as much nerves as anything. Not yet getting much of the buzz of Mexican life.
Pamela J Blair
Probably the water! I hope you find something to stop it soon–it can make traveling so difficult! I had a bad case when traveling through Sudan in 1973, and found Enterovioform–a drug that was prohibited in Europe and the US, but sold in Ethiopia, thank goodness. It cured the problem. I found later that it caused blindness in people, Dutch volunteers, who were using it prophylacticly.