Sunday, 11 January 2009
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My Brush with E. Coli in Brazil
by MollyLet me just paint this romantic picture in your mind before I break into the nitty gritty. So, my boyfriend and I were backpacking around South America for the summer, and we ended up one weekend on this little island off the coast of Brazil. We took a ferry boat out to a place called Illha Grande, which is this fairytale-esque island just about an hour off the coast. It was gorgeous, complete with Christmas lights lining the streets, untouched beaches, amazing patios right on the water and candlelit dinners. Our very own island getaway together.
The first couple of nights, we stayed in a 6-bed room in a hostel....not the most romantic setting, but we were willing to stick it out to wait for the single room to open up. The hostel had this enormous BBQ that night, with fresh fish, meats, and interesting side dishes. Then the next day, after two nights of snoring roommates and sleeping in bunk beds, we were finally able to move up to a single. It was such a cute room....with our own bathroom and a window looking out over the water. So, we moved our things up there and set out for a walk on the town. As we were walking, my stomach started to tighten up and I started to feel pretty uncomfortable. I decided to go back to the hostel for a minute, since we had just left, and told my boyfriend I would meet him back there a little later. The hostel could not have felt further away.
When I finally made it back up to my room and sprinted to the bathroom, I knew that this was not going to be a comfortable night at all. Once he got back from town, he quickly realized that our seemingly romantic evening had gone south quickly. He sat by my side as I ran into the bathroom every 5 minutes.....but how embarrassing! It's one thing to be comfortable around your significant other, but its quite another to have an E. Coli outbreak when you are staying in the same tiny room!
So....lesson learned...before going on a trip, don't forget to take antibiotics with you! They are a real lifesaver in these situations. Once I started taking them, the symptoms basically disappeared, but I can't imagine having to travel anywhere under those conditions!
Have you ever had food poisoning/E.Coli on a trip? What was your experience?
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About the Author
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- From: Molly
- About Me: Age: 23 Hometown: Colorado Favorite Places Traveled To: Peru, New Zealand, Greece, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Portugal and California!! Ideal Vacation: Around the world!! I'd love to take a trip from one end of the globe to the other and then back. That would be ideal. If not that, I want to go to Ghana, South Africa, Thailand, Japan, oh no.....this is turning into quite the trip!
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Comments (2)
They say you should always drink only bottled mineral water when visiting foreign lands because they have microbes and bacterias that your body is not used to. It's a good way to prevent something like that :)
Oooh you poor thing! I once got food poisoning in Korea when I ate BBQ pork. =\ It was awful and I was staying at my aunt's house that night, who I had just met for the first time. I spent the entire night in the bathroom.