Today was an early morning at like 6:30 AM to get ready for the
ferry to el Castillo (down the Río San Juan) that left at 8. We (Matt from
Juigalpa came to visit us for the weekend) (so Matt, Dan and I) had a decent
breakfast and chugged off towards the port to catch the ferry. The ticket cost
90 Cordobas (almost $4) and the ride was supposed to take 3 hours (O.o) (there
is a faster 1 hour direct ferry, but this costs like 150 Cord and leaves at 6
AM). Anyways we waited for the ferry and then eventually boarded the 3 seat
wide ferry boat (a narrow elongated fiberglass boat with tiny seat, curtains
and rain shields and a roof with two 115 hp engines in the back controlled by a
small driver tower above the roofline. The first funny part about the trip was
that the woman selling fried chicken and other street food got stuck on the
boat as it left the port, so the boat had to pull up alongside the pier again
and drop her off. Anyways the boat ride too so long because we would be flying
along the Río San Juan and then all of a sudden the boat would stop to pick up
some people from a random bank or whatnot (seemingly places where no humans
would even exist). After about 2 hours of cruise, stop, cruise we eventually
reached Sebalo (the town where Dan and I were thinking of going for a few days
to help them with fixing technology). This actually seemed to be a town as
opposed to the jungle front residences I had seen on the way down the river. We
had what seemed like a 20 to 30 minute wait as this huge group of teenagers
(probably a school trip or something) crowded onto this ferry and this tiny
boat was suddenly filled and then surpassed its capacity. Anyways the wildlife
was in full force along the river with birds sunning themselves and turtles
just chilling on rocks. At the dock back in San Carlos we could even see fish
snapping at bugs along the water’s surface. The nature was vibrant and like an
explosion of green along the banks of the river. The river itself was far from
the clean water I had expected; brown with mud and dirt and pretty still (and I
imagine quite deep as well). There were a few areas where the river shallowed
out a bit and there were even some places with standing waves (small amounts of
white water) over the tops of rocks lying beneath the surface; waiting to
inflict havoc upon a novice boater. Anyways after the school group piled on the
boat, it seemed like an eternity until we finally reached the dock at the
Castillo (the Castillo is both a municipality and the area where the old
Spanish fort is located). It was around 11:15 when the ferry finally docked in
the Castillo and we gladly disembarked. The ferry left again at 2 PM, so we
didn’t really have much time to explore the area, but we decided on lunch as
the most immediate priority. We walked down the small city street to find a
restaurant/hostel/tour guiding business that was open for lunch. There was even
a place where one could pay 5 Cordobas to use the bathroom (at a different
restaurant). Anyways I ordered pollo a la plancha (grilled chicken), Matt had
some fish dish and Dan ordered grilled steak. While we sat on the upper deck of
this restaurant waiting for our food, Dan mentioned that he wasn’t feeling all
that well so he took a mini-nap on his water bottle. This restaurant was
literally right on the river (the restaurant was built as close to the water as
possible (without having the actual restaurant hanging over the river)). The
upstairs was covered in a nice roof and we could have a view of the bend in the
river where the current picked up a bit and created some maybe class 2 rapids
(made me want to white water kayak them). Quite picturesque. Anyways lunch was
actually decent. The chicken was good as was the rice and the tostones were so
delish (how can deep fried plantains not be good right?). Dan stated he wasn’t
really feeling hungry so he had a few bites of rice and a bite or two of steak
before putting the rest up for grabs. Matt and I made sure the tostones (the
fried smashed plantains did not go to waste and I tried a piece of the steak,
which was actually pretty awful). After lunch Dan was not feeling very well
(headache and some aches) so we paid the lunch bill (which was like $7 for the
lunch (-.- so much money for everything it seems down in San Carlos)). After a
little deliberation with his mom Dan asked me to get him some acetomenaphin (in
the form of the Bayer gel capsule thing which I hoped would help as products
with acetomenaphin have greatly helped me in the past when I felt like that
(thank you bottle of Tylenol cold & flu warming for getting me through C
and part of D term at WPI)) and I get them at the pharmacy located conveniently
right across the street from the restaurant.
Dan also wanted to check his temperature, but unfortunately the store
did not stock thermometers.
There was still about an hour and 15 minutes before the ferry, so
we decided to go check out the Castillo (fort) which was the sole reason we sat
through the ferry ride. The Castillo was atop the hill in the center of the
port (overlooking not only the town on 3 sides, but also the river and
surrounding countryside). This hill seemed pretty formidable at first, but
wasn’t really that bad. The Castillo sat slightly more above our current
position, but first we had to deal with the entrance fee. I wasn’t opposed to
paying an entrance fee, as this is pretty standard for parks and museums down
here, but the fee that really was strange was this supposed “camera fee.” This
fee was an additional 25 Cordobas cost (per camera (da heck kind of dodgy fee
is that? How would you even tell if I were taking photos? You don’t even plan
on watching me!)) that we intended to use in photographing the fort (in
addition to the 45 Cordobas for entering the fort). We decided to pay the 25
extra and only use Dan’s camera (probably the best we had) and since he wasn’t
feeling great he delegated the photo taking to me. Dan was really not doing
well at this point so he made a quick walk around the fort and then took a nap
in one of the colder and darker rooms of the fort. Meanwhile Matt and I walked
around the fort and I snapped close to 87 photos in the 30 to 40 minutes we
were there. The fort was actually in remarkably good condition with most of the
original brick, rocks and mortar still in place (and the walkways in good condition.
Basically all of the original wood that separated the room where Dan napped was
gone, but the fort was reinforced with steel walkways and staircases where the
fort was missing in those areas. The fort was about 3 levels, with a general
path around the top of it (probably raised about 25 feet above the ground
level) and then there was a top-most level with a giant Nicaraguan flag and a
look out area and there was a basement/courtyard area with two cell areas (one
of which was open). Anyways the courtyard was pretty cool, although I think it
was supposed to be covered, although the covering has probably long since
washed away with time and acidic rain. The main look out was impressive and the
360 degrees of view encompassed the town and the river for many miles (as the
view is the highest point around and can see down the river from there). The
river stretched out like a long brown flattened snake along the jungle along
the banks in both directions. The fort did not take too long to explore as
despite it being a fort, it was just a small one for observation and several
cannon mounting positions. There were actually two cannons at the fort (small
ones about 2.5’ x 1.5’ x 2’) and unlike the one at the fort on one of the
isletas in Lake Nicaragua, we could actually lift the cannon and tilt it with
one person. As I mentioned before one of the cells was open and I could not
miss the opportunity to “lock” myself inside for a photo or two (selfie from
the big house!). Anyways Matt also got a photo inside the cell and then we
walked around the small rocky/cement path around the base of the fort (used for
patrolling I imagine). This basically wrapped up everything we could see at the
fort and we walked back to the lookout to just chill for 10 minutes or so
before waking Dan up and heading back to the ferry. The steps leading to the
lookout were incredibly steep by the way (probably like at least 1 foot or so
rise (more than that easy (don’t think those peg legs would’ve done so well
climbing that (so HA pirates!)))). Dan was doing a tick better, but still was
not great as we got back to the ferry and I grabbed two Gatorades and we piled
back into the boat for the 3 hour trip back to San Carlos (leaving at 2:06 PM).
The hour ride to Sebalo was not too bad, but it seemed to take a long time. If
that too a long time, the next 2 and a half hours back to San Carlos seemed to
take an eternity. The ride started off fine. Dan kept feeling chills and hot
flashes on the way back and was not doing well at all, so we all hoped the ride
would speed up and we could arrive back sooner (but alas this was not the
case). At one point Dan even vomited a bit over the side of the boat, but that
may have been due to the boat’s vibrations but more likely to what we
discovered later. Anyways about 3/4ths of the way back, the boat ran over a
shallow area and crashed the propellers on something (as I awoke to the sound).
We continued on for a little bit, but the motors started putting out less force
and eventually seized or something like that as we had to pull over to the side
of the river. The owners then spent like 30 minutes working on the motors and
fixing something on both of them (not sure quite what, but it took a while).
Eventually we were able to get moving again, but Dan was not feeling well at
all and couldn’t drink much of the Gatorade or the water. It seemed like
forever again until we reached San Carlos, but we finally pulled into port
(with gigantic storm clouds converging over the town to boot). Dan wanted to
take a taxi back as he was not in any way feeling good, but managed to walk
back to the hostel with us. He then basically went upstairs and conked out. He
asked that I go find a thermometer and thus my search around San Carlos began.
By this point it was like 6:30 PM and it was getting quite dark and late.
Anyways unabashed I set out to find a thermometer as Sol and the hostel didn’t
have one. So I trekked around to all the different pharmacies and asked (even
taking a taxi at one point to a pharmacy to call their number on the building
to have them open the door for me, but they only had rectal thermometers (so no
good)). I kept searching and asking people and then eventually I found this
pharmacy near the market that actually sold thermometers (for 20 Cordobas) and
I gladly bought one and a water for Dan and headed back to the hostel. By this
point it was like 7 something and Dan had changed rooms to Matt’s room and the
AC was cranking. The friggin thermometer I bought did not work. Dan tried it
twice, but the futzing stupid piece of junk would not show any temperature (no
mercury would rise into the temperature gratings to allow me to read it). After
futzing around with that and having it not work, I set off for the hospital to
grab the one out of the baby incubator sitting in the garbage (this thermometer
is isolated in the plastic baby area and could easily be sterilized (as it is
protected from the elements save for dust)), but when I arrived at the hospital
Popo was already there (it was like 8 something by this point). Popo was there
because the generator kept kicking on because the voltage in the power lines
was low, so the generator would start when it was not needed. Anyways I grabbed
the thermometer in the shop (which I had taken out of another incubator and
doused that jawn in alco-gel and made preparations to head back to the hostel).
In the interim time, I told Popo that Dan was sick and then Flaco (another
maintenance guy or something here) walked in and said they could bring Dan to
the hospital in an ambulance (Toyota Landcruiser). So I decided that was the
better option, so after waiting around a bit and talking to some people, the
ambulance driver and I jumped in the truck and headed back to the hostel (Matt
was at the hostel for all of this as he had to let me in and didn’t know San
Carlos at all). We got back to the hostel and put Dan in the ambulance’s front
seat and Matt and I grabbed some things for Dan (blanket, water, phone charger,
wallet) and then walked to the hospital. By this point it was close to like 9
something. Dan was waiting in the main lobby and was not feeling very well. We
had called ISOS (the international number for emergency help) and also had
talked to Dan’s mother and Alex. Around this time Dan had a blood test and then
was waiting around again. In the interim time Matt and I were talking to ISOS
when my the call used up literally all of the credit on my phone and dropped
out (thanks a futzing ton Claro). Anyways it was close to 10 and the doctor
gave me three papers to take to the pharmacy and get some medicine to give to
Dan (these were injections), and it seemed to take forever to get the meds from
the pharmacy located on the premises of the hospital because the people in
front had so much medicine to get (how futzing critical could it be for them to
get this at like 9 on a Saturday?). Anyways after I returned with that medicine
the doctor gave Dan and IV and put him in the emergency room and injected the
medicines (ironically Dan is using of the IV stands that we ground the rust off
and then painted). Matt and I then waited for a long time before the results
came back from the blood test. Bad news. Dan has Dengue. Good news. The Dengue
he has is not the most severe form and is not the hemorrhagic type either. Anyways
so this means that he has to stay in the hospital for 4 or 5 days and just
basically wait it out. FUTZ! Gosh dang mosquitoes! I’m wishing death on every
single one of those futzers right now. Anyways I wanted to get a blood test as
well, but the doctor said unless I was feeling the headache and the vomiting
and the fever then it wasn’t worth doing (-.- all I wanted to was just to
check, but whatever that’s fine, they do have more important work to do). Anyways it was pretty late, upwards of like 10
at this point and Dan was trying to sleep a bit and said Matt and I could leave
to get some food (as the last food we had was at lunch at around 12:40 PM).
Matt and I walked back to the hostel and asked the other dude Roger there if
there was any food (as Sol was passed out), but there wasn’t really anything,
so we asked about comedores in the city and the same one that I ate at before
going to the Champra last weekend was still open so we headed there. We had some
roasted/fried chicken, plantains, gallo pinto and remnants of a salad for only
70 Cord. After that Matt and I talked about what to do next (we thought of
spending the night at the hospital in case Dan needed anything, but also
contemplated shifts and then decided that I should make a run back to the
hospital with Canada Dry (as Dan had requested), a pillow and an extra blanket
while Matt waited at home to let me back in if I needed). On the way back to
the hostel we stopped at the Koama where I asked about Canada Dry (as far as
I’ve seen, only the bars and Euro Café seem to stock Canada Dry so this was a
chance) and luckily they had it. It took us waiting a bit and the guy walking
upstairs to get it, but I bought it and we headed back. I grabbed the pillow
(and another for me in case I spent the night at the hospital) and the blanket,
the Canada Dry and headed back to the hospital. By this point it was like 11
something. And I talked to Dan and he said he wasn’t feeling well (and I didn’t
doubt him as he looked sick), but I gave him the pillow and the extra blanket
and then set the Canada Dry on the chair and asked if he wanted us to stay the
night. He said that wasn’t necessary, so I (as I had trekked solo) walked back
to the hostel to grab some sleep after hearing from the doctors that another
test was going to be performed at like 6 AM. I conked out at like 12 ish.
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