Billy and Akaisha in Antigua,
Guatemala
We spent 100 plus days
traveling through
Tapachula,
the capital of Mexico,
Mexico
City and finally our old home town of
Chapala,
Mexico. While there we spent numerous days catching up with old
friends, mostly the local Mexicans, hanging out at an
International Jazz concert and watching the mesmerizing sunsets on Lake Chapala.
It was beautiful, peace-filled and
very relaxing.
The days blew by and we kept
busy enjoying the
many
new restaurants that have opened since our last
time there, visited the
Gavilan, and we each purchased new reading and sun
glasses, and had
dental work
done. We wrote our newest book,
The Adventurer's Guide to Pana Living, and we updated our
Adventurer's
Guide to Chapala Living, 2nd Edition. We gave
print interviews,
radio interviews and
gave the summary of our Early Retirement to TopMoneyHacks.
We also met up with about a
dozen people who follow our website and have bought our books. What FUN to
meet these people!!
We were definitely zippity-doo-dah-ing and having a blast.
A few days before our planned
departure back
to
Guatemala, Billy
got sick,
coughing through
the night with a
fever and being
generally
miserable. It
was unseasonably
hot in Chapala,
and all we had
were a few fans,
so sleeping was
fitful. He
went to a doctor
who gave him
meds and
although he was
not feeling the
greatest we flew
to Guatemala
City, planning
on staying in
Antigua for a
couple of days
figuring he
could recoup.
Then it hit Akaisha.
BAM!
She was down with the same
symptoms, sleeping 20 hours a day and having body wracking coughing spasms. On top of this, neither of us was able
to eat much, and everything was delirium.
It’s one thing when one of us
is sick, and the other can pick up the slack, but this time we both were
going through the mill. In all of our years of travel this was a first. All
we wanted to do was sleep and cough.
Even though we had no appetite,
we had to put something in our stomachs besides antibiotics, Gatorade and cough drops.
Akaisha was in no shape to go
to a restaurant so Billy had to head out and bring food back to our hotel.
Nothing looked good, nothing tasted good, and we were struggling.
After three nights in Antigua
with absolutely no progress,
we made the decision to go to
Panajachel.
Gorgeous Lake Atitlan
Oh joy! Now we needed to get to
Pana, a 3 hour mountainous van ride. We called our driver in Panajachel and
arranged for Moses to pick us up. This was our best option, considering our
condition.
Akaisha slept - or at least
tried to - laying down in the back of the van while Billy held on through
the turns. The curvaceous ride didn’t help with our conditions but we made
it.
Back in our little town, we both collapsed
just happy to be “home” but concerned about our health.
What WAS this weird thing we
had?
The good news was that Billy
started recovering but Akaisha was not getting any better at all. Concerned
she might have something more than just bronchitis, she went to one of the local doctors. Fortunately,
the diagnosis was not walking pneumonia, and the fever finally became
manageable.
Neither of us had much energy
due to lack of
food and the
violent coughing
spasms we were
having, but Billy
continued to
shop and bring
food home for
the both of us.
What a champ!!
It's two weeks later, and finally
there is light in Akaisha’s eyes once again, and she's starting to feel normal.
Curiously, this bug has been
going around, as other friends of ours in Chapala came down with the same
nasty thing. And we spoke with someone in Antigua who had it also, saying it
lasted 3 weeks for him. Speaking with family in California, we were told
that all of Mexico and Central America had been hit with a super bug, so
maybe this is what we contracted.
Let’s hope it stays away from
you!
We may be down short term in
Pana....but we are not out!
