Enter the plague

Unwanted bedfellows 

While on the trail, I have often thought about pilgrims of old and lamented how tough life must have been for them on the trail. They didn't have hiking boots, or a nice pack, or 600mg of ibuprofen to help ease their journey from across Europe to Santiago. Their trek was rough.

My own pilgrimage just got medieval and I am currently battling the pestilence known as bedbugs. It is not fun. I know now that "sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite" was a sincere blessing you gave to someone you cared about. You wish bedbugs on your enemies. Essentially bedbugs are these tiny little blood sucking insects that live in mattresses and make a meal out of you while you sleep. They have a knack for hiding, and like me, they love to travel. Once you encounter bedbugs, the only way to get rid of them is to wash every piece of material you have or simply burn all of your belongings.

It all started out so innocently, a nice hostel, an empty bunk, time for me to retire for the evening. I cozied up in my sleeping bag and quickly fell asleep. I woke up about 2am itching. The window had been opened so I thought I was attacked by a mosquito. By nature, I am very sensitive to insect stings and bites and will often swell up from a mosquito bite. I just hunkered down in my sleeping bag and went back to bed. The next morning, I looked like I had fallen asleep in a den of mosquitos. I had bites ALL over my body (fingers, toes, arms, legs, neck - and even two on my face). I was covered in bites and an absolute itchy mess. It reminded me of my Moroccan adventure when I had to go to the doctor for a steroid shot. I was suspicious and tried to scan my sleeping bag and mattress for any bugs. I saw nothing, so I took some Benadryl (a great way to kick off 16 miles) and began my hike. 

The next few hours were fine, the Benadryl worked its magic and I thought the bites were going down. About an hour before reaching my destination,  I began to itch. Badly. I knew that a trip to the pharmacy was an absolute must before I checked into my albergue. When I went to the pharmacist, I asked for some Benadryl (I was out), showed him my bites, and said "mosquito." The man looked at my bites and essentially said "that's not mosquito, that's bed bugs!" He inspected all of my bites, shook his head as if to say: "girl, you just got the plague." He gave me an antihistamine that can only be taken once a day and told me to wash all of my belongings. He sent me on my way, the leperous pilgrim.

When I got to the albergue, the woman checking me in took one look at me and asked if I had more bites. I had a ton of them, but I didn't want her to know that for fear that she would turn me out on the street. Essentially, the bites themselves are harmless, just itchy, and the biggest thing you have to do is wash all of your belongings in order to get rid of any potential bugs. Once I knew they had a washer and dryer, I was confident I would be able to take care of my things. I showered and then passed over ALL of my clothing and my sleeping bag to be washed. Keep in mind that I just paid to have my laundry done yesterday, so this was especially frustrating. the woman knew the town and the name of the albergue I had stayed in where I caught the bed bugs. I wanted to kill the owner.

In the mean time, I am an itchy mess. The Spanish antihistamine isn't doing anything to quell the itch. I went back to the pharmacy and asked for some sort of cream. I actually burst into tears discussing it with the pharmacist because I am so miserable. He told me I'd be fine in a day or two and gave me some cream. I am hoping he is right or I might set myself on fire!

Please send soothing, anti-itch, bug free thoughts for your pal Susan. I really need them!