TravellingStrom

Thursday – Antigua, Guatemala

Things are looking up and I am over the hump in the week!

Another day and another picture of old smoky, this is not a continuous stream of smoke, it just burps a lot of the time 🙂

So after breakfast back to the internet cafe, well, my version of it and as you can see my computer does not have a mouse, it has a dog, or two in fact, one spare 🙂

That is where I can pick up free WiFi, although it is pretty slow and prone to errors, but better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick! I could probably find a stronger signal if I hunted around and got closer to the source, but I am in the shade where I am sitting 🙂 Now, a funny thing about Antigua that I learnt yesterday arvo was that it is famous for an arch with a clock in it, but I had never seen it 😕 It turns out that every time I have gone to the main square I have taken a different street, so today, when I went to town, I went a block over before turning right and there it was 😉 Now, I have never heard of this arch, but it looked nice and a lot of tourists come here for this photo.

It is not quite the one I wanted, because it was quite cloudy and there is a dormant volcano behind it which is part of the image, so maybe I will have to come back tomorrow in the morning a bit earlier, before the clouds form.

Now, the reason I had come down here was to find an internet cafe and find out about malaria pills, specifically a once a week pill, not a once a day type. There are heaps of internet cafes, although the ones I had previously asked at you cannot get wireless or you cannot plug your laptop in, but I have not tried them all, just a few, so this info is not fully accurate.

Anyway, after about 10 minutes on a cafe computer, I had the answer I wanted. Basically, there are two types of malaria and in the 3 pharmacies I tried yesterday, there are two types of prophylactic available, but I had no idea what the ingredients did and what they covered. I had also been given the brand names of the drugs both Chris and Vincent were using, so I could compare the ingredients in them and see what I could learn.

Of the drugs available locally, one was expensive, the other was cheap. As it turns out, the expensive one had the active component Pirimethmina and sold under the name BIMALAR, but one strain of malaria has become immune to this drug. On the other hand, the cheaper drug, with an active component of Chloroquine and sold here under the name ARALEN is the one that is effective against both malaria strains, so that was a success for the day 🙂 I bought enough for 4 months (take 2 once a week) and it cost me the measly sum of Q42 or about $5, cheap as chips! When I told Chris later he was shocked, because he had paid about $80 in the states for his 😆 I headed back for lunch prior to the days school past the square with horse drawn carriages and the local indoor artisans market.

School was better today, still hard, but my brain was a bit clearer in some ways. I have not done a lot of study as I have been trying to concentrate on things I need for when I leave and I still have no idea in which direction I am going. 😕 I had received an email from Vincent, we arranged to meet for a beer and a chat at the sports bar in town called MonoLoco that evening. I planned on going straight after school as Chris had mentioned they had internet there, so I could do some study there maybe with my own laptop, with all my links and info 🙂 I went there after another long 6 hour Spanish session which hurt my head and found right away the internet is not available! I could get on the net at the cafe next door, but no WiFi, no plug laptop in I must use their computer, so I resorted to beer 🙂

They had happy hour until 8pm, 2 for the price of one, so I was on that right away 🙂 The 2nd game of the baseball was also on and I met a few people during the evening, mostly Americans, which this place seemed to be the hang out for. This is Caitlin on the right, no idea who the bloke is as I never met him

Next is Greg on the left and Chris, totally absorbed in the baseball 🙂

Next is yours truly and Rachael from North Carolina, apparently I went through her town when I went to Deals Gap earlier in the year.

And finally Vincent and Jamila who is about 5 months away from graduating as a doctor and is here as a volunteer in a local clinic 🙂

After a number of beers and some chicken wings for dinner there was a choice of joining the rest of them for a party at La Sala club or calling it a night. Well, sorry to say, as I was carrying around my school bag with a laptop in it, I did not feel like losing that somewhere in a crowded bar, so I called it quits around 10.30 or so. It was a fun evening, but still, I had school tomorrow so no point wrecking all the hard work with a hangover!

Day – 0 miles and 0 km
Trip – 41,938 miles and 67,493 km

Salud
TravellingStrom

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