Within days of my arrival in Nicaragua, I was struck down with Dengue Fever.
Post from 2022:
I spent my first three nights in Nicaragua in Jiquilillo. I had travelled with another English traveller, on the boat from La Unión in El Salvador to Potosí in Nicaragua, and we secured a cabaña right on the beach at the Hotel Jiquilillo Beach.
Somewhere in the proceedings, I was bitten by a mosquito and ended up with Dengue Fever.
Beach side cabaña at the Hotel Jiquilillo Beach:
It was nice and quiet. Perfect for a good night’s sleep, though on the second night, an earthquake, 50 km out in the ocean, woke me up.
We’d get breakfast and dinner at Lupita’s Bar. There wasn’t much choice.
It was probably here that I got bitten by a mosquito infected with Dengue.
Beyond the beauty of a Nicaraguan sunset at Jiquilillo lurks the danger of getting bitten by ‘dengue mosquitoes’:
What is Dengue Fever?
Dengue Fever is a disease caused by the dengue virus and is spread by the female mosquito.
Symptoms include: high temperature, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, joint pain, loss of appetite and a rash.
Dengue Fever is also known as Breakbone Fever for obvious reasons.
On the third day, I made my way to León, alone. My buddy had gone the day before.
I checked into the Poco a Poco Hostel in León.
The next morning, I noticed my back was aching. Nothing new there; the years on the road are taking their toll.
On the Sunday night, I had to cut short my call with Miss CDMX
Something wasn’t right, and the night was terrible. The room felt like a sauna.
The temperature in León was 35 degrees with a feels-like temperature of 39 degrees.
I was thinking I’d got heat stroke.
The kind staff at the hostel organised for a doctor to come and visit.
One of the owners from Belgium had had dengue. There was a lot of it around. For three days, she couldn’t even get out of bed.
I think hoteliers should be informing travellers of the possibilities as a matter of course, when there are a lot of cases being reported.
The doctor came. He asked the normal questions, took my blood pressure, and sent me to get tested. He also prescribed some meds to help with the pain.
Here is my prescription for pain meds for dengue fever:
Getting tested for Dengue Fever
At 2 pm, I checked the results online:
I sent the results to the doctor.
He suggested three days in a clinic for observation at 200 USD a night (of course, he did).
He had also said that to the Belgian girl.
She just stayed in bed.
I knew there was no cure. You rested, you kept hydrated and tried to keep cool.
I’d feel bad. Checking my temperature, the thermometer would show 39 degrees. Then I’d feel OK, my forehead wasn’t hot to the touch, and my temperature would be down to 36 degrees.
I got some rehydration powder:
For three days, it did this. I wasn’t completely out of it. I’d walk to the store and cook myself some food. Not that I had any appetite, but I ate as well as I could.
The fourth day was the worst, bearing in mind that the doc wanted me to be in a clinic for three days.
My temperature was up most of the day. My joints ached like never before, like I’d been run over by a truck.
The room was hotter than ever.
And most inmates at the hostel were just intent on having rowdy fun.
I shouldn’t have stayed at the most popular hostel in León. But the staff spoke excellent English and were looking out for me, so I stayed.
By Friday, I had mostly recovered. My temperature stayed low all day. The headache was gone. The aching joints were gone. But I was weak. I still had no appetite.
Saturday was better. On Sunday, I felt pretty much OK. On Monday, I took the bus to Estelí, which is where I am now, resting and eating well, enjoying the cooler conditions found at 800m.
