Illness Strikes

I’m sorry to report there will be no beautiful photos from Costa Rica today. It started the night before last with a 6.2 magnitude earthquake striking near San Jose and La Paz. We had been scheduled to tour the beautiful waterfalls of La Paz and were not surprised but definitely upset to find that our shore excursion had been cancelled along with several others. We’re not sure if it’s because of a concern regarding aftershocks or if there is significant damage to streets and facilities. So we, like hundreds of other guests scrambled to find an alternate tour to fill our time while we are docked in Puntarenas. At dinner last evening, Carl began feeling awful. He was hot, felt clammy to the touch and his stomach was doing the Macarena . By 10:00PM, he had thrown the entire contents of his stomach up and I do mean violently. He collapsed into bed and was up again at 4:30 this morning with a mad dash to the bathroom. By 8:00AM, he was weak, had a pounding headache and ached all over. It won’t surprise any of you to know that we were off to the ship’s doctor moments later. He pronounced us under quarantine-me for 24 hours and Carl for 48. That means our shore excursion is cancelled and refunded plus we cannot leave the cabin for the stated times. Normally room service and confinement would appeal to us both. Too bad he feels so lousy. Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that he got a very painful shot in the behind to stop his vomiting and some pills to take before he eats anything else.
Maybe it was the motion of the ocean or maybe it was the breast of duck he had for supper. Maybe it was just his turn to get the virus that’s been ghosting about the ship. We may never know. I can’t say it’s ruined the vacation but it sure has put a stopper on the next day or two’s activities. The photo posted was taken two nights earlier, a perfect end to a beautiful day.