Our noisy trusty little jet is taking us around to the provinces. Quite an eye-opener. I really didn't know what to expect from Argentina, so I came with no expectations and no ideals. This is my second week in the country and I'm beginning to understand it a little bit. It's sorta complicated. But which country isn't? Some provinces are cool and happening, making me want to return; some are so not.
We landed at 8.30pm in a not-too-small province. The airport was lit, but no one seemed to be working, except for 2 humans. They didn't understand that we had suitcases. After a lot of talking in Spanish and English, in short, we had to DIY- offload the suitcases, lug them off the tarmac to the arrival hall. Win lor.
I can forgive inefficiency, but I cannot forgive an infestation of mosquitoes in an otherwise civilized airport. Out on the tarmac, we could hear the mozzies buzz and swarm around us. We walked really quickly into the hall. Between the waiting and all, we were assaulted by this wave of mozzies. MY GAWWD, they came in hundreds. We couldn't believe our eyes. These mozzies were huge. In our black suits, we were complete magnets for the hungry bloodsuckers. It was ridiculous. The mozzies landed on clothes, stinging through the fabric, in the hair, on the face, everywhere!!! We hurried out to another wider waiting area which wasn't so bad, but still, the mozzies were plentiful.
We were saying that there must be livestock nearby for this many mozzies to be present. An associate busy beating off mozzies stated snidely, "Hello, we are the livestock." Moving into the province, we realized that mozzies were a huge problem to us, but not to the locals. They didn't see anything wrong with it and took it as a way of life. Man.....the sanitation of this province is suspect. Wah lau eh. I tell you ah, words and images associated with malaria, dengue and yellow fever were stuck in my mind all night.
The associates were rather ferociously bitten and many sported angry welts. It's terrible. Clearly, this isn't the best impression of this province. It's not exactly dirty, but it isn't entirely pristine. And with the mozzies, it's not going to be the most welcoming province on this trip. But you know what? I wasn't at bitten during the first assault that evening. Till now, the mozzies haven't liked me very much. :P
6 comments:
LatAm can get very bad malaria and dengue outbreaks in the summer month so you are not being paranoid at all. You should be using as much repellent as you did the Febreeze spray in Shanghai:) Er...you did get your yellow fever shots hor?
This sounds like a real gruelling trip!
Citronella! I don't know if you can get Off out in the provinces but try!
i remembered mosquitoes don't like you. thank god for that. please be careful still. those nasties sound so hungry.
lucky you. mozzies love me very much. :)
it's the alcohol content in your blood :)
supercoati: eehhhhh. my yellow fever shot was taken 5 years ago!
Dawn: there is Off! hehehhehe. The provinces are not too bad. Plenty of pharmacies still.
tuti: whewwww.
jomel: the others on this trip got bitten in the face and on the ears!
sinlady: am going to gulp more!
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