After that we start walking and one of the girls starts screaming because there's a leech on her leg. She's freaking out. Enough so that a random Sri Lankan farmer comes over to her with a rag soaked in salt water to get the leech off. Now I think, "I was just in the waterfall and my feet are soaking wet, I also still have my open leg wound, let's check for leeches on my feet." My sandals have straps over the top, so you can't see most of my feet. And sure enough there was one on my foot. I tried to flick it off, but it then latched to my finger. So I have this leech on my finger and it won't come off. If you pull them off they bite harder and you end up ripping part of their heads off inside your skin. That is not desirable. So the farmer comes up to me and wipes it off. The leeches don't hurt, but THEY'RE LEECHES. THEY SUCK YOUR BLOOD. I should have brought garlic. So, during the rest of our hike, we'd get a leech on us every 10 minutes or so. The farmer stayed with us for the rest of the hike, which was good because we didn't know where we were going. We'd stop to deleech ourselves and then more would crawl onto you, and they'd be under your feet and in the people's shoes. They can bite through and climb under socks, so that wasn't even protection. At one point Cat got bit on the ass by a bug, but didn't think too much of it. 45 minutes of blood sucking later, she realizes that it's a leech. She had to get one of the girls to get this leech off of her. It was bigger than your thumb and when it came off, Cat bled a lot. Leeches have an anticoagulant enzyme in their mouths. Mother Nature can be a real bitch sometimes. Cat's blood covered white pants aside, we made it up the mountain. When we reached the summit, the fog decided to cover the entire valley. (Mother Nature 2, Us 0). The top was mercifully leach-free, so we ate up there and sat for a while. There were random moments when the fog would clear, so there are some pictures. Our farmer took us to some other rocks that were really high up, but there were safety rails to make sure you don't fall off. Look for them in the pictures. They're right next to the flying pigs. So after we're up there, we had to go back through the gauntlet of leeches again. The farmer realized that some of the girls were not pleased, so he took us back by another path that had like 2 leeches on it. Why we didn't take that path first, nobody knows. We tipped our farmer and gave his daughter a pen. Apparently they don't always have pens for school. When we got back, we checked every part of our bodies for leeches just to make sure one wasn't hiding in the taint. Of the 8 of us, 6 actually got bit, but we all had a few leeches on us at one point. I think I had 15 total.
That night we didn't feel like doing anything and it was pouring rain, so we decided to drink. We ask our driver to take us out in the monsoon to find an alcohol shop. The one alcohol shop in Ella only had Arrack, so we got some. Then we started trying hotels. That was too expensive. So we drive to the next town over to try to find some. It's still pouring rain and dark out. We eventually did find a booze shop and thus ended our hour voyage. There's video of me snoring passed out on my bed that night. All together, a good weekend.
The Emergency Treatment Unit isn't that exciting thus far, but it's alright. We're going to a national park this weekend. We were told there will be more leeches. I'll try to get a picture this time.
Due to that I still haven't told my parents about my leg, I'm putting the remainder of my pictures on a bloody-leg-free site, so go here from now on: http://s234.photobucket.com
Thank you again, Lisa. The kids from tsunami camp were playing with my camera, so that explains some of the pictures. They got one of Jackie's chest, which makes me proud because I've been trying to straighten them out. They started out giving the european cheek kisses to me, so I taught them the fist pound and the firm handshake. They caught on quickly. Most guys hold hands here, so I couldn't change that, sadly.
-Turk
2 comments:
Ewwww....leeches...so gross.
I'm surprised they could bite you through your massive amount of leg hair though.
I lol'd at Craig's stories from the wedding. Primarily the one about making the Undertaker cry. Aunt Gloria is not that bad!
Update on me. My doc got the MRI results back today. She phoned me to brief me and we're going to sit down and talk (so I'll get to see the MRI stuff) on Monday.
The disk between vertebrae 4 and 5 is bulging as well as the disk between 5 and 6. The one between 4 and 5 is bumping against my spinal column, which is what is causing all of the pain.
She said its fixable w/o surgery and mom said this sounds like what dad has. So if he can heal from it at 50, I can heal from it at 24. I'm going to call and talk to him tonight to see if it is the same. Something about shots and physical therapy.
Love ya!
Hey, i would have just died at the sight on a leech let alone if one was on me. My mom would have heard me screaming in Madison. Or, since my scream would have been really high pitched maybe a few dogs, if they have dogs over there. It was interesting to hear Craig's take on the weekend. So hear are my stories from the wedding.
Me and a college friend of mine few down there and went to Keith's house to stay of the night. He has an awesome house. Don't know if you have seen it yet. And he wants another flat screen tv. Don't know where he would put it because he already has 3. One in the living room, family and bedroom. I think Kyle is a little young to need a 40 inch flat screen tv for his room, but who knows. I told i would help take one off his hands if he ran out of room. I then went to Magic Kigndom and Epcot on sat. Epcot had a wine and food festiful going on. I was in heaven. Had to wonderful glasses of wine while i was shopping. We went the japenese restaurant for dinner and i had some amazing seafood. I really miss good seafood in the Midwest.
Sat. was basically spent at the hotel in clearwater. I spent a lot of time hanging out with Amy and Carrie up in there room while they got their hair done. So the whole family kept asking me about my condo and why i was selling. Not sure what my mom told the whole family but i got the impression that they all got the wrong impression and i had to clarify for all of them so they no longer thought i was nuts and making a huge mistake. NO, my parents were never planning on moving into my condo as a retirement house. It was an investment for them to make money on. The agreement was for me to keep it 3 to 5 years. If it sells by next august, my hope, that is when nick and i move into our new apartment, i will have owned it for about 4 years. Yes, even in this bad market, my parents should still make money on it. Aunt Gloria asked me about it and i think she is still skeptical or she does not like the fact that i am going to live with nick. Amy lived with Chris before they were married. And Craig said he was hearing stuff from the family and wanted to know the whole story. OK, i feel better now.
The ceremony was very short on the beach. 15 mins. Reception started at 5pm and ended at 9pm. THe cake Keith made for Carrie was really pretty and tasted very good. The wedding was really small, only about 50 people, basically family. so we tried to do some cool shots but the bar was very limited so we mostly stuck with Komokaski's. I have no idea how to spell it. The bartender was an older female in her 40 and did not like me. So i asked Chris to get a lot of the shots. During the first shot with got with amy and carrie the bartender states. Be careful, i will cut you off by the end of the night. Who says that!!! It was early, but no one got plastered. Amy got a little drunk, but it was not until 10 pm that she was throwing up in her room. I wanted a cute bartender, that would remember my drink the whole night and was happy to make me a shot. So early night for the reception. I did go out to the bar afterwards but only stayed out for an hour or two and then went to bed.
Mon, just hung out on the beach with cousins and then we played mini-golf. My idea. I love mini-golf. I was very inconsistant the whole game. Got two whole in ones. Got really unlucky on an easy par 2 which turned into a 5. I basically should not have come in last, but i had a good time. Amy and chris tied. My friend that cam e with me was constantly surprised how awsome my family was and how they would go out of there way for everyone. Uncle Tom picked us up at the airport at 11:30pm. and Amy and chris dropped us off at tampa airport on mon. while they were on there way to orlando. So she thinks are family is pretty cool and she had a great time hanging out with all of my cousins. Of, i had to tell her that two of my very awsome cousins were not there. So overall, i think everyone had a great weekend and i know i needed the break from work.
Can't wait to see you in December when you get back. Nick and i will be up in Madison when you get back. Keep up the good stories.
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