Never underestimate the power of a bug. I woke at 11 PM with chills and fever and vomiting and excruciating pain in all my muscles. Even my eyes hurt. That was on September 11th. Thinking I was a macho man, after a couple of days in bed, I toughed it out. The symptoms eventually subsided. 3 weeks after that I had a relapse. Same symptoms. Same macho man attitude. Again I toughed it out. A couple of weeks later I had another relapse. Worse this time. I called my friend, a pediatric doctor and asked for help, I could barely get out of bed. Come to the Dengue Clinic: Now, she told me. I was hospitalized for 4 days. Discharged from the local hospital annex set up by the government to handle the epidemic overload, a week after discharge my body remains positive with the Dengue Fever antibody. It will take me longer to recuperate from the bug assault this time. I remain under the Dengue Clinic’s care.

Last night felt like Niagara Falls hit with a soppy vengeance. The deluge must have lasted all night. When I went to bed at 9PM the roar showed no sign of abating. It is after all the rainy season and usually rains every afternoon but yesterday evening Mother Nature showed her muscles. The kids love playing in the rain, the temperature was 80°, but the ear-splitting claps of thunder and streaks of lightning overhead scared them all into their dormitories. Our wet season lasts from May to November so we still have a few weeks of showers and drenchers to go. The mountains and fields revel in multiple shades of lush green growth in every direction.