Hill Tribes of Thailand
Hiking Through the Rain
Forest
July 1992
THIS STORY IS A CONTINUATION FROM YESTERDAY.
Day
Four- Running Out of Water
Rae
suggested we bath in the river before we started out today. She thought the
cool water would be a welcomed comfort to all of us. I was finally to the point
where I was willing to surrender to the moment. I went in completely clothes as
it is standard protocol. That was pretty hard to do a thorough cleaning. But at
least I was able to get some blood off my stained shorts.
Prior
to getting into the water I confessed to Rae that I couldn’t swim. I sense that
she just about had enough of it with my multitude of inadequacies. It was sort
of the last straw. If I drowned today too bad. But I didn’t drown. It was
refreshing and it felt great to get out of the water fully clothes and wet and
sit on a rock and let the sun quickly dry me.
Rae
suggested we all grab a bottle of water and then be on our way. We had 8 miles to
cover today. It was then that our guide announced that we were completely out
of drinking water. We had used the last of it for breakfast. It would be two
more days until we had clean bottled water. So what were we to do?
The cook unpacked a wok and took it down to
the river, filled it with water and boiled it. Another porter went around the
village and retrieved the empty bottles we have freely given up to the locals.
When the water boiled, we filled up a bottle for each of us. I had a bottle of
water pills so I dropped a few of them into my gray water which looked and
tasted like gray pool water. This was unpleasant and a sobering moment about
the importance of water. I was afraid of becoming very sick and I contemplated
fighting the balances staying hydrated vs swallowing up parasite. This trip was
getting dangerous.
We
started walking and I went on automatic pilot. I didn’t think about it. I just
put one foot in front of the other and I kept moving. There’s no sense in
complaining. Tomorrow at this time I will have finished all of my walking. But
right now my feet really ached.
Mid-morning,
we stopped for a break near a stream. We decided take our shoes off and soak
our sore feet in the cold water. I noticed my toenails. they were all a dark
color but I made an assumption they were just stained by the die from my socks.
But then Dave accidently rolled on my feet and I shook in pain. When I looked
up my toenails again, I saw they were all bruised. I put so much strain on my
feet that I damaged every nail. I knew within the next couple days every
toenail was going to fall off.
Rae
looked at my feet. she panicked. she was
worried that I couldn’t complete the hike. So she gave me her sneakers which
were a size bigger than mine. Dave gave me two pairs of his dirty socks and I
cushioned my toes as best I could. Rae took my my cheap Kmart sneakers that
offered no support. They were a size too small and off we went both of us
limping for the rest of the day.
That
night we were having dinner with the village chief. he began to point to us and
then to his son. Our guide told us that the chief hoped we can fix his son. The
boy, about 15 years old, had cut himself by accident with his own machete. his
arm was badly infected and he refused to go to the hospital which would be a
four-day walk for him. Apparently a village elder went to the hospital once and
never came back. So the hospital was a place to go for the dying.
We
all looked at his arm and nearly threw up. I am no medical doctor but that arm
was oozing with gangrene and I thought the arm should be amputated. It was just
filled with infection.
Rae
did her best to convey to the local guide that if this boy didn’t go to the
hospital, he could die. But her suggestions fell on deaf ears. The boy was
going nowhere. His only hope was us: a bunch of dirty, old, tired Americans
with their own personal pharmacies of drugs. We pulled our resources and try to
figure out what we had. As we were getting our plan together the village spirit
man was summoned. He was going to pray over the boys and then over us. And then
we could begin to help the boy.
We
had some vodka that was used to clean the wound. Ray was going to be the
attending physician. Dave and I held the boy down. Helen service as Rae’s
assistant and she headed over rags and drugs and anything else Rae thought she
needed.
The
boy cried in pain and so did way. None of us thought this was the solution to
this very serious problem. But that chief was so hopeful and grateful. We did
the best we could. We loaded him up with our antibiotics and extra strength
pain killers. One of us had a small towel was still clean. Ray wrapped up his
wounds with the towel and a broken shoelace she found in her backpack. We laid
out a 10 -day plan of medication. when we’re finished the spirit man prayed
over us again. We all went to bed shaking by this experience. I felt no hope
for this young boy.
THIS STORY CONTINUES TOMORROW.
