I've opened my door to reveal that the persuasive knocker was just a bored chicken. I've been evacuated from my site because of flooding, and today I was quarantined to my house, which I can now add to the list of memorable occurrences. Here's the story: At approximately 8:45 this morning, I was getting ready to walk out the door and head to one of my favorite schools when I received a phone call from my counterpart.
"Buenos dias, David. Disculpe," she almost whispered, "have you spoken with your host mom this morning?"
"No, not yet. Why, what's going on?"
"Well, I've been hearing a lot of news about a pretty dangerous situation." She explained that it may be better if I stayed at home, and, to describe the situation, she used a word that I have never heard before and wasn't in my Spanish dictionary. "You better go speak with your host mom."
Dona Cecilia, who is literally 9 months pregnant, was not out in front of the house like she normally is. Immediately, I thought that something must have happened in the middle of the night with her and her baby. Slightly panicked, I asked the first kids that I saw, who were all under the age of 4, where there mother was. I got an almost intelligible answer from all the kids at the same time, but thankfully one of them pointed and I could see my host mom around the other side of their house.
I walked over and was greeted with a smile and enthusiastic, "Buenos dias, Don David!"
"Buenos dias," I said, "How are you doing?"
"I'm doing great! How are you?"
"I'm good. So, everything is okay?"
"Oh yes, everything is fine. Where are you going today?"
"Just over to the school in Calvario 2, and then I'm coming back here to work on tanks."
"Great, you're leaving now?"
"Yes," I paused a bit thinking she might open up with some news, but she had nothing else to tell me, "we'll talk later."
"Ok, have a great day!"
I strolled back into my house more confused than I was when I went looking for my host mom, and then I received another call from my counterpart.
"Hola David, I think that you should stay home from work today. You shouldn't leave your house at all. There are two men in the communities who are lost with rabies."
"What? Rabies? Like rabies, rabies?"
"Yes, there are search parties out looking for the men. No one knows where they may be."
"So, I need to stay in my house?"
"Yes, please. I would prefer if you did not go anywhere today. I'm going to call Peace Corps and let them know what is happening."
"Wait, so two men have rabies, and are on the loose in the communities?"
"Yes, stay safe and be careful, and please don't leave your house."
I went straight to my computer and got the internet running so I could do some research. From Wikipedia, I learned that rabies has an incubation period of sometimes months and the first symptoms are usually that of the flu. My forehead was a bit warm, but I have a sunburn. My body a bit sore, but yesterday I went on a lunch hike to a nearby summit for a couple of hours between the school and the group. My stomach has been feeling a bit funny lately, but those symptoms seem much more likely to be giardia (beaver fever) contracted from contaminated water. So, I apparently was rabies free. Not just rabies free, but I remembered having a series of three pre-exposure injections during training. Rabies can be contracted by any warm blooded animal. It will cause swelling of the brain, excess salivation, the appearance of foam from the mouth, and mania before it leads to a coma and death in almost 100% of the cases. After doing a bit more research, I received another call, this time from my Peace Corps Project Specialist.
"Good morning, Barrett."
"Good morning."
"I received a call from your counter part this morning. She thinks that it is best if you don't leave your house today."
"I heard, and I'm a little confused about what's going on."
"Well, she has talked to several people, and apparently the word is that two men have contracted rabies and are lost somewhere, possibly in your area."
"I see."
"We are going to go with her recommendation and have decided that you should not go out to the communities today. So, just stay put, try to move around as little as possible."
"Can I at least go to the tienda (small local store)?"
"Well, yes, but don't go too far from your house and try to just stay home."
"Okay then, thanks for calling."
"Stay safe, have a good day."
I went back to talk to my host mom. She had indeed heard a few rumors of men on the loose with rabies. A women had been bitten by a rabid dog and died from the virus (almost 55,000 people a year die from rabies throughout the world, usually from bites and bats). Before she died, she passed it on to her entire family, who are currently in the hospital (very sad, because chances are that none of them will survive). However, two of the men that also contracted the virus disappeared and have not been seen. I talked to another man that lives nearby. He had heard the same thing, but said it was nothing to worry about. Later in the day, I spoke with another man who said the family was from Aguacatan, a larger town down the mountain, and probably a full day hike away.
Now, don't get me wrong, rabies is a serious virus. Having said that, I felt the concern for MY well being (me, being the only person around with the pre-exposure series) a bit laughable. In fact, it probably qualified me for being the first torch in the search mob. It seemed I had entered into some sort of B level zombie movie actually. As if while walking down a secluded road, a pair a rabid monsters would leap out from behind the bushes, and commence suckling on my juicy brains. As I got on my bike this afternoon to head to the tienda, I wondered if I should wrap a string of garlic around my neck, pull out the old silver bullets, or strap a wooden stake to my belt. I did not. Instead, I went along about my business like everyone else from the community, feeling a bit foolish for having stayed around my house all day, and a bit amused from having yet another strange occurrence to add to the memory bank. Just another day in the Peace Corps.
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