Late last week my boss confirmed a trip to Ecuador for both of us. We will be doing some formation work with lay folks in the Diocese of Central Ecuador. I booked our flights on Friday and our hotel rooms this morning. We leave in six weeks, so today after lunch we walked a few blocks to the doctor's office to get our vaccinations.
This will be my first trip to South America, and also the first time since I went to Germany as an exchange student that I need to have one of those yellow vaccination certificates. Of course, things have changed in 30 years. Before I went to Germany I had to get re-vaccinated for Smallpox and take an oral booster vaccine for Polio. I cannot find my scrapbook from that trip, but I think I also had to have a vaccination for Yellow Fever. These days you no longer need to update Smallpox and Polio vaccines. In fact, the doctor that took care of me this afternoon is young enough that she has never given a Smallpox vaccination. And you only need a Yellow Fever vaccination to enter most countries if you have travelled recently to a country where there have been outbreaks. The Typhoid vaccine is now in four capsules rather than two painful shots.
So this afternoon I received three shots--a Tetanus booster, a Hepatitis A vaccine, and a measles vaccine--and my box of Typhoid capsules. I feel like a walking germ factory. The doctor also gave me prescriptions for anti-malarial pills, because we do not yet know for sure if we will be travelling in any of the low lying areas, and tablets to take for altitude sickness, since Quito is about twice as high as Denver. The bright yellow International Certificate of Vaccination is clipped to my passport.
Now if I could just go back in time and change my college major from French and German to French and Spanish!
Peace,
Jeffri
No comments:
Post a Comment