My night in Selcuk brought an end to my good health and vitality, in the context of exciting european travel, at least.
And no, I was not out for a wild night on the town having a few too many drinks...
I hadn't been feeling 100% during much of the day, but brushed it off as general fatigue. But by the next morning I had been taken out from all angles- bed bugs (a first for me...and here's hoping it's the last) AND a stomach flu.
I didn't realise how badly I'd been bed-bug bitten until I was at a bus station and a woman came out of stall and said something to me in Turkish, with a look of shock on her face. I just smile,
"I don't speak Turkish," I said, "English?"
She points to her neck and face, then to mine and said something again in Turkish.
"Yes, bites," I say. My goodness what a thing to comment on.
I looked in the mirror for the first time since I'd been feasted upon and realised that they were in fact comment-worthy.
"Snake?" she asked.
I laughed, "No....no snake. Little bugs," I replied, making little pincers with my hands to imitate a bite.
Fortunately these come with no side effects other than the welts covering my body (with a heavy concentration on the neck and face...great) and EXTREME itchiness. It's like chicken pox. Or what I remember of them, at least.
I survived the 5hour bus ride to Fethiye despite my rolling stomach and pervasive ichiness. I just needed somewhere to sleep. I tucked into a pansion in Fethiye- a busy tourist town popular amongst Brits. Before crashing, I washed my clothes from the previous night in the sink- I didn't want any damn bugs coming with me. In wringing them out, I found two little bed bugs- dead, thank goodness. Seeing them made me livid as I exercised immense self restraint by not scratching myself to bits.
The next morning I popped into a pharmacy to get some antihistamine and stomach drugs, and with meds in hand, hopped on a dolmus to Faralya. We weaved along the mountain roads, past the tourist town of Oludeniz and into a village outside of Faralya. I was keeping my eye out for a sign- as I wasn't sure where this dolmus was stopping. I was quite certain this was a case of simply announcing where you wanted to get off. As we curved along the steep mountain side, I spotted a building perched on the hill- one that looked like it might be a pansion. As we zoomed by it I realised I was right. I dashed to the front of the dolmus and managed to get out not too far past my intended destination. The dolmus drove off, and I strolled down the narrow, quiet road toward the building. I still wasn't feeling great, so planned to stay a night or two until I'm recovered and feeling up for the hike into Butterfly Valley:
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| courtesy of google. my own photos to come soon (hopefully!) |
The pansion sits on the hillside, amongst a few other dwellings nearby. It's a quiet area with only the odd car passing through, but overlooking a sweeping gorge and the sea beyond.
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| That smile is deceiving- my hair is covering some of the biggest welts the bugs left- and therefore making them incredibly itchy as I took this photo. Nice view of the sea beyond, though! |
I wandered around and met some of the locals:
Even though I'm moving at a slower pace than I'd like and on day two of sickyness, this is certainly an incredible spot to be welcoming in Thanksgiving weekend!
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