Tummy troubles In Costa Rica, our tour group visited a park where visitors took turns holding docile, green iguanas. The guide neglected to tell us that iguanas carry salmonella on their scaly skin. Being fastidious about cleanliness, we washed our hands before lunch. Members of our group who didn’t clean their hands suffered the consequences. One person required antibiotics and IV fluids for dehydration. Sometimes, even taking precautions doesn’t prevent illness. During India’s Pushkar Camel Fair, hundreds of thousands of locals and visitors travel to Rajasthan’s desert to see this combined pilgrimage and livestock-trading festival. Camels and cattle stretch across sand dunes for as far as the eye can see. We stayed in a tented hotel with a restaurant. Although we drank only bottled water and avoided ice cubes, we came down with bad cases of “Delhi belly.” Later, we discovered that, due to water shortages, staff “washed” the dishes by rubbing them with sand – undoubtedly contaminated by dung from countless camels. The condition resolved when we returned to our urban hotel the following day. Treacherous roads & tsunamis On driving tours, we always took off-the-beaten-track scenic routes rather than expressways. Sometimes, we had warnings of potential catastrophes − such as the falling rocks sign in Norway − minutes before a landslide of boulders tumbled onto the road in front of us. At other times, we had no hint of impending disaster. One morning, we awoke in our Nicaragua seaside resort cottage to discover water surrounding our bed. While we slept, an undersea earthquake had triggered a small tsunami. We debated whether we should risk potential injuries by wading to higher ground or climbing up on the roof, if the water rose higher. When we called the front desk, staff assured us that the water would retreat. (It did.) Holding green iguana in Costa Rica Camels & cattle at Pushkar Camel Fair Family rides camel to tented hotel at Pushkar Camel Fair Landslide of boulders on Norwegian road CSANews | FALL 2020 | 19 Travel
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