Fleas: Not Just for Animals

I had fleas. I bet you thought that only pets/animals got fleas, but nope. It is in fact very common in third world countries like Guatemala. You can pick up fleas anywhere – if an animal gets too close to you (I haven't pet a non-PCV pet since arriving in Guatemala) or if someone with fleas gets close to you making buses and schools prime flea transferring locations.

Aside from basically fumigating my room with a highly toxic aerosol spray I was also instructed to wash everything cloth in my room. Ok fine, but the only problem is that the closest laundromat to me is an hour bus ride away on public transportation in Xela. So I loaded up a dufflebag full of clothing and bedding and lugged it down the dirt road by my house (there are no paved roads that lead to my house) to the bus stop. The ayudante – bus helper person that collects money - somehow got my heavy bag onto the top of the bus and off I went. The bus was already pretty full when I got on so I was the third person sitting on seat the made for two. This is the seat where only half of you is actually sitting on anything. As the bus continued to fill up (maximum occupancy in this country appears to be as many people as it is humanly possibly to squeeze in) people were standing in the aisles between the rows of seats which each held three people. So there I was trying to hold myself into this seat – it is actually easier with the person in the aisle holding me in with 0 personal space and a woman's purse pressed up against my face. I swear they should have asked in the Peace Corps application if we were claustrophobic, because if you are public transportation here probably resembles your worst nightmare. Luckily the bus cleared out a little halfway there and I was able to snatch a window seat with only one person sitting next to me – the ideal situation. 

The laundromats here I guess are not self service so I just dropped it all off and came back like six hours later and it was all folded and back in my duffle bag. I had them put it in plastic bags too for future flea protection. Also washing everything in my duffle bag cost 100Q ($13). The bad news is I still have AT LEAST, probably two more, duffle bags full of stuff that needs to be washed.

All in all this whole day was a struggle (it stated raining as I was looking for a buss back and didn't stop until I was back in my house), but I did get my whole bag back nice and clean. So now to hopefully prevent myself from getting fleas again I have been instructed to keep my outside clothes for the outside and inside clothes inside. So every time I walk into my room I have to take off ALL of my clothes and put them in a plastic bag or container to prevent flea spreadage and change into clothes that have not been outside yet. 

Nothing in this country is easier than it would be in the U.S.. Everything is slightly if not much harder. But hey – this is all part of the Peace Corps experience.

One highly toxic method (right) and one more natural (left)
I am currently on my third can of 'oko' and have started to buy the bigger size can