Carbon Monoxide

 

We arrived at a hostel and had a great time playing 

cards with Becky and Keen who were on a trek as well.  

After dinner we went to bed in our rooms. Dad was 

complaining about there being generator fumes in 

the room but I wasn’t fussed so soon I fell asleep. I

 woke up with mum and dad shaking me. I didn't 

know where I was, who I was or what I was doing 

there. I wanted to sleep but I felt horrendous.  

Mum half carried me half dragged me outside 

where I threw up .  Mum and dad stood beside 

me, steadying me. Soon I could stand after 20 mins 

later I went back inside to a new room and went 

back to sleep. We woke up and drove to Uyuni 

hospital where Charlie got oxygen. blue lines  

The driving tour company gave me and dad oxygen. 

I personally felt worse after but dad felt better. A

fterwards we chilled out at are new hotel. Finlay

Monday 16th June was the worst night of my life.  

We had had such a fun day on the salt flats and 

went to bed feeling great.  There was a power cut 

in the village so a generator was on.  It smelt of 

fumes but the whole of Bolivia smells of fumes.  

Rolly and Finlay were in the room nearest the 

generator and me and Charlie were adjacent.  

After less than an hour Charlie woke me 

complaining of a headache then vomited.  

We all had carbon monoxide poisoning. 

Rolly, Finlay and Charlie all were dizzy, could 

hardly stand up and vomiting.  Rolly couldn’t 

walk straight, was confused, talking rubbish and weak.  

Finlay couldn’t stand at all, Rolly had to carry him

 to the new room. Charlie repaid the hotels negligence 

with vomit everywhere!  We stood outside in sub

 zero temperatures trying to inhale air.  I put Charlie

 to sleep outside in a sleeping bag.  When I went 

back in for Finlay he was so still, I thought he was

 not breathing.  Rollys head was so bad he could not

 move.  With hindsight I wasn’t thinking right, we should 

have moved Finlay quicker and not bothered 

cleaning Charlie’s vomit, and checked on Rolly more!

The vast majority of Bolivians we have met have 

been lovely but the hotel lady was horrible, she 

kept saying it was altitude.  We had been at that 

altitude for 2 weeks. It was blatant carbon monoxide

 poisoning.  Then she tried to charge us for the 

extra loo roll for cleaning.  

There was no internet, no phone signal, no hospital…..  

After a few hours I got internet through our guides 

phone and phoned Julie who helpfully got an 

anaesthetist and respiratory consultants advice.  

In general get oxygen and descend in altitude.  

The latter was physically impossible - we were on

 the altiplano of Uyuni salt flats.  Our guide tried 

very hard to get the near by medical centre to open

 for us to no avail so we drove 2 hours back to 

the s**thole of Uyuni.  

Thankfully the boys were much improved by then.  

Rolly continued to have a severe headache but

 didn’t appear in imminent danger. 

The hospital (if you can call it that) wasn’t great.  

A finger sats probe and a “doctor” telling me it’s 

not carbon monoxide poisoning cos Charlie’s sats were fine.  

I never thought that Charlie’s excess vomiting 

would save our lives!  Rolly thought he had his 

usual headache and me and Finlay were fast asleep.  

We are all completely fine now but we have moved

 to Peru from Bolivia quicker than planned.  Bolivia 

is definitely very poor, it is in a mess economically 

and politically.  Whilst we were there there were 

protests and road blockades due to the lack of petrol

 in the country.  People are queuing 12-24hrs to get petrol. 

  Everywhere (even the jungle) is absolutely filthy with 

rubbish and mangy dogs.  

There is no easy escapes to somewhere clean.  

We have only been in Peru 3 days but everywhere 

is so much cleaner, less fumes, more modern.  

If something were to happen again we could hop in

 a taxi / on a plane, pay by credit card and get to a 

modern safe hospital.  Feeling a lot more relaxed!

Mary