The aftermath of Mt Agung

Pain overwhelmed me as I awoke. Would I ever be able to walk again? Could I even get out of bed? The hike up Mt Agung had given me the stiffest, sorest legs I’d ever experienced. Worse than the Oxfam 100km walk, worse than the 20km grind up Lavers Hill on the Great Vic Bike Ride, and the even steeper hill after it. This was pain.

 

I literally dragged myself out of bed (physically moving my legs to the edge of the bed) and grabbed the laptop to go down to breakfast and catch up on photo editing and journal writing. Walking flat along the balcony was hard but when I got to the steps I realized I had bigger problems. Going down was nearly impossible. I held the handrail and brought each leg down onto a step before tackling the next one. I must have looked like I was about 100. When Sam came down and said he thought we should stay for the day and rest our bodies I was so relieved – I seriously doubt I could have ridden if I tried.

 

I spent some time in the pool – swimming laps and stretching. When I got out I felt better and thought I would magically be healed. But within an hour they were not only hurting again, they were worse! Sam asked if I wanted to go get massages but not only was I convinced that I could never stand the pain of a Balinese massage in my present state, I was also convinced that I was not going back to that massage place. Which was a shame, because they were cheap and good.

 

We had to return the scooter and were hungry so we rode down the street to find some food on our way to Kuta. We tried a few places that didn’t have anything that looked appetising, until we saw a restaurant with the magic words ‘Nasi Goreng’ and ‘Mie Goreng’ out the front. We looked at a menu and the prices were right – 7000rp (less than $1). We feasted on our delicious meals and then jumped on the scooter to return it.

 

In Kuta we decided to spend some time wandering, so we found a cheap DVD shop where we made some purchases and then opted to get facials, not massages, at the spa down the road.

 

We got a taxi back to Jimbaran for about $4 and stopped at the restaurant again to buy some food for dinner. We put on one of our new DVDs and massaged each others legs… Shanna’s were still feeling progressively worse. We were too tired to pack, but reasoned we’d do it in the morning.

 

Sunday morning I awoke and my legs were just as bad. Steps were still torture and getting out my seat a chore. Sam wanted to leave, but I convinced him that one more day of rest would make all the difference, and I would pack during the day to make sure we got away early in the morning.

 

We spent more time in the pool, watching DVDs, and I really did pack our things. We also realized we had to go back to Kuta again to buy malaria tablets. The first pharmacy we went to tried to charge us the equivalent of $1/tablet, and when you need about 240 of them that is expensive! We went to another pharmacy, of the same brand, and bought 80 tablets for the equivalent of $3. HUGE difference. They didn’t have any more but hopefully we’ll find some more in Thailand. We also found a Cadbury chocolate in the first pharmacy, which was so good…

It was nice to spend a couple of days resting and recuperating before heading off on the bike again.