Don't let the bed bugs bite

Days 49 to 52: Quetzaltenango (Xela)

Sat 12 Feb 2011 - Tue 15 Feb 2011 20 °C

On arrival at the hostel in Xela, I meet Tom who gives me a lesson on dealing with bed bugs and I am concerned as to why this might be necessary. Though I don't find any conclusive evidence on inspection of my bed, I decide to follow his advice and acquire some kind of plastic layer to put between me and the mattress. No plastic sheets at the supermarket, but I consider that a shower curtain will probably suffice (it was that or bin liners, I figure this has a bigger surface area and is therefore better).

As I am trekking a volcano at the crack of dawn the next day, I turn in for an early night with the bed bugs and decide to cover every possible inch of my body with clothing, just in case. I dig out the waterproof seal-skin socks from my bag..surely if water can't get through then neither can bed bugs? (thanks for those, Kelly, though I'm not sure you had this situation in mind when you gave me them!) I lie there wondering what the hell I am doing...it's 9pm on a Saturday night, I am fully clothed and lying on a bloody shower curtain....I take a deep breath, turn out the lights and try to imagine I'm sitting in The Bull with a nice glass of red wine rather than feeling like a small child with a bed-wetting problem fearing man-sized bugs that only come out at night chomping through the mattress springs....

...I awake at 4.30am (no bites thankfully) and head off to climb the Santa Maria volcano. It's bloody freezing and pitch black. As it's three and a half hours uphill to 3700m I soon warm up, day breaks, and the views from the summit are worth it...especially the active Santiaguito smouldering away below.