Well, it seems to be happening all over again. I seem to have acquired a bad throat infection and by the time I decided that this was no normal sore throat, the doctor is on holidays again.

Getting a sore throat is no surprise. In an obviously new environment, there are bound to be whole new strains of germs etc. that the body has never seen before. Maybe I compound respiratory woes by cycling daily. The big surprise is even after 3 days of heavy rain, the city streets are quite dusty.

The dust at street level is not that much different to the stuff I breathed in Beijing at street level, although I am certain nowhere near as noxious.

So I call the OZ doctor and he has just gone on holidays and due back in 2 weeks. Yes, there are some local doctors, some Cuban doctors and probably an American doctor hidden away somewhere but that’s a whole new ball-game for me.

So I go down to the pharmacy and self-prescribe amoxicillin. I get a whole course for US$1 – no prescription necessary. I note the complete arsenal of drugs for all manner of gastric and colonic difficulties. I feel satisfied … I hope.