Day 10: Projectile Motion

Projectile motion: the movement of an object launched into the air, subject only to gravity, creating a parabolic trajectory.

Last night I kept waking up feeling funny - nauseous and weird. I kept thinking “damn that one shot of cognac has really cooked me”. That’s kind of what I felt like - as though I’d had a bit much to drink. Each time I woke up I’d have a bit of water, because I thought that might help. At around 1am I decided I couldn’t stand it anymore and I needed to go outside - I was feeling really sick. Remember this is bear territory and they’re largely nocturnal, so this was a big call to make. I woke Ben, and told him I had to go outside, and he very kindly came with me. I quite literally stumbled out of the tent and no sooner had I stood up properly I realised I really, really needed to go number two’s. So…you can guess what happened next. I did manage to find a spot a fair distance from the tent… 🤣

I felt way better afterwards, so we went back inside the tent and promptly fell asleep again. I continued waking up feeling varying levels of ill and drinking water (which actually made me feel more ill, but I continued anyway), until I again couldn’t hold off any longer. And so around 3am I once again woke Ben, but this time in much more of a hurry as it was the other end in trouble this time 😅 No sooner had I got out of the tent than I quite literally projectile vomited onto the ground. I didn’t realise doing that was an actual thing - I thought it was just an exaggeration in comedy movies! But no - I have now experienced the projectile motion of vomit. Disgusting! But that’s how badly my body wanted to rid itself of whatever was causing it grief 😬 After that the other end got going again - dear Lord what was going on 😅🤪 Again, I felt better afterwards and we went back to bed. Thankfully, I slept a good few hours after that, but the following morning I felt reeeeeeally unwell. Incredibly nauseous and simultaneously insatiably thirsty, as well as chills, body aches, and sensitive skin (all the classic symptoms of a fever). The nausea would get less the longer I went without water, but the longer I went without water (I.e., more than 5mins), the more uncomfortably thirsty and dry-mouthed I became. But within a few minutes of drinking water, the nausea was back in full. Which one would you choose? Nausea? Or intense thirst? 🤔

I largely chose nausea. Not because that’s what I actually wanted - I would have preferred to choose thirst - but I knew my body needed water, and if I could keep it down then that was a positive sign that things would be okay. Nausea is one of my least favourite / more difficult feelings. It really sucks! So, it was a bit of a pitiful morning, really. I tried to help Ben pack down the tent, etc, but every time I moved the nausea got way more intense, so Ben had to pack up 80-90% of our stuff while I sat on a rock feeling sorry for myself and for Ben. Bless him 🙏 Ben is a wonderful, wonderful man - such a sweet and loving human. I am beyond lucky and indelibly grateful to get to do life with him 🥰🩵

At some point I messaged Emin, explaining that I was unwell and asked if he could possibly drive Ben and I to Jermuk and we’d pay him to do so - or if he could please help us to organise a taxi. He responded quickly saying he’ll be there soon and will organise then. I took this to mean he’d organise a taxi, and I wondered why he had to be here to do that, but I just said okay thanks so much! All I wanted was to be warm and curled up in a bed, and I wanted that to happen sooner rather than later. But whatever Emin thought was best we would follow - perhaps we’d need someone who spoke Armenian to communicate with the taxi driver, or maybe there was a cultural custom we weren’t aware of in this area! We didn’t know, so we just left it in Emin’s hands.

2 hours later Emin arrived 😅 and it was obvious he planned to drive us to Jermuk himself. He arrived in a big 4WD - quite different to the beaten up old scrap-yard-worthy piece of tin he’d been driving yesterday! 🤣 He said he just needed to feed the animals here, and then we could go. For the last hour or so I’d been holding off water in preparation for being driven up the windy roads to Jermuk. I felt so. so. so very thirsty! But I just kept telling myself I won’t die. I go without water for an hour - probably even two hours - every single day. I can do another 45 mins! 🙏

Emin explained that it’s very expensive for a taxi to come to the honey garden for a ride to Jermuk, that it was much cheaper for him to take us himself, and that the road is very slow and derelict. Say no more - we’ve seen the roads here 🤣🤣🤣 We are very thankful to Emin for his hospitality and for his assistance; we would have had to walk at least 6-7km to the next village for a taxi today had we not bumped into him yesterday! The app we have for ordering taxi’s here doesn’t seem to have the biggest range - in remote areas it always says “no taxis available”, but if you can speak with a local, a taxi (of some kind) can be organised within the blink of an eye 👏 Before climbing into Emin’s car, Ben had a very heartfelt and teary-eyed goodbye with Big Fluff. His big lion face would be missed very much! 🥹

Upon arriving in Jermuk it was to find that the roads and footpaths and doorways have been carved out from the snow, and the snow is about a metre (or more) high on either side. What! 🤯 We haven’t been in a town with this much crazy snow, and Jermuk is only at 2000m, so we were very surprised! The (proper) snow line elsewhere has been 2100m… 🤔 When we arrived at the apartment my heart just sank - I actually cried 🤣 In my defence, I’d had to wait all morning to get to Jermuk, I was feeling completely trash, and I’d soooo been looking forward to being warm and cosy in a bed… Instead, we arrived to a very cold, electricity-broken/unstable, bed isn’t even made for you, absolutely bare minimum & not very clean apartment inside an old Soviet block building. This mismatch in expectation just broke me! 😭🤣 I’m laughing about it now, but at the time it felt so shit! Ben quickly made the decision to upgrade us to a hotel here in Jermuk. Again - bless him! This apartment would normally have been at the lower end of okay for us - it’s not hard to make a bed, and we can always just wear more clothes for warmth…but with my being sick and needing more warmth, etc, it was better that we were somewhere comfortable. In all honesty, I think I would have preferred camping to being in that apartment. At least when you’re camping being cold makes sense. Being inside and being cold just sucks! 🥶🙃

While we waited for the check-in time at the hotel (2pm), Ben wrapped me up in a duvet on the couch in this apartment, and I did my best to get warm. Ben then cooked up some rice for me to try and eat and cleaned our camping kitchen equipment. He also repacked our things, and got organised to be on the move 🚶🏻👩‍🦯

Walking into the hotel atrium was such a relief. It was so toasty warm! We made our way to our room, and I immediately fell into bed, wrapped myself in the duvet, and fell asleep. While I slept, Ben went and explored the hotel, and then went to the gym across the road. Here he had a good workout and a swim - he is training for an Ironman, after all! 💪

By evening time I’d had no more bouts of projectile anything, but I did have more of a fever (Ben said I felt like a furnace) and pretty intense fatigue. One positive thing is that I did manage to have a nice shower 🤗 Upon asking Dr. Google about my symptoms, it seems I have gastroenteritis (aka gastro) 🫠 Thankfully, it’s been relatively mild compared to some cases we’ve heard of! We do actually have a gastro kit in case either of us do get it badly. This includes Imodium and antibiotics. Didn’t need it this time, but it’s always there if it happens again!

Dinner time was a very exciting experience for Ben, and a rather difficult one for me. It was a buffet, and Ben piled up his plate with every exciting thing he could see (for example, beetroot juice, candied young walnuts, black pepper bread, and ant hill cake). Me, on the other hand, barely made it to the restaurant in the first place (which is located in the hotel we are staying in), and I just picked out a few boring things like hot chips, a piece of chicken, some cucumber and tomato, alongside a cup of apricot and peach juice. I managed to eat what felt like a good portion, but compared to normal it was really quite a small helping - something is better than nothing, however!! 👏

Remember how I was feeling tired etc yesterday morning around the lake? And how I was feeling the weight of my pack more, etc etc? My theory is that my body was coming down with gastro, and hiking big terrain was the last thing it wanted to be doing 😩😐🥺🤪

Anyway, after dinner I just went back to bed and to sleep. I think Ben might’ve done the same.

Day 10 over and out 🫡
Hope you’re all having a fab time! 🩵Read more