“Brain eating amoeba” - Scary, but true

After spending 2 hours swimming in the hot springs, we EXITED and saw this sign - it says do not put your head under water because of the risk of amoebic meningitis! Well, we had spent the whole time diving down, swimming under the water, with our heads in the falls … definitely had our heads “under the water”. We asked a worker what was up with that - and he shrugged it off and said we were fine.

When we got back to our hostel I googled it and I found out some very scary info - ALL warm natural lakes, springs, ponds everywhere in the world (even the US) can and do contain this nasty “brain eating amoeba”. He’s microscopic and enters thru your nose and then takes up residence in your brain. In 7-10 days, you’re dead. Very few people survive. Yeah … it’s a real thing. Who knew?!? It is very rare, but they had 2 cases in 2020 in Costa Rica so not unheard of.

We spent probably more time with our heads underwater than over, so … we’re both a tad nervous. Just because of the extended exposure time. Nothing we can do now about it but wait, but dang, talk about a poorly placed sign.Read more