The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, not in that order

Check this out! I was so impressed with my new bug bites and foot swelling that you get three pictures. I have no reaction at all to mosquitoes in the States, and perhaps was a bit too smug about this for too long? I got bitten pretty badly two weeks earlier in Misiones and last year in Salta, but this was the worst so far.

Here you can see some of the foot swelling. I used a lot of bug repellent with DEET but they tell me that the mbarigüí (local small insects) are not as impressed with that. A friend who is a retired nurse and worked for years in Misiones Province tells me that a lot of the bites are also from "chicken bugs." The family did allow chickens to run freely through the home and she says the bed I slept in was probably filled with these bugs -- which makes sense since upon lying down the night I slept in the country my legs started itching!

I had the worst time sleeping that night, what with the itching and the bizarro bed and the crazy dogs barking (there was a full moon that night and apparently they see much more to bark at on those nights). So I spent a lot of the night praying, asking for alertness the next morning for my training and being thankful that I don't normally sleep places like this, as some missionaries -- and lots and lots of poor people -- do.

A close-up of a particularly itchy area several days on.

BUT, this is what I woke up to the next day: I stayed at my nurse-friend's home in Misiones before and after going to the rural area. Actually, the night before this was beautiful, complete with a hot shower, calamine and antishistamine lotion, and clean sheets! Above is where I sat during my devotional in the morning, complete with mate.

And this is the scene the following day at the start of a three-night, all-expenses-paid stay at a hotel in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil! This is the view from my hammock! More pictures are forthcoming.