Sense of Helplessness

Day 58

One of the main attractions in Puno is a 2D1N tour to the nearby islands - Uros, Amantani and Taquile. To reach these islands, we will have to take a boat that is somewhat similar to those boats that we use for Pulau Ubin. The main attractions about these islands are the use of reeds to build island and houses in Uros, the peaks - Pacha Tata and Pach Mama - in Amantani, and the pre-Inca and Inca ruins in Taquile.

Our tour involves staying spending one night with a local family in Amantani and we ended up staying with Pedro. Besides my friend and I, there were two other German girls who will also be staying with this family. After a quick wash-up, we sat down for lunch and started chatting with the German girls - J and C. 

J was keen to join us in climbing up to the two peaks on Amantani Island though C commented that she was not feeling well and declined the offer. When we tried to convince C that we will take it slow, she suddenly burst out crying. I was caught by surprise by her sudden emotional outburst and we decided not to broach the subject further. After a while, C apologised for her behaviour but left the dinning room shortly after when her nose starts bleeding.

Not thinking much about it, my friend and I continued to have our lunch. A couple of minutes later, J ran into the dinning room saying that C could not stop her nose bleeding. We went into their room and that's when I was shocked by the sight that greeted me. There was a bin on the floor with C bending over it and it was filled with bloodied tissues. Blood keeps flowing out of C's nose and when we tried to tell C to tilt her head back to stop the bleeding, she refused and said that by doing so, the blood may end up flowing into her brain(?). Ok, now, if somebody asks me about financial investments, I may be able to provide some pointers. But when it comes to medical knowledge, I have to admit that I only know the bare minimum. Will tilting her head back to stop the nose bleeding end up causing a brain haemorrhage? I highly doubt so but who am I to voice this out? 

So what's next? Ice? Yes, but what should you do when you are on an island and these people are too poor to afford a refrigerator? How about doctor? Yes, but what if the island that you are on has no doctors and the nearest doctor is 4hrs boat ride away? As there is no wifi or Internet connection available on the island, this also means there is no way for us to google for more information. By then, we have alerted Pedro and he started to use some water to wet C's hair. He too, suggested that C tilt her head back, but she refused. At this time, I can hear the panic in C's voice and I started to feel scared for her too. Too much blood has been lost and something must be done to stop the bleeding.

I asked J if C ever had nose bleeding before. Apparently, this is the first time that it happened to her. Then I told C point blank that we have to stop the bleeding now and the only way to do it is to try and tilt her head back. I said the probability of 3 persons being wrong is definitely lower than one (Err...now thinking back, I'm not too sure about this statement. It could be a case of common misperception as well). We can do it slowly and if she does not feel much better, she can always bend forward over the bin thereafter. After a few minutes' of coaxing from J and myself, we started to tilt back C's head. She resisted initially and complained about not being able to breathe. However, we kept reassuring her that all is fine, she is doing a great job and she just have to hold out for a couple more minutes. Finally, we notice that the blood flow has subsided. Not sure if it helps, but we gave C two painkillers before she slept thereafter. Thankfully, she felt much better by evening.

It was much later that we realised these two young girls have been rushing through their trip. Just before this trip, they did a 2-day trek in Colca Canyon and on the same night, took a night bus to Puno and joined this tour on the following morning. Exhaustion, high altitude coupled with dehydration are some of the key causes which these girls have seriously ignored previously.

It also dawned on me that Singapore has truly spoilt me. I have taken the medical facilities in Singapore for granted where doctors and medicines are readily available. As access to Internet is also easily available, it is extremely easy for one to search for information online just by using a smart phone. Yet, what today's incident has taught me is that one could always be caught in the same situation as what I have just gone through. Without basic medical knowledge, you will feel completely helpless in such situations where facilities are lacking. I have decided that when I'm back home, the first thing that I'm going to do is to sign up for a first-aid course.