Shortly, at 8:00 am, Umer is picking us up for our day’s outing to see the sights.
Still under the weather after two days on the Z-Pak antibiotics and with much disappointment, I won’t be able to go to the 124th floor of the Burj Khalifa. With my ears popping when we used the elevator to go to breakfast, going down and then back up to the 47th floor of our condo, it took all day to unplug my head. I can only imagine 124 floors causing even more distress.
The minor consolation is the fact that we won’t be paying the $100 fee for two to go to the top to the building’s observation tower.
If we’d had more time here, we would have waited longer to go sightseeing. Although many of the symptoms of the illness have diminished, I’m left with an awful headache and still feeling weak.
But, leaving here in five days to fly away, I have a daunting packing job ahead of me; dispose of more clothing so we can get rid of two duffel bags and down to our ideal goal of one large suitcase, one carry on bag, one laptop bag each and my handbag. This way we’ll comply with the 66 pound maximum per person. Tomorrow, after sharing our story and photos, this process will begin.
By the way, we got the bid back from the shuttle company, after we’d already rented a car from Venice, to take us the four hour drive to Tuscany. Ironically, the distance and time was about the same when we arrived and left Belize. The bid: US $849, one way. When we used the private shuttle in Belize it was $150 each way. Guess we are in for some pricey experiences in Italy over the summer. The rental car was $868 per month.
It’s now time to go meet Umer outside near the parking ramp. There’s no way he can maneuver his vehicle through the construction zone to pick us up at the front of the building.
We’ll be back tomorrow with hopefully, much to tell.
Not sure how much online news reading you're both able to do (so you may know this already) but there have been reports that there is a really bad virus coming out of the middle east called MERS-CoV, aka Middle Eastern Respiratory Symptom-Corona Virus. I have copied them so you can read about it.
(CNN) — A new SARS-like virus recently found in humans continues to spread — with the worldwide total now at 49, the World Health Organization said Wednesday. Of the 49 known infections with the MERS-CoV virus, 27 have resulted in death, the organization said. The latest deaths were reported in Saudi Arabia.The Saudi health ministry said Wednesday that three people died from their infections in the country's eastern region.
WHO tracks new coronavirus to Middle East:
The virus is "a threat to the entire world," the WHO's general director said Monday. Although many of the cases have occurred on the Arabian Peninsula, people have died of the infection elsewhere. However, "all of the European cases have had a direct or indirect connection to the Middle East," the WHO said earlier this month. But "in France and the United Kingdom, there has been limited local transmission among close contacts who had not been to the Middle East but had been in contact with a traveler recently returned from the Middle East."
On Tuesday, a patient died in France after having contracted the virus during a trip to the Middle East, the WHO reported. Coronaviruses cause illnesses similar to the common cold. It acts like a cold virus and attacks the respiratory system, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said. But symptoms, which include fever and a cough, are severe and can lead to pneumonia and kidney failure.
May 28, 2013 (CIDRAP News) – Saudi Arabia reported today that five more people have been infected with the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), as if to underline yesterday's warning from the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) that the novel virus is a global threat.
With today's Saudi announcement, the unofficial global case count has reached 49; the death toll stands at 24, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Unofficially, Saudi Arabia has had 37 cases, with 18 deaths.
The WHO plans to send a second team to Saudi Arabia in coming weeks to help investigate the mysterious virus, according to a May 25 Arab News story that quoted Chan. The source of the pathogen remains unknown, but several case clusters have shown that it can spread between people in close contact.
Details on deaths
Concerning the five new cases, the Saudi MOH left many questions unanswered, including whether the patients are part of a hospital-centered outbreak of MERS-CoV that began in April in the Al-Ahsa region of Eastern province. The cluster has been reported to include 22 cases with 10 deaths.
The French patient who died became ill on Apr 23, six days after he returned home from a vacation in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Another person contracted the virus after sharing a hospital room with him from Apr 27 to 29.
Stay well and stay informed!
Thanks for sharing this story, although its quite frightening. At this point, all of our remaining symptoms are sinus infection related. We've never had a fever and our cough subsided about a week after it started. I hope I'm not rationalizing this.
Thanks for writing.
Warmest regards,
Jess & Tom