Bitten to bits

[Tulips]

Just letting fellow travelers know that the Albergue in Pobena (Camino del Northe) seems to have some non-paying residents that only accept blood donations. Perhaps it was just my bed, but please be warned nevertheless. I would have overlooked the issue but one of them got me on the eyelid, so the hive is annoyingly obstructing the view.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

Please do not overlook this and ALWAYS tell the albergue. If they don't know, they can't do anything about it.

As to why my email is now in bold, my appologies, I don't know what just happened...

edited by moderator - mine does that too sometimes

 

[Tulips]

Well it's kinda puzzling, cos my friend doesn't have a mark on her. Maybe my blood was sweeter. I only realized this evening, i didn't itch until 12 hours after leaving. I can only pray i didn't carry any of them with me

 

[dougfitz]

Were you able to let the hospitalero know? Telling us here let's a few people know. Letting the hospitaleros know makes sure something can be done about it for everyone visiting the albergue.

 

[Roger B]

If you haven't informed the hospitaleros please contact them leaving it will only make the problem worse.

 

[Tulips]

I will do my best to let them know, I've no Spanish really so it might be a bit more difficult than just calling up

 

[grayland]

Also...it is very likely you are carrying hitchhikers on to the next stop which will then become infected. That is the circle of the Camino Bedbug problem.
It really is important that you take the time and effort to decontaminate. If you are carrying either bugs or eggs in your pack or kit..you can infect virtually every albergue/hotel/pension you visit.
Sad...but true.
The really good news is that the heat wave now on the route allows a very simple way to get rid of them. Put your pack and everything! in a black garbage bag and leave it in the hot sun for at least a day. You need to even put the clothes you are wearing and should borrow some from friends or from the "slop" box at the next albergue.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

It took a good two days more my bite marks to show up. I was at the airport when they started to show and I was terrified I was beining them home. From the airport I went directly to the commercial laundry place and had them wash that could be washed in super hot water ( hospies will gladly help you do that so they don't get bedbugs, just ask them for help). When I walked home I went straight to the bathroom and undressed in the tub, put clothes in plastic bag and washed that at home. Boots and backback, which cannot be washed went in plastic bags and were put in the freezer for at least 3 weeks. I think I did 6 weeks!

Now I leave a change of clothes with whom ever is picking me up and change at the airport, putting everything in a large plastic bag and head to the cleaners!

Btw, we all react differently to these beasts. If you get quite the flare up, ie more than your typical mosquito bite head to the first farmacia and ask where to find a doctor. Some people need cortisone based meds for this.

For more info on how to manage these you may be interested in this website:

http://pestcontrolcanada.com/how-to-get-rid-of-bed-bugs/

I hope the rest of your Camino is bite free. You may want to purchase some permtryn at a local farm supply store and spray your backpack and the outside of your sleeping bag if you are carrying in in this heat. Not sure I would spray a liner as it would be in direct contact with my skin.

 

[Tulips]

I did spray my backpack and my boots and my sleeping bag with permithrin-based repellent before heading off, but they must be immune to this. I asked my friend to contact the Albergue where i got this from. Gotta figure out how to kill the traveling ones now, thanks for all your advice. I don't think I'll go near another albergue after this anyway, I'd only act like I've ocd, checking every speck of dust on the bed etc. I feel disgusting when look at my skin, I've fingerprint sized hives in clusters and i think anyone who sees me must know what it is. Wearing long clothes to cover up in this heat is tough, especially because i love the sun on my skin. I'm really disappointed. Whinge over.

 

[IngridF]

There is a topical cream you can get in any farmacia. .just show the bites...the cream settles the itch and brings down the swelling.

 

[Pato777]

Just letting fellow travelers know that the Albergue in Pobena (Camino del Northe) seems to have some non-paying residents that only accept blood donations. Perhaps it was just my bed, but please be warned nevertheless. I would have overlooked the issue but one of them got me on the eyelid, so the hive is annoyingly obstructing the view.

Quite a common thing in thehigh season

 

[JeepsNRoses]

I did spray my backpack and my boots and my sleeping bag with permithrin-based repellent before heading off, but they must be immune to this. I asked my friend to contact the Albergue where i got this from. Gotta figure out how to kill the traveling ones now, thanks for all your advice. I don't think I'll go near another albergue after this anyway, I'd only act like I've ocd, checking every speck of dust on the bed etc. I feel disgusting when look at my skin, I've fingerprint sized hives in clusters and i think anyone who sees me must know what it is. Wearing long clothes to cover up in this heat is tough, especially because i love the sun on my skin. I'm really disappointed. Whinge over.

If you won't go near another Alberque does that mean you'll be staying in other types of accommodations? Hitchhikers, eggs & all?

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

While warnings are appreciated I believe they should be taken with a grain of salt, ESPECIALLY if the person did not see bed bugs but instead has an itchy and/or swollen spot/s. Many showed me their "bed bug bites" and as a physician I can say few if any looked like bites of any sort.
Most looked like heat rash, drug reaction to abx, NSAIDs, or other meds they were taking, staph infections, and one case of shingles. You can be bit by flies, gnats, Mosquitos, fleas, ticks and spiders to name a few. There's plenty of info on the internet on how to examine a bed for bedbugs, and I did so at each albergue/pension/hotel/parador. I do it in hotels in the US also. You never know. And btw, it's good not to assume bed bugs until other causes are ruled out: a bed bug bite near the eye is unpleasant, shingles near the eye needs an MD exam.

 

[Tulips]

If you won't go near another Alberque does that mean you'll be staying in other types of accommodations? Hitchhikers, eggs & all?

Well i have to live somewhere don't i!? What do you suggest - move in under the bridge or just drop dead?
I bought the bug exterminator spray and left it do the work on all my belongings in the pension bathroom for the next day after finding the bite marks. So far so good, my skin is slowly healing and i haven't seen any new marks, touch wood it stays so.
The reason why i was confident that it's bedbugs was because of the pattern of the bites, my reaction (not the first time encountering them) plus after already knowing it from the signs i caught one inside my sleeping bag (brand new so it couldn't have lived in there before).

 

[IzaJ]

As you seem to be on your way be warrned about the albergue in Comillas, which also has bed-bugs. I have left a note telling them this but I'm not sure if there was anything done. I was there mid August.

Just letting fellow travelers know that the Albergue in Pobena (Camino del Northe) seems to have some non-paying residents that only accept blood donations. Perhaps it was just my bed, but please be warned nevertheless. I would have overlooked the issue but one of them got me on the eyelid, so the hive is annoyingly obstructing the view.

 

[peregrina2000]

I don't think I'll go near another albergue after this anyway, ....

Hi, Tulips, Sorry to hear about the bedbugs, but as someone who has gotten bit twice on two different caminos, I know you can carry on and be just fine. Just be sure to take all the precautions so that you don't carry them with you, which would mean you will be re-infected, and that you will start a colony in your next night's lodging. But you've gotten all of that advice already -- my only point is that albergues have no lock on bed bugs. I got them this year on the Ruta del Ebro, somewhere between day 5 and 9, and I had only been in hoteles and pensiones because there are no albergues! So, don't let your guard down, you can get bed bugs in even the fanciest of hotels, which the New York Ritz Carlton learned to its chagrin. The bed bugs like $600-$2000 rooms just as much as their two legged carriers. Good luck and buen camino!