At some point during our travels, Montezuma* will undoubtedly have his revenge. However, we are taking all possible measures to delay or at least minimise the impact.

After an initial visit to our doctor, we worked out a schedule for all the vaccinations.

• Yellow fever (at the Institute for Tropical Medicine in Antwerp)
• Hepatitis A & B (two shots before we leave and one shot when we are back)
• Tetanus, diphtheria and polio (one shot)
• Typhus (also one shot)

Yesterday we got our lasts shots before leaving. Here are some shots (pun intended) of that:

Next to the shots, we also stocked up on pills.

• Lariam for (well, against) malaria. We tested the pills last week because they can make some people hallucinate or have really bad nightmares. I only had a dream about having a nightmare, so it does not really count.
• Diamox to deal with altitude sickness. We will be reaching heights of over 4,000 meter, so best to be prepared!
• Azithromycine EG for when Montezuma is knocking on the door and Imodium is just not enough

On top of  the heavy stuff, we also loaded up on enough medication to open up a roadside pharmacy.

• Epsipam (muscle pain)
• Cedium (disinfectant)
• Vicks VapoRub (if we get a cold or if the neighbourhood smells bad)
• Bepanthol (rash or irritation)
• Voltaren (muscle pain)
• Paracodine (cough)
• Rhinisan (congested nose)
• Strephen (throat)
• Nurofen (small headache)
• Dafalgan (medium headache)
• Ibuprofen (extra large headache)
• Naproxen (the mother of all headaches and small hangovers)
• Hirudoid (bruises)
• Mosquito repellent (50% DEET, supposedly the good stuff)

And it all fits in one bag!

Life’s just much too hard today
I hear every mother say
The pursuit of happiness just seems a bore
And if you take more of those, you will get an overdose
Doctor please, some more of these! 
Outside the door she took four more

* Moctezuma II (c. 1466 – 29 June 1520), also known as Montezuma, was the ninth tlatoani or ruler of Tenochtitlan, reigning from 1502 to 1520. The first contact between indigenous civilizations of Mesoamerica and Europeans took place during his reign, and he was killed during the initial stages of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, when Conquistador Hernán Cortés and his men fought to escape from the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan. Montezum’s revenge is the colloquial term for any cases of traveler’s diarrhea contracted by tourists visiting Mexico. (source: Wikipedia)