A couple of months after I got there, our buddies S. & A. fell ill. We thought it was just the flu at first, but after a couple of weeks of their getting worse, rather than better, we all were more than a little afraid for them. The problem was, we had no doctor there. All we had was a guy who had spent some time as an army medic. They must have finally loaded the boys up and driven them to the hospital in Jakarta, though I can't imagine what it was like for them to make that arduous trip, as sick as they were.
Word finally made it's way back to us -- both good and bad. On the upside, they weren't going to die, though there were probably times when they had wished they could. The bad news? They had both contracted "a mild case" of Malaria, the one thing they could not immunize us against, and one which could come back to haunt them periodically, for the rest of their lives.
Everyone became much more conscientious about taking their gawd-awful quinine pills after that, rather than relying on those ever popular Gin & Tonics. By the way, did you know that G&T's were introduced by the British East India company? Tonic water contains quinine -- quite a bit back in the 18th century, which made it very bitter tasting. The gin was added to make it more palatable. The tonic water of today contains a much smaller amount, which makes it more pleasant to drink but, as it turns out, not so good at preventing Malaria.
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