A Leech in Laos

During our first week in Southeast Asia we took a grueling 8-hour trek through the Bolaven Plateau. We went through what felt like 50 different biomes. We started on a dirt trail and ended encompassed by green all around. We scrambled down muddy rock hills, over huge waterfalls on small rickety wooden bridges, trudged through streams, and made our way through forests of bamboo. 

During the first few hours of our trek through dense jungle, we came upon a clearing. The jungle just seemed to fade away and opened to a foggy clearing with purple flowers, and puddles in moss covered flat rock of the earth. 

It was here where we were first warned about leeches.

We were told not to go into the puddles because that’s where the leeches resided. We were also told that there could be leeches in some of the streams, and to be wary when crossing through any water.

Before we departed from there down the rocky cliffs deeper into the Lao jungle, a local told us to check for leeches, laughing. I didn’t really check; I kind of just looked down at my shoes. 

This hike was life changing. Within the first hour of the trek we had to cross over a strong river on a small wire and we were terrified, we thought it was crazy. 

By the end of the day after zip lining and going over so many waterfalls I had stopped caring, walking across a metal wire hundreds of feet above a gushing waterfall was no big deal. 

I had faced my fear of heights. It got to the point where we would be walking on the edge on the top of 150-200 foot waterfalls and I would feel no fear at all. At one point we were crosse a through little pool at the end of a river that turned into a huge waterfall. The pool was fairly calm and had an amazing view over the entire plateau.

After another hour or so we arrived at the dirt trail in which we had first come from. When we eventually got back to the little base at the end of this trail we met up with our entire group who we had initially started the hike with.

Our leader who we hadn't seen since lunch told everyone that he finally got a leech and we were all laughing because he kept joking about getting one.

I changed into dry clothes and the same leader looks at my foot and goes, “No way - you have a leech.” On the way back I specifically remember when we were climbing I looked and kept seeing a wet leaf on my sock, but thought nothing of it. 

Turns out what I thought was a leaf the whole time was in fact a huge leech. It was about the size of a bottle cap.

I refused to look down as Sam sprayed the leech with bug spray so it would detach from my foot. One of the locals crushed the leech, leaving behind a tiny worm and a huge puddle of blood. 

Fortunately leech bites don't really carry diseases but they do itch like crazy for a very long time. The skin under and the surrounding area of the area of my foot where I was bit were left dark purple-blackish underneath, and the bite didn't stop bleeding for days after. The blood was really thick because of something in the bite - an anticoagulant which made it like goo.

We laughed the whole bus ride back to our hotel as blood soaked my sock.

~Kat

illustrations courtesy of:

naturalaquariums.com

etsy.com