7th week. Jungle camp.

Rotten Monday (Jan 20, 2020)

The wind blew all night. Nevertheless, we managed to sleep quite well. We have no plans for today. At some point, we wanted to drive directly to Seville. We originally planned to visit a proper parking space. However, since we were already at the campsite, we decided that a parking lot would do. Save money.

We chose a parking lot on a supermarket premises. The comments said that it is safe and good to park here. It should take approximately 4km by bike to get to the city center. But first, we relaxed and started our seventh week. Wilma and I hung out in the camper. Mathias was busy with lunch. We had paella one last time. Anna-Lucia's family already said goodbye and Laura and Paul drove ahead of us. It was already 3 pm when we finally started our way.

Arriving in Camas (a suburb of Seville), we took the opportunity to park at a shopping center. First, we visited Decathlon. Wilma got a new ball. The old one was just a plum. Afterwards, we went to the supermarket. It was huge. The coolest thing was that they had small bicycles for children. You could take them for free. Wilma saw this and immediately got excited. She had never been on a bike before. She hopped on and started riding. She was very proud. Of course, the bike had training wheels. Wilma had a lot of fun and raced through the store like a wild child. We had trouble keeping an eye on her. We bought a few things and eventually went back to the camper. The day ended unspectacularly.

Seville - Tourist hub. (Jan 21, 2020)

After breakfast, we took the bikes to Seville. The ride led through piles of garbage and over a river of green-gray sludge. When we arrived in the city, we parked our bikes in a small corner. From here, we explored the city on foot. Small streets, lots of people, dog poop, and bad air led us through the city in search of the Seville Cathedral. We wanted to treat Wilma to a church again. On the way there, we passed a tourist information center. Here we bought a city map for 1.00 Euro. When we arrived at the cathedral, we noticed that it was different here. Very, very many tourists. Horse carriages and drivers who wanted to take the tourists. Goat herders with pieces of hedge in their hands and a mega line to get into the cathedral. We had never seen anything like it and actually didn't want to.

Well, we managed to talk Wilma out of the horse carriage. But not the cathedral. After all, we were still looking for Brother Jacob, just like weeks ago. However, before we joined the line, we were approached. Wilma and I were standing at the edge. Waiting for Mathias, who was checking the entrance fee for the church. Then they came. A woman with a green twig in her hand. Suddenly, I had the thing in my hand. She spoke to me in Spanish. Grabbed my hand and showed something. Talked and talked. Then came the second woman. Same game with Mathias. I kept moving towards the wall behind me. In my head, I thought, "I hope this is not a scam to steal from people". No, no...not that, but to get money. After talking non-stop for what felt like 5 minutes, they asked for money. Mathias immediately said no. Then one of them started - she also had a child who was hungry, etc. Great. Oldest trick in the book and I felt sorry. Took out the wallet and gave her 2.00 Euros. I thought to myself, well, then she'll be happy. Ha, wrong thought. She wanted more, specifically 5.00 Euros per person. I got angry. I told her in English - either she takes the 2.00 Euros now or she leaves it and doesn't get any money. Annoyed, we moved on and sought refuge in the line for the cathedral. 24.00 Euros later, we were inside the church. Impressive and huge. Really great. Wilma and I searched every room and corridor for Brother Jacob. Mathias tried to understand the church with the audio guide. After the fifth angel, the third Jesus (picture), and Mary, Wilma said, "I've already seen them"... Thank god we found Brother Jacob in a painting. We convinced the child. There was something else strange. A line of people stood directly in the church waiting for something. We tried to find out what it was. Then we also lined up. To our disappointment, we stood in front of a large mirror that allowed you to take a selfie including the ceiling view. Great. Done. We decided to leave the churches and go eat something. The courtyard with orange trees led us outside. Before that, the bells rang and on the church tower, we saw Brother Jacob. Honestly, they were just visitors of the church tower but Wilma doesn't know that.

We walked around and ended up in a typical tapas bar. Bulls were on the wall and the atmosphere in the place was nice and authentic. We ordered a juice for the child and two beers and 6 different tapas for ourselves. However, we lost track. Didn't know what and how many we had actually ordered. There was nothing for Wilma again. The child ate bread rolls and some meat.

After strengthening ourselves, we wanted to see some of Sevilla outside the tourist areas. We got a coffee and an ice cream for the child and strolled through small and narrow streets. Wilma was doing great. We had to carry her very little. We were worried, unnecessarily.

We had enough of Seville. Honestly, we had somehow imagined it differently. Maybe we took the wrong paths. We found it nice, but we have seen nicer small towns in the past weeks.

On the way to the bikes, we bought a road map of Morocco at a bookstore.

On our way back to the camper, we passed a very large new building. Here, apparently, you could drive all the way up and look over Seville. We also wanted to do that. Disappointingly, the ride to the top would cost 8.00 Euros per person, so we didn't go up but went back to the camper. We had spent enough money and were exhausted from the crowds, which really stressed us.

The horror begins. (Jan 22, 2020)

In our travel report from last week, we briefly mentioned the many bites on my body. They didn't go away. Every day, I complained and wondered again. Mathias and I thought and searched and searched. Found nothing. In the end, we were at the point where, on the evening of January 22, we drew a circle around each bite with a pen to find out if there were actually new bites. And indeed, there were new ones, and Mathias also had several bites now. That morning, immediately after getting up, Mathias examined our bed. Found nothing. But there had to be an explanation for it. We thought about what we could do and decided to look for a pest control expert in Seville. Thanks to Google, we quickly found one. We went to see him. 30 minutes later, we were in an industrial area in eastern Seville. We didn't meet a pest control expert, but two office workers instead. As so often in Spain, they didn't speak English. So we tried to explain ourselves with the help of a translation app. After a long back and forth, they said they would call us and let us know when a pest control expert would inspect the camper. We parked at a parking lot nearby and waited for the longed-for call. In vain. We had lunch. Still no call. We played. Still no call. Mathias crawled up into our bed again. Found a small fly. By now, we were convinced that we had bed bugs. He took the insect with a cloth and went back to the office. The ladies were helpful and examined the bug with a magnifying glass. The answer: they are not bed bugs. They don't know what it is. But no bed bugs. They told us to simply vacuum everything thoroughly and change the bedding. Done. Naturally, we researched as much as possible and read and read. Speculated and wondered where we could have gotten these creatures from.

By chance, we were in touch with Laura and Paul. I told them about our problem. It turned out that Laura and Paul had a similar problem. They also did some research and believed they had fleas. Naturally, we concluded that we must have gotten the bugs at our beautiful spot on the beach, because that's where we met them. We pondered how. No idea. But there are two logical possibilities.

1. While collecting garbage. Upon arrival, Wilma and I collected garbage directly in bushes and hedges and everything else. The garbage bag was not completely full, so it hung on our bike luggage rack all day. The door to the garage was open all the time. They could have moved in here.

2. Near the trash cans, there were two or three old mattresses. You had to pass them directly if you wanted to reach the bins. Maybe this is why the mattresses were there and the bugs took their chance on a new bed. We might have brought the bugs into the camper on our shoes or clothes.

Tiny white creatures. (Jan 23, 2020)

Our night was not good. You constantly feel something crawling. It's also the head that doesn't tick properly anymore. But the thought of having any bugs in your bed is really unpleasant. At least for us. Of course, we hoped that the women were right and our cleaning was sufficient. But it wasn't. We had new bites again in the morning. So Mathias examined everything again before breakfast. Found little white creatures crawling in a crack in our bed. He tried to catch one, but didn't succeed. With full annoyance from this back and forth, we drove directly in front of the pest control expert's office with the camper. Mathias went inside. Described his discovery and came back with an appointment at 4:30 pm. So we waited and continued to speculate. Time passed slowly, unlike any other time on our journey. By now, Mathias was sure that it must be bed bugs. We thought about what we had to do now and, of course, we were afraid of the costs for a potential extermination, among other things.

Finally, it was shortly before half past four. So we drove back to the office and Carlos, the pest control expert, came out. Luckily, he spoke English. So we tried to understand each other as best as we could. We only understood half, if even that much, and he probably didn't understand us properly either. However, he confirmed our suspicion of bed bugs and suggested a "cleaning". This would be done the next morning at 8 am. After that, we were not allowed to enter the camper for at least 12 hours. Afterwards, everything had to be thoroughly cleaned and washed. The poison settles everywhere, and the bugs can also be anywhere - clothes, blankets, pillows, etc. Everything had to be washed at 60 degrees and, most importantly, dried at the highest temperature in the dryer for at least 30 minutes. This way, any bugs there would also be killed. We packed everything possible into the cupboards, such as books, and took a few things with us and handed over the camper. Then we looked for a hotel nearby. It was raining. But we didn't care. We wanted to save the money for a taxi. So we walked the 2 km. We would have to walk this way more often now.

The hotel was nice, and we prayed that we could go back to a bug-free camper and continue our journey.

Special vacation in the hotel (Jan 24, 2020)

The night was really bad. The head couldn't sleep, and it was crawling and tingling everywhere. We tried to keep up the spirits, especially for Wilma, and made the best of our situation. We enjoyed breakfast. Then we had to go back to the office to drop off our car key. The camper was parked there in the garage and needed to be moved. Since we were not allowed back in the camper until Saturday, they had to do it. An employee drove the camper out, with gas masks and everything. Unfortunately, Carlos was not there. So we had to communicate again with a translator. It took ages until we had asked everything and, above all, understood it. However, the disillusionment was great when we saw that the skylights were not taped. We had explained to Carlos the day before that they absolutely had to be sealed so that the gas cannot escape. Windows in campers and trailers are forced ventilation. The employee told us that he had taped something and that it wasn't gas, but something else. We don't know. And we would see the taping the next day.

We went back to the hotel with a bad feeling. Lazed around in bed and watched TV. Took baths constantly. Showered extensively. Wilma loved it. Among other things, she was very fond of the bidet in the bathroom. She had to wash her little butt constantly.

We had chosen half board, so we didn't have to worry about dinner. However, dinner wasn't served until 8 pm. The evening before, it wasn't a problem because we arrived at the hotel late. But we didn't want to make Wilma wait so long again. So the child got something in the room. Picnicking is her thing anyway. We ate our dinner in the room as well. The bug issue didn't end. Google provided a lot of information, and our heads were filled with questions. We also knew that the next day wouldn't be a walk in the park. We needed a laundromat and mattress covers against bugs. We had to clean our entire house. Wash all the laundry, including duvets and pillows. And everything had to be done by the evening, so that we could sleep in the camper again.

Frayed nerves. (Jan 25, 2020)

We tried to spend the morning as calmly as possible. We ate our fill at the breakfast buffet. Watched children's TV and danced in front of the TV. Wilma took another bath and then we went back to the camper. Contrary to our expectations, it didn't smell at all in the camper. Nevertheless, we aired it out thoroughly. Then we headed to a laundromat. We wanted to at least wash the duvets and pillows. And so we did. The laundromat was crowded. We put everything in two large machines and then continued. During the drive, I spotted a bedding store, and we looked for mattress covers there. Again, we spent a lot of money. Then we got something for lunch. While Wilma was eating, I went back to the laundromat to put the things in the dryer. An excited Spanish woman greeted me. No idea what she was saying. But she scolded and scolded and scolded. She didn't calm down anymore. Our machines were done, and apparently, it had been a few minutes already. That upset her because she couldn't wash her clothes. I took everything out. Of course, no dryer was free. There was still a man in front of me. So I patiently queued up. Ideally, I would have liked to use both dryers to finish quickly. However, to avoid a fight with the others, I only took one dryer and dried everything one by one in several cycles. 20 Euros later, everything was dry. I think I spent 3 hours in the laundromat. In between, I regularly checked on Mathias and Wilma. Wilma played and drove Mathias crazy. Mathias wiped and cleaned. Then we moved on. Back to the supermarket parking lot where we stood a few days ago. We knew there was a cleaning service here. The goal was to drop off all our laundry there. And that worked out. 37.50 Euros for a whole shopping cart full of laundry. That's nothing. And for the first time that day, we were happy. Wilma wanted to ride her bike again. However, all the bikes were in use. So she was able to ride a small horse carousel for two rounds at least. Mathias and I were exhausted. We were just spending money left and right. A bottomless barrel. And it wouldn't be the end.

We also had a short visit from Pablo, who brought us our mail with the insurance card for Morocco, the gas connection and adapter, and our health insurance cards. He tried to cheer us up. Gave us a tip about where we should definitely go in Seville the next day.

Contrary to our expectations, we went to bed relaxed. We slept quite well. If you disregard the traffic chaos around our parking lot. In the end, we were completely blocked in, but that was okay.

Beautiful Seville - Take three. (Jan 26, 2020)

The first thing we did early in the morning? We checked ourselves for new bites. None. Phew, a relief. It seems that everything will be fine.

Right after breakfast, we took the bikes to Seville. We parked the bikes in front of the entrance of Maria Luisa Park and walked through the park among marathon runners and tourists. A beautiful day. A beautiful park. A really bad-tempered child. Mathias and I were quite relaxed and looking forward to a distraction from the bugs. Wilma was a total disaster. She sulked, screamed, and showed her whole repertoire. People were already looking at us on the Spanish Square. Asians laughed themselves to tears over the horned toddler and started taking pictures of the blonde girl lying on the ground. We were more relaxed than yesterday, but our nerves were on edge. Very much so. So we dragged the grumpy child through the park. At times, we would have liked to leave her behind. Of course, we didn't do that. Three hours later, we rode the bikes back to the camper. Cooked and tidied up a bit. Wilma was put to bed at 6 pm and fell asleep quickly. Maybe she was just tired.

We looked forward to Monday. We knew that we could pick up our laundry around 3 pm and wanted to either continue in the afternoon or early Tuesday morning.

Things turned out differently. We picked up the laundry and continued, but only to the pest control expert. We booked our hotel for another two days and now hope. We were and still are on the verge of giving up. This is our last attempt to get rid of the bugs here in Spain. However, we also know that we will have to start washing and cleaning again from scratch on Wednesday.

We wish for a better week, our 8th week of travel.