I Am Ill

It is always when you really need something that you find out if the place you are staying has what you it takes.



My wife woke up with the flu last Sunday, she had a fever and a sour throat. I immediately went into the city to look for the pharmacy open in case of emergency. No open one could be found, the phone numbers of doctors were printed in front of each pharmacy I passed by but the numbers were each time for land lines: I wouldn’t be able to use them to get a doctor to come to my house.



Back in the apartment I called the emergency number if you need a doctor or the fire department, I explained my wife’s symptom and asked if a doctor would come. The woman on the phone told me that the doctors in La Reunion were not making house calls. As I don’t have a driving licence, my wife would have to drive to the hospital or we would have to get a cab. She explained that there were quite a few flu cases all over the island and that paracetamol pills would be the best way to wait till Monday if we couldn’t go to the hospital. My wife was taking the plane back to France on Monday, she needed something so that her condition wouldn’t worsen during the flight. I was explained that we should get something to help empty her nose if needed during the flight.



I decided to go straight to the emergency pharmacy to avoid wasting time at the hospital and quickly get what my wife needed. The person on the phone had told me that it was located close to the supermarket in Saint Paul. Once we got there we found nothing. I called the emergency number again to get the exact address of that pharmacy but the person on the phone wouldn’t give me the address and gave me another phone number to call, the kind where you speak to a box. When I rang that one I got asked the postcode of the city I was located. Here is a stupid system created by someone who has been living on the island for a long time and who didn’t think that tourist would come to the island and call that number. Thankfully I have internet on my phone and got that postcode in no time otherwise we would have had to drive back home to get the postcode of Saint Paul. We finally got the address of the pharmacy and drove another 10 minutes to get to the pharmacy. In all my wife had to drive 30 minutes with an elevated fever just because doctors don’t make house calls on this island and the nearest emergency pharmacy is 30km away.



The shop owners and the island representatives don’t understand why tourism is not increasing on the island, you don’t need to be a genius to figure that out. First of all the island is quite expensive and not always with reason. Tourists want to stay in the western part of the island because it is where the most beautiful beaches are; thus the hotels, bungalows and other places to rent are extremely expensive. Eating in a restaurant can cost you 25€ per person. The shops are closed between 12 PM and 2 PM and they close for the day at 6 PM. In Saint Denis the island capital you can’t get anything to eat after 10 PM. You are dead if you don’t speak French, you will be understood in only a handful of location. The island has a lot to offer but when you are a tourist you come to a place to relax not to get a headache.