Remember our friend travelbug, part of a couple from the Netherlands who were backpacking in Argentina, and had to deal with bed bugs without a home, freezer, or dryers?

I added a few of their bite photos from flickr to the bite photos page (tab above). This was from their collection (which you can get to via clicking on this photo).

Thanks travelbug / Bassommeijer. Hope the rest of your trip included only the more conventional hospitality “services.”

• bite photos
• Important new page: photos of bed bugs, and signs of bed bugs
• British NHS hospitals have frequent pest infestations, including bed bugs
• bed bug life cycle photo

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Hello,

We are a couple and right now in Ushuaia, Argentina, the end of the world. Right now we are stuck here because we found bedbugs in our bed, 2.
The owner first didn’t believe us, told us they were insect bites form a hike in the national park. But guess, we did’t hike here. Day later we found one adult bedbug, took a picture and showed it to the owner. The owner called a doctor and the doctor told us they where ticks, no worries. We didn’t believe them, we know how ticks
look. We went to the internet to find pictures and yes, bedbugs. Bugs here in general are rare, cats and dogs don’t have fleas for example. So the people here have no experience with bedbugs.

All these things I find on this site is about your home, but our problem is a little different. We want to know what is the best strategy for us. Here in Ushuaia there is no PCO so won’t be able to ask them to help.

This is what we did:

Put all our stuff outside, so if there are bugs right now they cannot bite us anymore, All our clothing is washed, not put in the dryer because most of our syntetic clothing cannot stand hot dryers. Every evening before we go to bed we take a shower and go buttnaked into a new room as far as possible from the first room.
We checked all our stuff, everything that could soke in hot water was soked. Most of it is right now unpacked trying to dry in the rain.
We checked the down sleepingbag for signs, several times didn’t see anything and put it in a plastic bag and sprayed some Raid inside. This is the only insecticide you can find here.

The owners called Buenos Aires and asked advice. Right now some chemicals are coming by bus (not allowed to fly) and they going to smoke out the place. In a week’s time the hostel is closing, smoke the place and then they close all heating and it will be freezing temperatures inside for a couple of months. The hostel is an alone standing building.

Our main concerns are the backpacks. There soaked in boiling water but is this enough?

travelbug
Member
see photos of travelbug’s “Argentinian souvenirs”…

Travelbug, sorry the forum is having problems.

Let me get this straight: you’re now in a room that you believe has no bed bugs? Have you seen any (or carcasses, or black specks or black smudges? The feces can be small and hard like a poppyseed, or damp, or make black stains on clothing, beds etc.)

If your new room is not infested, and you see nothing on your stuff, you may be fine. The most important thing is when you get somewhere else, you try and (as a back-up) treat your stuff again. For example, you could put many things in a dryer, often (though not always) even if they say not to. You can also dry clean (though its best to ask the dry cleaner to keep your items separate). Maybe you can find a company that has a huge freezer and freeze everything for a week (we’re told that -29 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 days kills adults and nymphs).

If you were bitten in the old room, and aren’t bitten now, maybe you are okay.

If you’re still being bitten, or start to be, that will be another matter. The real problem is not so much being exposed to a few bed bugs that might have come with you to a different room. The real problem is if you take those bugs when you leave the hotel. So are you going anywhere after this where you can treat them?

• (Bed bug) service included
• FAQ: dry cleaners and bed bugs
• handy tip: bed bug feces identification
• Penelope Trunk: bed bugs as a lesson in “taming materialism”

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