Shortly after checking in, I was attacked by the hosts' dog. This happened because the co-host William allowed the dog, which was unleashed and very aggressive, to enter the guesthouse without asking. The dog jumped on me and made a deep scratch on my left forearm that has now left a permanent scar.
William said that the dog is usually "always" leashed around guests, so I don't understand why he unleashed it that day or why he also allowed it to come inside the guesthouse after giving me a tour. I re-read the listing and saw that it notes "one dog on property but will not have access to your space unless invited." The host failed to follow his own guideline.
While the incident may have been an honest mistake, what really appalled me was William's reaction and response. When I told him about the injury, he was very disrespectful to me and dismissive of my concerns.
I was concerned about the possibility of infection and disease, such as rabies. When I expressed this, William said some very rude things to me. I believe he was trying to minimize and downplay the situation so as to cause him as little trouble as possible. He was unwilling to take responsibility for an incident caused by his own negligence. He seemed more preoccupied with whether I was "going to sue" them, in his own words.
This incident was very distressing and emotionally trying for me. I was faced with a health emergency on my first day of traveling alone in an unfamiliar and isolated region. Because of poor cell reception and the unreliable guesthouse wifi, and because William did not offer me the help that I asked for, I had a hard time finding information on where to go to seek medical treatment or directions. William was quite literally the only person that I could rely on in that time of crisis. It was incredibly demoralizing to be treated so disrespectfully and with such lack of regard, and to be left to handle this kind of situation alone.
In the end, I drove myself late at night to the closest emergency room where I was examined by a physician. The following day, I left the property and cut my trip short. I felt I could not stay in a place where the host had shown so little regard for my wellbeing and safety.
Two weeks after the incident, I'm applying scar cream everyday in hope that it will fade. I'm still waiting to receive the emergency room bill and I intend to ask William and Lori for reimbursement when it arrives.
I am honestly so shocked and shaken by how disrespectfully I was treated by William and how he thought such treatment was acceptable to display to a person staying at his guesthouse, and furthermore, a person undergoing a critical emergency.