Far Cry 2: Malaria and Mike's Bar

I've just bought a copy of Far Cry 2 and have played it for perhaps an hour.  First impressions?  Graphics are incredible: everything looks extremely realistic, and it's nice to see details like bushes and grass moving in the wind, and accurate shadows everywhere.  The framerate is high, with no noticeable slowdown yet.  Controls are pretty good... not quite up to Call of Duty 4 standard, but perfectly adequate.  Negatives?  Well, one so far- getting stuck very early on in the game where I needed to get to Mike's Bar to obtain pills to keep my malaria in check.  A cut scene tells you to proceed to the bar quickly to get the pills... fair enough I thought, drop everything and let's go. But to my frustration halfway to the bar I would have a malarial attack, pass out, and be returned to sit through the entire cut scene again.  Each time I would set out and try a different route, visit a safe house first etc, but nothing made any difference and I would pass out each time.  After cursing the game for half an hour I thought "stuff Mike's Bar and my malaria - I'm just going to go and look for some hidden diamonds".  Lo and behold once I'd found some diamonds my way was clear to drive to Mike's Bar... I got there with no problems at all.  It all seemed a bit illogical to me, and contrary to my expectation of Far Cry 2 being a non-linear game.  I suppose this was all part of the structured 'training' section of the game, but all it has managed to do is make me think this whole Far Cry 2 "malaria" thing might ruin what looks to be a great game...