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Published: March 6th 2006
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Sacuanjoche
I have taken some beautiful flower photos, being the flower freak that I am. This photo is one I took just outside of the Nautilus Dive Center on Corn Island, the place that Terry went diving with. This is the National Flower of Nicaragua, the Sacuanjoche. The flowers appear first on a bare tree and then the leaves begin to appear before the flowers have finished blooming. The leaves are similar to those of a rubber tree, only a little smaller. The fragrance of the flower is beautiful and it is really a treat to walk by one in bloom. It is easy to understand why it was chosen from the thousands of beautiful wild flowers as the National flower. Hola Familia y Amigos,
We have made it back to the Big Corn Island in the beautiful turquoise caribbean waters. We spent five days here last year and had such a great time we had to return.
We got here on Thursday, the day of travel was real hard on me as I am still not feeling well. The good news (I think) is, it is not Malaria. I had my blood checked and the result was negative. I was able to stop at a clinic in San Juan del Sur, get immediate service, and in less than an hour had my results, for a cost of only $1.80, what a bargain! It was a small price to pay for peace of mind. I felt better just knowing it was not malaria, for a day maybe.
Then I traveled and by the time I got to Corn Island I was really feeling bad. We spent our first day just sitting on the beach because I had no energy to do anything else. The next morning I discovered the answer to my deblilitating illness in the form of red spots all over my body, a virus that in Spanish
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I think I have found the cure to all my ailments. is called sarampión. In English we call it rubeola virus, or simply measles. As soon as we saw the spots we knew what it was because while we were in San Juan del Sur the first time the baby in the house came down with rubeola so we knew when and where I was exposed. This baby was 1 1/2 years old born in the states and never immunized because the mother was concerned about possible side effects of immunization. She was a registered nurse and was she ever freaked out that here baby had measles. Of course the baby went through it with nothing more than a couple days of fever and a few days of spots. Apparently it is much worse on adults. Now I know I had measles as a kid and I thought once you had it you were immune. Apparently not! It has really kicked my butt. Of course I had to get on the internet and check it all out and did my symptoms fit the description like a glove, all except for length of time from exposure to the time of the presence of the spots, Terry theorized that the vitamin and immune
Terry and Dive Master ¨Chema¨
Terry returning from his diving expedition. I got a kick out of watching the two of them emerge from the sea sporting their big bellys. Terry had a great time, says the colors were beautiful, the water clear, and the fish abundant. They did not even need to wear wetsuits as the water temperature was very comfortable. I look forward to seeing the photos and will upload a couple in the next few days. By the way, Terry is the big belly on the left. support therapy that I have been on since leaving home (in an effort to stay healthy) tried to fight off the virus and delayed it's appearance.
While at the internet cafe reading about measles it came to my attention that I was highly contagious and the place was full of kids and adults. I left quite concerned that I might start an epedemic on the Island. I mentioned this to our hotelier, who also owns the internet cafe. He told me not to worry as there was as the health department had gone through the country last fall in an effort to immunize everyone, even if they had been immunized before. He said to his knowledge everyone on the island and the mainland were required to have the immunization. Apparently they are not able to leave the Island without proof that they were immunized. Made me feel better. Today is day three of the spots, they are fading and not as itchy. Hopefully the energy level will return as the spots leave, I would really like to see the headache and body aches leave sooner. It is worst at night when I get woken several times a night with terrible aches and pains and that awful headache. It was kind of a relief to see the spots because I knew than that the end was in sight.
I am still alive and kicking though and looking forward to touring the island in a few days. Terry is going stir crazy waiting for me to feel better, I keep telling him to go find things to do and leave me alone. He keeps touching me telling me I feel better, which only made the spots itch more, and his timing is always such that he comes to check on me right when I have finally dozed off to sleep. I finally talked him into going diving today which gave me half a day all to myself to rest uninterrupted.
He was so excited when he came back from diving. He was able to do two dives and said they were more spectacular and beautiful than the dives he did in Playa del Carmen and Cozumel where he got certified last year. The divemaster took digital photos so Terry will get a copy on CD so he can share the experience with me. I will upload some of the photos when we get the CD. It was great to see his excitement about the dives, much better than the worry he had been showing.
It has been nice to be back on Corn Island, I really like the climate and humidity here. It is not as hot as it was on the Pacific and certainly not as windy and dusty. The wind that there is is very refreshing and sometimes I even need to put on a wrap. Luckily the hotel we are staying at, Hotel Best View, has the best chef on the island, so even though I have not been getting around much, I have been eating good. Best food we have had in all of Nicaragua! The hotelier was happy to see us again and has been real warm and welcoming. We haven't made it out dancing yet, which was so much fun last year, but we intend to before we leave the island. Also, we plan to make it out to the Little Corn Island for a day of two before we leave. Little Corn is a smaller island just visible from our hotel room that is smaller and much less developed than Big Corn, kind of like a Gilligan's Island is how the travel sites refer to it. Our hotel room is right on the water and with a big picture window over the ocean that we can keep open and hear the waves and feel the sea breeze. It is just lovely. We are supposed to return to the States a week from Wednesday, so we'd better get busy. I would like to stay longer, to make up for lost time being sick, however, I am looking forward to the comfort of my own home.
Well not to worry, I am coming back to life and you will all see me really soon. I will post a few photos now and more in the next couple days. Hope all is well with each and everyone of you and I look forward to seeing you all again.
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Marie Briggs
non-member comment
Your sun and fun
I'm glad you're better, Kathy. I'd really like to lounge in the sun by the water. Glad you were able to go diving, Tery. Love, Mom