El Dia Seca

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Dia 12
Well, today’s been an interesting day..  I woke up to fireworks as usual today, but instead of firecrackers (los coetes), there was single large booms of bombas (bombs? I don’t know a better translation, but don’t worry, it was just for a Catholic holiday). To my dismay, the water in the entire zona 1 was completely out. No warning, no explanation, no expected time of restoration- jut gone. This presented several problems for me- not only could I not take shower, but using the toilet required me to lug a bucket of water upstairs for any time I wanted to flush. Wednesday and Thursday, my stomach wasn’t really feeling 100%... but I attributed it to my body adjusting to the radical change in my diet here. When I woke up this morning, I was feeling okay, but still a little off. By the middle of classes, I really started to feel tired and yucky, despite having gotten a pretty good night sleep last night. Things went form bad to worse by lunchtime, and I returned home feeling completely wiped out, like I was working on a cold. I took a 2 ½ hour nap and felt a lot better when I woke up, eating some soup and bread for a late lunch. As much as I wanted to take advantage of the beautiful afternoon outside, I decided to stay in and rest, reading my book and napping until dinnertime. The water returned around 5 PM (thank goodness!) and after a shower I felt a LOT better. I had some more soup for dinner, and was just getting ready to head out for my salsa lesson near central park when I got a phoencall from our coordinator, Rachelle. Turns out we had to cancel our salsa lesson, because she had to take Mike, one of our group members, to the hospital. I guess he was having some really severe stomach pain and digestion problems. I don’t think it was anything really severe, but I assume the hospital is the only place open at 8 PM where someone can go. I called the others in the group to let them know about the change of plans, and found out ANOTHER boy in our group, Stephen, was feeling awful all day too! His stomach was giving him problems and he felt feverish and weak most of the afternoon.. After learning this, I started to get pretty worried that we all had gotten something from the pizza we had the day before (ironic, isn’t it? The one time we order “American” food…) But then I talked to Matt, the third boy in our group, and we seemed to be feeling okay. As of now, I have no idea what’s going to happen tomorrow, as we had planned to leave right after lunch on a weekend trip to a lake called Atitlan, a few hours away. I haven’t heard back form Rachelle yet, but the cancelled salsa gave me the opportunity to rest and relax even more, hopefully to knock whatever I’ve got. I have a tiny little container that was given to me right after I got here, nad Julia, my senora, recommended I take a stool sample in the morning so she can take it to a lab to see if I have a parasite or bacteria that requires antibiotics. She has been incredibly sweet and caring through all of this today, I am so lucky to have her as a host! I hope this all blows over as quick as it started, and am already feeling a little better.. fingers crossed for a fast recovery! Buenas noches, besos!!

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