Doctor, Doctor, Gimme The News

One of the joys of living in a foreign country is that they've got some funny little microorganisms running around. Generally you can avoid them by drinking bottled water, thoroughly washing your produce, and avoiding raw foods. Sometimes, though, even that isn't enough to avoid... THE BUGS.

After three days of fever and aches, I finally decided to suck it up and call a doctor. When I told Mary, she went, "OMG, third world doctor?! Was it that bad?" But this doctor is one that works with our school and is apparently a pretty good specialist in internal medicine, so I decided to give it a go.

Guess what? Doctors here make house calls. Only stuffy old ladies and obscenely rich people get house calls back home, but at precisely 2:15 a doctor in a white lab coat showed up at my door, asked me lots of questions, took my vitals, and gravely pronounced, in a few more words, "Yo, you've got some infections. Take these meds. They'll make you better. Also, no eating anything yummy until Sunday."

Then I paid him 100 soles, and dropped about 250 more on my Latin American medications. Thank God for the exchange rate between the dollar and the sol. Still, it cost more than a week's budget. I will never again take my health insurance for granted.

All this was my roundabout way of saying that I'm terribly sorry for having neglected this blog for so long. Still, it probably would not have been wise to try and write while I was having feverish dreams about hosting a dinner party whose fare consisted entirely of pickles and olives. I'm on the mend now though, never fear, so the blog with fun pictures and even more fun stories will hopefully resume before too terribly long.

Until then, I will laugh every time I take a puff of my inhaler which, amusingly enough, is called "Anginovag." Bwahaha. This one goes out to Allie, Krista, Mary, and the D10 crew.