Being sick in another country sucks

Eck. I´m sick. And I never realized before that being sick in another country would only double your sickness, in a way. I´ve had a really bad head cold with cough and fever for the past two days, unable to go to work, and without anyone to take care of me:-(

I know, I know...I must sound like a baby. But when I was in college, at least I could call my mom to complain to her...or have my roommates around to run to Walgreens to get me Nyquil and Gatorade. Now I have to rely on Corrie. One never thinks about these things before leaving to another country, but it does make a difference. But I was able to rummage through my things and find some lost cold pills and thankfully the Peace Corps medical kit had some cough drops.

But then yesterday, after laying in bed all day, I went outside because the rain was just so pretty, I couldn´t help but look at it (ok...maybe I had taken one too many cold pills...). But as I was sitting there, my neighbor Rosario was like ¨Corrriii?! Estas enferma?!?!?¨ Yes, I am sick Rosario. And she started giving me the list of things I needed to do to feel better: blend an orange with brown sugar, boil it, then put in a hard boiled egg along with two chicken´s feet, say three Hail Marys and run a lap around the building. Syke. But she did give me a number of suggestions, as well as my landlady. All of which I had no idea what they were talking about.

Last night Rosario came over with some warm empañadas (mmmm), a cup of monte tea (literally: plants from the mountain), and a mysterious red liquid in a small tin bowl. With the red liquid, she said I had ¨bathe¨ myself in it, to get rid of my fever. So I figured why not, I had nothing to lose and I was willing to try anything at this point. And sure enough, the plants worked! I felt a lot better when I woke up this morning, still have a nasty cough but at least my fever is gone. I am really turning into a believer of traditional medicine with the cures they have just by using plants and natural resources. (I´ve started using this stuff called sangre de dragon or dragon´s blood, which is a special tree sap, to cure my zits!)

Overall, being sick in a foreign country sucks. But I am finding that if you can overcome being sick, and there are a lot worse ways I could be sick, then everything else is a piece of cake.