Un montón de pastillas

Unfortunately, I have nothing too exciting to blog about because the ¨food poisoning¨ that I referred to last time ended up being a hard-fought 2 week battle with... amoebas!

I can now check that off of my Peace Corps Experiences list.

The reason it took so long was that I originally waited a few days to see if it was food poisoning, and then the doctors thought it was a bacterial infection and put me on a 5 day antibiotic.  When the problems persisted, I had to go to the doctor in La Esperanza and wound up on a carefully measured cocktail of basically every potent stomach drug known to man.

After taking 8 pills a day for almost a week, I can confidently say that I am amoeba-free, but I am just now getting over the food intolerances brought on by the medicines.  For about a week, I was getting awful cramps anytime I ate anything, probably because every fiber of my stomach and intestine was destroyed.

One thing I did learn from this experience is how wonderful and hospitable the people are in my site.  My host family was, in fact, TOO nice while I was sick, incessantly trying to feed me when I came out into the common area.  I kept having to hole up in my room because I was afraid if I opened the door for anything but running to the bathroom, they would force some sort of refresco or fried food on me.

Now that I am feeling better, I'm trying to get back into work and hoping that my counterparts still remember that I exist!  Today we had a lengthy chorus practice, and things will be picking up again next week.  Getting involved with music has been really fun (my host parents have lent me a guitar and are also trying to find a marimba for me), and I'm excited to finally start the exercise group.  Next week, a group of us will be giving HIV charlas to youth and then painting the health center.  Pair that with the wat/san evals I did those first few days, and it's hard to believe that I'm a business volunteer.

As we near the one month mark of being in site, I can say that I am feeling at home here.  Eventually I will find some work that has to do with Negocios, but until then, I am content passing the time and getting to know more people.  That is, as long as that time doesn't include amoebas or the blasted creature in my bedroom that keeps eating my chocolate (I do NOT want to talk about it).