That´s right on Christmas day I realized I had some new friends: Giardia and Salmonella. More about them a later....
But first, let´s go back two weeks. Two Sundays ago the three of us got a kitten from someone on the street. True it will have only been with us for two weeks by the time we leave Cusco but that´s okay because it´s always a good idea to have a cat around for the holidays. (She´ll go to Ruben when we leave)
We named the cat "Estrellita" or "Starshine" (it´s a long story that involves Willy Wonka and the two girls in my house.) When we first got her she meowed non-stop (because she was obviously suffering from some feline illness) and she was going to the bathroom all over the house and she was really edgy.
Well after about five or six days she calmed down, got better, quit meowing and now she is as nice and sweet a cat as any you could find and she even poops in her box.
On Saturday we went to a real live South American Fútbol game. The team from Cusco, Cienciano, is one of the best in Peru (and in South America apparently) and they played the team from Lima, Alianza. We went with some of Ruben´s family and Juan Carlos.
It was a fun game and Cienciano won 1-0. It was crazy to have all these people packed together in a stadium with people sitting in the stairways creating a gigantic mass of people all the way around the stadium. It reminded me of Hunter High´s auditorium.
Finally Christmas Eve day came along and the girls sang a musical number in church while I accompanied. That evening we had some of Ruben´s family, Juan Carlos and Gustavo (a new member) over for a Christmas Eve dinner party. We watched the Polar Express and then at midnight we had our feast of chicken and mashed potatoes. They treat Christmas like new years here with a countdown on the radio and fireworks and everything at the stroke of twelve. It was different.
After dinner we all exchanged gifts and then the Peruvians all went dancing while we Americans went to bed.
Ruben, being an excellent carpenter, made me a nice napkin holder made of swans. He made Tammie this beautiful box.
On Christmas morning we lined up youngest to oldest on the stairs to see what Santa brought. We exchanged our presents from each other and then talked to the family back in the States on the phone. The girls gave me a certificate for a 30 minute massage at a nearby massage parlor.
It was Christmas Eve night that I got the chills and woke up with a fever, my new friends had kicked in.
The day after Christmas one of my students who is a tour guide invited the three of us to the Inca Salt Mines. So we took a bus early in the morning to the Sacred Valley with Carlos, my student, and his two kids. We walked around the salt mines which have been used as such from the days before the Incas to today.
My new friends came along as well. I felt it.
I still felt sick after three days and so I went to the clinic on Wednesday evening and saw a doctor. They did some tests and it turns out I have Giardia and some form of Salmonella. Nothing serious though, so she gave me a prescription for some anti-parasite pills and some antibiotics and sent me on my way.
I feel fine today.
Well, this will probably be my last post from Cusco as we will be leaving for Bolivia on Tuesday.
Nos vemos.
1 Deep thoughts:
Nate,
Sorry about the salmonella. Mom always said those raw eggs we used to put in milkshakes at home would catch up with us. As for the giardia, we hope everything turns out OK in the end!
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