E.D. & Antigua

             So there was a bit I did not say about my birthday...

At Xocomil while showering I accidentally swallowed some of the shower water, which unless chlorinated, is a bad idea in many countries due to bacteria.

So on the way home I had some bad gas to say the least. And by the time I got home i was not feeling great. So I got in bed feeling nauseas and then threw up (projectile vomit) in to the garbage can. Then for the rest of the night I was tossing cookies and was visited multiple times by ED (explosive diarrhea) and slept off and on through out the night for periods of 20 minutes to 1 hour - constantly waking up in my own - well, you know... then vomiting until I could not vomit any more and there were only dry heaves. 

So after 12 hours, the next morning I went to a clinic recommend by the Cooperativa Spanish School and thank goodness the doctor was a good one. I got 2 bags of IV fluid with antibiotics. I was only there about two hours, but it felt like all day and the whole time I did not want to move. On the other hand, I was extremely restless and shaky which was miserable. They left the IV needle in my arm over night just in case they needed it the next day, which sucked because I could not use my left arm for anything. 

The next morning they put more antibiotics in through the IV they left in my arm and gave me a shot in the butt for good luck. I pretty much stayed in bed for the the next 2 days then on the 3rd day I ate some meat (which I never should have done) and got bad indigestion and an upset stomach since I was still too weak to digest it. But then I took what I ate slow and got a lot better from there. 

Having been sick most of the week and only having one class left at the spanish school we decided it would not be worth it and left for Antigua. I have been in Antigua for a good part of 3 days now and I'm leaving tomorrow at 4:00AM for Copan, Honduras. 

Antigua iis very different from San Pedro, I have barely seen any tin or plastic roofs and everything is nice and fixed up. There is much more money here than in San Pedro and the only Mayans that are here, are the ones who travel from the highlands to sell things. The rest are the desendants of the spanish or mixed blood (ladinos). But, Antigua has more tourists than anyone else, same thing as NYC - it seems like there are more visitors there than actual New Yorkers. 

Constantly while sitting in cafes Indians come in and go up to each person trying to get them to buy something, but if you look at any of the nicer restaurants that turists would go to there are gaurds with guns at the door to keep all the solicitors out.  

            This is Mt. Pacaya a vocano over looking antigua which actually just erupted that day, according to the news. I thought the news said you could see plumes of smoke 3 miles high, but we just thought this was a cloud at the top... so I dont know what it is, really.

Maria (my homestay mother) surprised me and made me some traditional shorts for my birthday. How do I look? (:

 

I went to a chocolate museum that told about the plant and that cacao (not cocoa) was consumed by the Mayans as a bitter drink and is now used to make a type of chocolate.  

Here I am grinding cacao beans in the chocolate museum.

This is a cacao pod, each one containes 20-60 beans.

Breakfast at our hostel in Antigua. - Posada de Don Quijote

Relaxing at our new hotel in Copan, Honduras after a day of travel. Its a lot hotter here. Im going to bed earlier tonight.  I think we are going to the ruins tomorrow - yipee!