Sick

Saturday, 3-12-11

Sick. That basically describes my day. I went to bed earlier than usual last night because many times I can “sleep off” a headache. I eventually put a Be Kool migraine sheet on my head and took some Tylenol before I went to bed. But this morning when I woke up I still had a headache. That made me a little nervous because I’ve had problems with rebound headaches in the past and really don’t want to go through that again. I decided to take some Tylenol anyway and hoped it would go away. After a little while my headache started to go away but then my stomach wasn’t feeling good. I took some of my homeopathic stuff, ginger, and Tums and hoped for the best. That usually does the trick.

Kathy and the crew with the poo (fertilizer) showed up around 9am. She’d gone early in the morning to get more bags of fertilizer that we’d be delivering to Casa de Zinc and San Isidro. We all piled into the back of the truck and lounged on top of the fertilizer. I wasn’t feeling great but figured it would pass. I laid back on the fertilizer and watched the scenery. It was a different view than I normally get. I took some pictures of the trees above and thought about what El Salvador must have looked like before 95% of the rainforest was destroyed. It’s beautiful now when I see the trees and flowers and colorful birds so I can only imagine how it looked prior to deforestation.

After a while I realized that my stomach wasn’t getting any better. And the bouncing around in the back of the truck with the heat of the sun beating down on me wasn’t helping. But I made the decision to come so I figured I needed to suffer in silence. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep although that didn’t really work out too well. I tried sitting up for a while so my stomach wasn’t sloshing around. I was happy when I saw the familiar landscape of Casa de Zinc. We must be getting close.

We turned off the road onto a smaller road that I recognized and saw a group of people waiting for us. I said hello to some people and took a couple pictures before retiring to a nice log. It felt good to sit down and rest without the bumpiness of the truck and out of the sun. There are 14 families in Casa de Zinc so everyone got their fertilizer fairly quickly. I managed to climb into the back of the truck so we could head for San Isidro. Thank goodness it was only a 15 minutes ride.

There are about 48 families in San Isidro so I knew it would take considerably longer. By then I was feeling really sick and thinking I might need to “be sick” somewhere. I found another log to sit on in the shade. The ladies were worried about the heat and my headache. Blanca came over with a bandana and got it wet. She held it on my forehead for a while. I tried to sit up but really felt like I needed to put my head down. So I tied another bandana around the wet one on my head. Blanca asked if I wanted to lie down inside the truck. I carried myself to the large front seat and laid down. I must have slept for over an hour because by the time I woke up everyone had their fertilizer and the ladies were getting back into the truck.

I wanted to ride in the back of the truck because it was so warm inside. Kathy said it’d cool down once we started moving and that the ladies were worried because the midday sun is so hot. So I stayed where I was and one of Raul’s sons climbed into the driver’s seat. I’m not sure if it was worse for my headache and stomachache to ride inside or outside the truck. It was hot outside so that wouldn’t be good for my headache. However, as I’ve learned from riding in the pickup, it’s bumpier inside the truck than outside which wasn’t going to be good for my stomach. It felt like my insides were sloshing around as we hit every little bump on the road. But again, it was my decision to go so I tried not to complain. Thankfully, returning to the Pastoral house was faster than going out to the communities because we had a lighter load.

As soon as we got back I went inside and got a 7up and water to drink. I grabbed an ice pack for my hip and one to put on the back of my neck. The smell of lunch cooking made me feel sick so I went to my room to rest. I fell asleep a little after 1pm without eating lunch. I woke up a couple times throughout the afternoon but managed to get in a lot of sleep. I figure that if I added up all the times I’ve been here that I’ve spent almost 4 months of my life here thus far. And I’ve never been sick before. Not even when I accidentally drank unpurified water last year.

When I finally decided to get up it was almost 6pm. Kathy and Cecilia had left for San Salvador at 4:30pm to pick up medication and other medical supplies that the medical delegation brought. I had some bread and a plain corn tamale for dinner. It was light and filled me up without making me feel sick. I sat at the table with Idalia and Blanca for a while as I worked on my computer. After a while I could feel my eyes getting tired as I finished up my blog from Friday. I hauled my computer and other things into my room. I was done with my blog and was asleep by 9:30pm. Hope tomorrow is better.

Kathy went early to be there as they loaded the trucks

Yeah, right

Barefoot

In front of the Pastoral House

Lounging on fertilizer

Being silly

Hello Kathy!

The second truck

It was a slow ride

Cool trees

I love those leaves

Neat view

That one has fruit

Another kind of fruit

Getting ready to unload

Fertilizer for all

Heavy load

Ready to collect signatures

Taking a rest

Sign here please

Fingerprints

Strong!

2 sacks of fertilizer

There goes 220 pounds

Waiting for mom

I like license plate pictures

Just a regular ball of sunshine

So happy

Watching the trucks arrive in San Isidro

Kathy took pictures of the people receiving fertilizer

Lots of bags

Waiting to go home

Helping to unload

Carrying it away

Hello there

Collecting signatures

Watching everything happen

Playing on the fertilizer cart

Almost done

Nap time

Passed out in the truck

God cares for me

Not a mercedes

Is it time to go back yet?

On the way back to Berlin

Driving us home

Pretty view