Things You Don´t Write Home to Mom about...

Hmmm let’s start this one with a small disclaimer. Moms—don’t worry, we are in good health and good spirits and all is well!
Of course, illness is something that virtually every Peace Corps Volunteer eventually experiences..or maybe experiences constantly. The most common illness, at least it seems to me so far, is that of the tummy bug type. This means cramps and diarrhea--occasionally accompanied by vomiting. This is usually caused by a bacterial infection or a parasite, OR maybe the glorious combination of both. What happens? You poop in a cup or plastic jar or bag or whatever appropriate item you have handy…carry it to a lab or nearest hospital and have it tested. You call the Peace Corps medical office and read them your results once you have them (usually within an hour or two). They tell you what medicine to buy…usually a strong dose of antibiotics….you’re then laid up for a few days…exhausted and dehydrated—typically in a hot hot place with no AC, and sometimes no fan if there happens to be no power that day…it’s awesome!
Other illnesses include but aren’t limited to…all kinds of strange itchy rashes and bug bites…the glorious Dengue Fever which 3 out of 21 of us came down with during training…(they call it the Bone Breaking disease or something like that because your bones supposedly literally feel like they are breaking….), staff infections…etc.
All that being said, oddly enough, overall-- I think I have been healthier in Nicaragua than in the US of A…weird huh? And I think I am going to knock on some wood now….I can’t say the same for many other volunteers I happen to know….who encounter stomach infections what seems like once a month or more….
THE OTHER THING—WOW, the buses. Especially as of late. With the rainy season—the roads have become monstrous. At least, all the dirt roads…and to get out of and into our town, the road is dirt…for an hour and a half..or longer…Twice now the bus we’ve been on has not made it up one of the last hills to our town the first try..or the 7th…The tires start spinning and then comes the smell and the smoke…usually a few guys hop off and find some branches around and place them in the deep, muddy ruts that keep us from moving forward—then the bus backs up and we gun it and make it up over the hill. Recently though, after the 6th or so attempt, allll the men were ordered off the bus to help patch up the deeeeeep muddy ruts and then push from the back of the bus….Matt and our site mate included. I had the good fortune to be on the bus and be recognized by some students of mine—so we watched the guys do their thing as we flew over the ruts and bounced up on down on our school bus…I think after the 2nd or 3rd time we made it….then my student gave us some tamales and corn on the cob….oddly, it was kind of fun….
Last week, on my way to my high school in a nearby community, the bus hit one of these so called muddy ruts and leaned pretty dang hard to the left….so that the tires on the right were almost off the ground…Yup, I thought we were going to fall on our side…of course, there were about 30 people standing in the aisle and myself and my counterpart were part of this bunch….someone screamed “SALIMOS!” or “let’s get out of here”! Basically, and people started shoving and running to get off the bus….good times! We made it off the bus, which the driver had shut off, but not without almost toppling a few 3 year olds on the way out….we passengers walked probably about half a mile down the road and waited for the bus to catch up…they had to take a lot of the stuff off the top of the bus and re-load further on down the road…we were simply over-loaded with people on the inside and stuff on the top….Unfortunately, materials my counterpart and I had spent some time making for class the day before, got dropped and trampled on during the mad rush to exit the bus….and we arrived late to school so didn’t have the chance to re-make said materials…..ummmm I was pretty happy just to be in class that day though…..materials or no….
Sometimes, the buses are now running with tire chains on them---I think it should be a must this time of year….but who knows?
Anyways, that’s just some little stuff that happens from time to time. Are you ready to sign up!?
On the super plus, the bats have left our house. One of the girls that works in the store that connects with our house says that she killed one with a broom and then left it around for a day for the other bats to see….more power to her…I haven’t seen a bat in about 4 or 5 days…weird…\----------------------------------------