Close Call

It is day two living with my host family, and I have already had a near-death experience.

Last night I woke up extremely sick. I came down with food poisoning of some sorts, except it was much worse. In the morning I forced myself to crawl out of bed to tell Hilda I didn't need breakfast and that I was going to miss the bus on purpose, to prevent her from worrying. I didn't want to tell her I was sick, because she works so hard that I would hate to complain in any way. However, since I was seemingly a blink away from death, my condition was hard to hide. She asked me if I was sick and I fibbed that I had just over-eaten the night before because the food was so great, and that I just wanted to sleep a little more. However, that explanation was not fooling anyone. Little did I know, I was about to discover the medicinal magic of Costa Rica.

I was instructed to sit in a chair and take off my jacket. In pain and wanting to go back to sleep, I sluggishly obeyed. Hilda then got a bottle of lotion entitled "silky skin" and claimed that she was going to heal me. She took my arm and massaged onto it an amount of lotion that would suffice a very large man. She massaged into the pressure points of my inner elbows and wrists, almost to the point of bruising. She then repeated the process with the other arm. I am not sure the reasoning behind this; she claimed that this would accelerate the healing process and that it would now only be two hours before I would be healed and able to start eating again. I smiled and nodded, and wondered what was in the lotion bottle that would bring me back from the dead.

Hilda then offered me tea, which I eagerly accepted. The tea-making process surprised me, as well. She took two tea bags and placed them in cold water, and then put triple the amount of honey as their was water into the cup. She quickly microwaved the mixture, and I was introduced to a new kind of tea, strongly resembling the taste of warm honey. Since I thought I was in my last few minutes of life, I became actively oblivious to the amount of sugar I was about to consume, and decided I was happy to be ending my life in such a rebellious fashion.

While drinking the tea I started talking to Hilda and her husband, Manuel. Although I was feverish and not in peak condition, they didn't seem to mind. I was desperately looking for an opportunity to return to my room, but they seemed to be enjoying the conversation. So we kept talking, and soon I was showing them pictures of my family (they shared a big laugh about my dog being in every family photo), and before I knew it I felt almost human again! The medicinal magic of lotion and a good arm massage may be one of the most brilliant scientific insights I have ever witnessed. To this moment, almost 12 hours later, my arms are still tingling from the power of their full-body healing. My fever disappeared, my stomach-ache became less painful, and I even decided to shower and attend class! I am eager for someone to become sick once I return home so that I can introduce this under-appreciated scientific breakthrough to the U.S.

After intentionally choosing to take a taxi to school (okay I confess-- I got lost and missed the bus),  I arrived to discover that my housemate had been sick all morning, also! Whereas I experienced the worst of my illness during the night, hers began this morning while at her internship. While I was home with medicine inches away that I was able to crawl to immediately, my housemate was a two-hour bus ride from home with no access to medicine, in an unfamiliar area, and with a huge language barrier. It goes to show that things can always be worse.

Update: it is now night time and I feel fine besides a purely annoying lingering stomach ache. I was not able to eat today but am hoping that I can continue where I left off tomorrow. The food is so good that I would hate to waste another day without eating as much as I can.