Dehydration is no joke...

Hi!  I hope everyone had a great week.  Mine left more to be desired.  Last Monday night I ate a couple of pupusas from a street vendor that had bad chicken in them.  I couldn’t sleep that night because of painful cramps and the next day I was plagued with sickness.  I drank as much rehydration salts as possible, but I knew there was no way I was drinking what I was losing.  By mid-afternoon I was so weak, dizzy and dehydrated that I couldn’t walk.  I had to crawl on my hands and knees from the outhouse to the house, and even then I was on the verge of passing out.  I knew I needed help and I was very scared that I would not make it through the night.  Luckily, Wendy was there and she helped lower my temperature (I was running a high fever) with wet towels that she put on my head and neck.  Juana and Simon arrived shortly after.  I kept repeating that I needed to get to a clinic or hospital and that I needed an IV, but there was no way I could walk there.  Juana started making calls, and a couple of hours later I was on my way to Sensunte, the closest town with a hospital.  Pastor and Juana went with me.

I was kept in the hospital for two days and two nights while I rehydrated and slowly got rid of my diarrhea.  I slept almost two days straight because my body was so exhausted from fighting the amoebas in my gut, as well as my fever. 

Except for my appetite and energy, I am fully recovered and am feeling great!  I’m so grateful to be surrounded by such hospitable and gracious people who will help me at a moment’s notice.  It makes me appreciate the importance of community and having a foundation of people to support you.  I don’t know what I would have done if I was alone in a country where I didn’t know anyone.

                            This is an awesome tree I found on my walk. I think a hobbit lives here...

Tomorrow, Wendy is taking me to San Salvador to visit the sepulcher of Oscar Romero!  Then I head to the gardens with the youth….

                                                                   This is a cow.