Today it’s cool, breezy and rainy. Weather Underground showed Xalapa at 49 degrees F at around 8:00 this morning, but it seemed colder.
Steve and Pat went to Coatepec today with Dennis and Ellen, but I stayed behind, feeling a little under the weather. In Mexico it’s not unusual for smaller pharmacies to have a doctor available for consulations, so I went off to find one. The first one didn’t have one, at the second he hadn’t arrived yet, but the third time was a charm.
The pharmacy doctor was a nice young man who didn’t speak English. With my limited Spanish I was able to describe my symptoms. He took my blood pressure, checked my pulse, listened to my lungs. He asked me a number of questions, about half of which I understood right away. A couple of times we didn’t understand each other at all, but we managed. I wrote down a couple of things in English, like bronchitis, and he looked them up on his computer.
I think he told me that there are things in this environment that irritate the throat and lungs, which accounted for my cough, and that I might have a bladder infection, which accounted for the need for way too many trips to el bano the last couple of days.
What I thought he was telling me at one point was that to help the cough go away faster, I should stop taking lactose. I told him in Spanish that I don’t drink milk, and he looked at me funny, so I said “hay lactose en leche, no?” (There’s lactose in milk, isn’t there?) Turns out the Spanish word for the noun “cough” is “la tos.”
Total cost for my visit to the pharmacy doctor, including two prescriptions, was about $18. No wonder retirees love it here.
Walked around for a bit after that but started to get tired fairly quickly, so I headed back to la casita to take my meds and rest up. I suppose if I have to be sick, it’s better to have it happen at the end of my trip. It’s much better than the time I spent nearly three days in bed with a pretty good case of bronchitis on my first trip to Paris.
Marie,
Sorry you are under the weather. Yes, today is a good day to hang around inside regardless of one’s state of health. I am hanging out cleaning off Blog entries and watching some tv
Get well soon!
Juan Calypso
Comme tousser, la toux n’est-ce pas? In the panic of the moment, however, I find my cognate-sensitivity can leave me. I can easily hear in my mind that it could have been “lactose.” Bet that’s what I’d have thought too. I’ve had similar experiences in Italy.
Sorry you’re not feeling great but as you say, if you have to feel bad, it’s at the right end of your trip. I was fine on my visit to Mexico City (staying one margarita over may have helped disinfect my system) but succumbed to the first inkling of the trots on the plane journey back in the United States. Fortunately, it didn’t reach full force until I was home and able to take up residence in my own bathroom.
See you soon!
Juan, this has been an eye-opening experience, as far as the weather. I’ve observed that 54 degrees here, especially with no heat and cement floors, seems much colder. I won’t be as quick to laugh at people being cold in Mexico in the future!
Passante, yes, it’s very similar to the French word, which is exactly what I said to myself at the time. However, the French word is pronounced like “toos” and the Spanish like “toss”, which is more like “lac-toss.” And as you know, cognates are sometimes false. Plus, when you think you are hearing something completely different to begin with… Fortunately for me, Montezuma has taken no revenge, this time.