Sickness.

3-15-09

Today my host father´s voice was nearly completely gone. I asked how he was feeling and he responded that his throat hurts because he drank some cold water. There was no language barrier issue. I understood correctly. In Paraguay there is an extremely common belief that I find difficult to swallow. People with sore throats should only drink hot things--even in 100 degree heat. They´ll probably blame a cold drink for the cold´s beginning as well. My four year old neighbor/neice is sick. Her nose is runing, her tonsils are swollen and she has a gnarly cough. I was told that it makes sense because she ate ice cream the day before her symptoms began. I argued that it may have nothing to do with the ice cream...maybe it has to do with the fact that everyone who works at BJ´s motorcycle shop, including the owner (her father), her mother, and her brother are all showing the same symptoms. My host parents cracked up at me. Crazy norte.

A few weeks ago my host sister was also sick. She went to the medico instead of the doctor. This has been explained to me as a sort of witch doctor who usually provides jujos (herbs) for terere instead of medicine. My sister had some tests done. I asked waht had happened and how she was feeling. Better, she said, I just have to stay out of the south winds for a while. Not knowing how to responde, I just said, Yeah, I hear those are really bad right now.......