Ugh, I am sick. It came on kindof suddenly; I got horrible chills and a sleepless night thursday morning that then turned into three days of 102-degree fever with body aches and occasional nausea. This is really only the second time I’ve been sick since we got to Guatemala. The unfortunate part is that we’re on the road; we left Thursday for a meeting with the Health Ministry and our Peace Corps superiors to give a project briefing, and then we continued on to Xela for a get-together to celebrate Anne’s birthday. I participate in the festivities when I can, but sometimes it’s just easier to lay in the next room and moan. Everyone cooked a fancy pitch-in dinner last night, there was lots of merrymaking, but the best I could do was to drag my butt over there and watch. But we don’t get to see Americans very often, so i tried to make the best of it. Right now I am resting in the courtyard/patio of the hostel, while eveyone else is out shopping and enjoying their day. It’s about all I am up for.

The one bright side of all this is that all 12 of us PCVs went to the Fuentes Georgianas hot springs yesterday. It was way out in the boonies, a jungle-mountain setting that reminded me a lot of Hawaii. The springs themselves are a series of volcanic pools with pretty green steaming waters. Though I felt like hell when we got there, a good hot soak did my body a lot of good. They say the waters are medicinal. There may be some truth to that.

The Peace Corps nurse said Emily and I should stay an extra day in Xela, in case I don’t get better. In that case, they will have me visit the approved medical facility here: a lot more sensible than traveling 8 hard hours home, then having to come right back to go to a doctor.