Andele, Andele, Amoebas, Amoebas!

This past week on Thursday night, Robyn did something that is a complete rarity – she didn’t sleep through the night in a state of pseudo-death. The ability to sleep deeply is a valuable commodity around here because each night my open-air room hosts concerts from the local wildlife – hens squawk until their hearts’ content, dogs bark and fight each other constantly, and even the crickets seem to reach deafening pitches. Typically Robyn can sleep through a brick wall, but she was extremely fitful that night, starting at about 3am. Being the caring provider that I am and sensing something was wrong I quickly pulled out my ear plugs at 6:45 and immediately asked her what was wrong. She had been writhing in stomach pain and unable to sleep. We had visited the festival the previous night and she had insisted on getting a churro in order to relive the deliciousness that we first experienced in Spain. Of course this churro was not nearly of the same quality as previous ones, and microwaving it until it was too hot to hold did not help matters. Robyn is sensitive to gluten and we have been eating a very gluten-light diet since arriving, so we figured that the gluten-rich radiation log that she ate had been the culprit. We prepared for the day and made it back to Soul Projects base, Robyn not eating any breakfast.

When we arrived at base we were told that Brooke had gone to neighbouring San Pedro in order to get some medicine to help combat the stomach parasites that she was sure she had. Apparently she had been up all of the previous night with stomach pains also. We were told that, in their infancy, the parasites are tiny amoebas that frequent the water from the area. The last time I had heard the word amoebas was in grade 9 science class, and I had known well enough then not to drink from the petri dish. Robyn is a devout non-hypochondriac so she obviously scoffed at the possibility that this was plaguing her too, but I was able to talk some sense into her in short order. We had the morning free on Friday so we set off to San Pedro to get some of the cure for ourselves. In order to lend some flavour to this piece, it is worth noting that by mid-morning Robyn had already had ‘symptoms’ of her stomach problems multiple times.

We arrived in San Pedro and flocked to the local health-food store, partly in hopes of some help but mostly because we knew the owner spoke English. We were engaged in a conversation with him regarding Robyn symptoms and probable remedies, obviously a little too vocally, when we were interrupted by a middle-aged couple sitting at the coffee bar at the front of the store. They broke in in order to ask Robyn about her problem and to offer the name of Amoxicillan as the antibiotic solution that they “always take” whenever they have similar problems. This advice was greeted by an American woman on a computer near the back of the store who shook her head and said that Amoxicillan was useful for problems from the chest up, but not good for stomach ailments. She recommended a different course of treatments. Apparently we had stumbled into a pharmacists convention in a tiny town in Guatemala. Either that or everyone has had similar problems and, in typical local-friendly fashion, people just wanted to help. We thanked everyone for their interest and care and made our way to the closest Farmacia.

Luckily the attendant at the Farmacia spoke reasonable English, and we were able to get answers to all of the questions we had. The problem was amoebas, yes; they don’t require antibiotics because it’s not an infection; everyone in the area gets them from the water, whether off unwashed food or simply from brushing your teeth so it’s not rare at all; they needed to be treated but the treatment works quickly and you will be fine; the treatment seems to have a lasting effect and you shouldn’t need it again within the next two months. Robyn was handed four pills and instructed to take two right then and then the other two in 12 hours. We got an extra batch of pills (if EVERYONE gets them, then I likely will before we leave) and paid a total of 40Q for both treatments. Guatemala uses the Quetzal as currency, and the rough exchange is 8Q to 1CAD. So we paid $5CAD to fix the problem, and prevent further complications. How sweet is that. We thanked and bid adieu to the nice ladies that helped us and went back home to San Marcos.

Because of our schedule Robyn was forced to sweat out the rest of the problem in the forest. As an aside, I thought I’d let you in on the big secret of how we go to the bathroom in the forest: we dig a ditch about 8 feet long, 1 foot wide, and 3 feet deep and then that’s our bathroom. We cover anything that we deposit in the toilet with dirt and use the ditch until it is full. You can imagine the rough time Robyn had in ridding her body of the parasites, but she persevered and can proudly say, now that she’s endured them, she’s more like the locals than I am. Mind you, that might be one title that I’ll let her hold uncontested.