Cusco 2 3

Thursfriday, October 9t10h , 2008

Day 102-3 on The Big Trip. “Run, Run Away!”

NOPE! But Alisa’s good enough to go. So we

RETURN to Ollantaytambo and Ollantay Restaurant via 1 ½ hour Backpacker Train. I feel good and order Tequeños con Guacamole (so good), and the Fortaluza Sandwich (a.k.a. Sandwich Ollantay), con jamon, queso, pollo, y huevo (ham, cheese, chicken, and egg). Wow, excellent! Alisa doesn’t feel so good still, so she orders mate de coca and sopa de verdures (coca tea and veggie soup).

RETURN to Cusco means bed for Alisa. It also means the switch of one symptom for another. No more vomit.

DOCTOR 3 is soon to be needed and he arrives and gives Alisa’s pills. Later that night he’s asked to return because Alisa is in pain now, with a peculiar bump on her belly. This is the second night in a row that Alisa has scared me out of silly. Finally DOCTOR 3 gets back and since the lighting in Loki Hostel in Cusco is rubbage, I give him a headlamp that he puts on upside down before giving Alisa an injection in her nonexistent veins. Thankfully, he realizes it’s upside down when the light isn’t shining where he wants it to, so he flips it and gets to it. This dizzy-inducing shot makes Alisa hurt a little more in her head, but after 20 minutes and a dizzy bathroom-and-back escapade, Alisa rests and feels much much better.

THANK GOODNESS! Now we have an even newer set of prescriptions to fill. Or rather, I have an even newer set of prescriptions to fill for Alisa. My Spanish is sure getting better! But can’t it get better when Alisa’s better? I hope this isn’t all part of Alisa’s planned School for Spanish.

DAY 103, much the same as DAY 102, flows with laundry and a scheduled check-up to DOCTOR 3’s office, just off the Plaza de Armas. This doctor is cheaper, including all follow-ups under his original US$50 charge. Thanks to the pills I bought for Alisa the first night in Cusco coming in at around 64.50 soles, we now have a sizeable tally for this “Is it altitude sickness? Is it a flu? Is it a parasite? No…it’s G-Love!” sickness of Alisa’s. Let’s see where we are: $65 (S/195) + S/24 + $50 (S/150) + S/64.50 = S/433.50, or roughly $144. That’s almost as much as my Salmonella scare in Baños, Ecuador.

The highlights of the day were as follows: Finding out that Alisa had G-Love and was going to be fixed by farting and taking pills (emphasis on going to be fixed); getting two fried dough sticks for S/1 (or 2 for $0.33); making dinner for Alisa and surprising her with flowers from the market!

Stay tuned for another rest day in Cusco and the fun cities to come!