A little worse for wear
Okay. Living abroad has its obvious perks. Learning new cultures firsthand, travel experiences (both good and bad), and best of all, meeting new people. That is the best part. Meeting new people and basically having “homes” all over the world. Such is the case with our Australian friend, Dean. Remember him? He was the guy we shared the weekend with on our very first weekend here in Jaco. He had planned to go to Panama, and then back to Australia in the beginning of March. The other night, Kurt and I were going to watch the Clippers/Nuggets game (ps—when did the Clippers start winning basketball????), and Kurt said he had a surprise for me. Hm. I thought for one fleeting second about Dean, for some strange reason. Mainly because we hadn’t heard from him in a long time. But then again, maybe Kurt had arranged a little “going-away” party for me with the Costa Rican friends we have made. A bit far-fetched, but still a possibility. Then, I thought (very romantically), that he had somehow emailed a text or something to the big screen in the middle of the court that was going to flash his very ostentatious proposal to me. Okay, really far-fetched, but very creative!!!! So we headed out to this bar (thankfully not the prostitute-filled Beatle Bar), and Kurt, instead of going into the bar, goes and knocks on a hotel door (there was a hotel behind the bar). I had once again thought of Dean on our way there as we had passed the hotel he was staying at back in February when we first moved out here. Anyways, the door opened, and there was Dean! Very exciting to be reunited with an old friend. Last night we met up with him, and he has very graciously opened his home in Australia to us, whenever we can get down there.
I also have gotten in touch with my Costa Rican family from years past and I am planning to see them before I go home next weekend. And let’s not forget my beautifully fabulous roommate from Spain, Lucia, whose parents have said I have a home there whenever I need/want one. So that is definitely the benefit of traveling. Meeting new people and making new friends. That has definitely made these last 2 years so worthwhile. One can never have too many friends. Especially around the world.
The bad part about traveling are the crazy, mysterious illnesses or travel woes that creep up. For example, the one-day stomach problems that creep up and leave you to wonder why your belly is suddenly filled with this gas pressure that will not go away, and makes you look about 8 months pregnant. All I did was have some beers! Okay, 8 beers, but still. Was there some sort of disease in one of the bottles? Thankfully, it was only a one day problem, unlike Alyssa’s stomach problem that lasted the last 3 days of her vacation and prompted 2 trips to the pharmacy which ended with 1 injection for nausea, 2 bottles of water, 3 bottles of pedialyte stuff, 6 packets of dissolvable powder to kill any virus in her system and 3 more antibiotic-antidiarrheal pills later.
So stomach ailments aside, let’s go to the other problems, well inconveniences, I am
experiencing, have experienced or am bringing home.
Mosquito bites. I have been to the pharmacy a few times asking for something very fuerte to take the uncontrollable itch out of the horrific mosquito bites that I constantly have. Boy I sure am glad I decided not to take any of the malaria pills I bought! $80 not well spent. Both of my legs, mostly from the knee down, are covered in bites right now. To the point that when I went to the pharmacy this morning, the woman said “Madre mia”, (oh my God). Kurt seems to think that scratching them off and leaving a big gaping hole in his skin or a scrape not unlike a bad time with a razor is a good idea. “They don’t itch anymore”, he says. But anyways, now my legs are COVERED in calamine lotion. Which I leave in the refrigerator for a little extra comfort and cooling when I put it on. I have never had the chicken pox, so I am not used to this incredible itching. The American guy downstairs said this area where we live was one of the big dengue fever areas last year. Fabulous. I look like I have pink tights on that only go up to my knees. Wow, nothing says sexy like that!
Hair. Cutting my hair short years ago has done wonders for me. I have received more compliments on it in the last several years than I ever did up until I started cutting it. Until I moved to Jaco. Where I can’t put on makeup (on the rare occasions I actually try) without standing directly under the fan because it is approximately 9000 degrees in our bathroom. Needless to say, using a blow dryer to get my hair to its cuteness stage has been out of the question. Now, it looks like an overgrown boy’s haircut nonstop. Again, not too sexy.
Toenails. I love getting pedicures and having my toenails look pretty. I have learned how to have to do them myself here with the lack of funds to support my habit, and lack of salons. So I do them myself. They don’t look half bad. Alyssa even asked where I had gotten them done here when she saw them. Proudly I said I had done them. There is one problem though. When we were climbing down the volcano for those 5 ungodly kilometers, my 4th toe on the right foot was constantly jammed into the top of my shoe. It hurt for a while, and I attributed the slightly darker color of the nail under the polish to a bruised nail. Now, there is no color under the nail. There is skin. I know this because I can see straight down into my toe! The nail itself feels like a loose tooth waiting to come out. I am really hoping the nail doesn’t fall off.
Feet. Being in the hottest climate I have ever lived in, I have been living in flip flops. While at the gym back in Colorado last fall, one of the trainers who works there had diagnosed me as having flat feet that over pronate and that I needed a certain type of sneaker to correct this to prevent shin splints. Or just some sort of orthotic. So, living in flip flops has taken its toll on my feet. Namely, my arches. For the last month or so, I have had this horrible pain in my arches when I stand, walk, or just basically do anything upright. It is especially bad in my right foot. So I have no idea if I have done permanent damage (I sincerely hope not), or if this will fix itself when I get home and start wearing sneakers and regular shoes again. In the meantime, does anyone know a podiatrist who does work pro bono?
So, although Kurt wrote in an email to my mom that he was “returning Bridget in better condition than Bridget returned Alyssa in”, I have to wonder. What part is the better condition?
Ahh, traveling. Gotta love it.
I also have gotten in touch with my Costa Rican family from years past and I am planning to see them before I go home next weekend. And let’s not forget my beautifully fabulous roommate from Spain, Lucia, whose parents have said I have a home there whenever I need/want one. So that is definitely the benefit of traveling. Meeting new people and making new friends. That has definitely made these last 2 years so worthwhile. One can never have too many friends. Especially around the world.
The bad part about traveling are the crazy, mysterious illnesses or travel woes that creep up. For example, the one-day stomach problems that creep up and leave you to wonder why your belly is suddenly filled with this gas pressure that will not go away, and makes you look about 8 months pregnant. All I did was have some beers! Okay, 8 beers, but still. Was there some sort of disease in one of the bottles? Thankfully, it was only a one day problem, unlike Alyssa’s stomach problem that lasted the last 3 days of her vacation and prompted 2 trips to the pharmacy which ended with 1 injection for nausea, 2 bottles of water, 3 bottles of pedialyte stuff, 6 packets of dissolvable powder to kill any virus in her system and 3 more antibiotic-antidiarrheal pills later.
So stomach ailments aside, let’s go to the other problems, well inconveniences, I am
experiencing, have experienced or am bringing home.
Mosquito bites. I have been to the pharmacy a few times asking for something very fuerte to take the uncontrollable itch out of the horrific mosquito bites that I constantly have. Boy I sure am glad I decided not to take any of the malaria pills I bought! $80 not well spent. Both of my legs, mostly from the knee down, are covered in bites right now. To the point that when I went to the pharmacy this morning, the woman said “Madre mia”, (oh my God). Kurt seems to think that scratching them off and leaving a big gaping hole in his skin or a scrape not unlike a bad time with a razor is a good idea. “They don’t itch anymore”, he says. But anyways, now my legs are COVERED in calamine lotion. Which I leave in the refrigerator for a little extra comfort and cooling when I put it on. I have never had the chicken pox, so I am not used to this incredible itching. The American guy downstairs said this area where we live was one of the big dengue fever areas last year. Fabulous. I look like I have pink tights on that only go up to my knees. Wow, nothing says sexy like that!
Hair. Cutting my hair short years ago has done wonders for me. I have received more compliments on it in the last several years than I ever did up until I started cutting it. Until I moved to Jaco. Where I can’t put on makeup (on the rare occasions I actually try) without standing directly under the fan because it is approximately 9000 degrees in our bathroom. Needless to say, using a blow dryer to get my hair to its cuteness stage has been out of the question. Now, it looks like an overgrown boy’s haircut nonstop. Again, not too sexy.
Toenails. I love getting pedicures and having my toenails look pretty. I have learned how to have to do them myself here with the lack of funds to support my habit, and lack of salons. So I do them myself. They don’t look half bad. Alyssa even asked where I had gotten them done here when she saw them. Proudly I said I had done them. There is one problem though. When we were climbing down the volcano for those 5 ungodly kilometers, my 4th toe on the right foot was constantly jammed into the top of my shoe. It hurt for a while, and I attributed the slightly darker color of the nail under the polish to a bruised nail. Now, there is no color under the nail. There is skin. I know this because I can see straight down into my toe! The nail itself feels like a loose tooth waiting to come out. I am really hoping the nail doesn’t fall off.
Feet. Being in the hottest climate I have ever lived in, I have been living in flip flops. While at the gym back in Colorado last fall, one of the trainers who works there had diagnosed me as having flat feet that over pronate and that I needed a certain type of sneaker to correct this to prevent shin splints. Or just some sort of orthotic. So, living in flip flops has taken its toll on my feet. Namely, my arches. For the last month or so, I have had this horrible pain in my arches when I stand, walk, or just basically do anything upright. It is especially bad in my right foot. So I have no idea if I have done permanent damage (I sincerely hope not), or if this will fix itself when I get home and start wearing sneakers and regular shoes again. In the meantime, does anyone know a podiatrist who does work pro bono?
So, although Kurt wrote in an email to my mom that he was “returning Bridget in better condition than Bridget returned Alyssa in”, I have to wonder. What part is the better condition?
Ahh, traveling. Gotta love it.
posted by Bridget | 4/29/2006 03:45:00 PM
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