my trip to the natural doctor in mexico

...and on the Eighth Day, I hungered.

i know these posts of mine describing my central american health can be a bit self-indulgent, but this one will make you laugh. *sneak preview: i vomit at a waterfall and get a shot in my rear!

also, to make up for it, i will share a sexy poem that is slightly related to the topic at hand.

Tengo hambre de tu boca, de tu voz, de tu pelo
y por las calles voy sin nutrirme, callado,
no me sostiene el pan, el alba me desquiciar,
busco el sonido líquido de tus pies en el día.

Estoy hambriento de tu risa resbalada,
de tus manos color de furioso granero,
tengo hambre de la pálida piedra de tus uñas,
quiero comer tu piel como una intacta almendra.

Quiero comer el rayo quemado en tu hermosura,
la nariz soberana del arrogante rostro,
quiero comer la sombra fugaz de tus pestañas

Y hambriente vengo y voy olfateando el crepúsculo
buscándote, buscando tu corazón caliente
como un puma en la soledad de Quitratúe.

(Pablo Neruda, Soneto XI)

(unfortunately, i couldn´t find an official translation in english. but if you want you could probably google translate it.)

so. it has been more than a week that i have been sick with an intestinal bacterial infection. i confess. i had become complacent--even lazy, overadmiring street food and eating with unwashed hands. but then i vomited, publicly, while enjoying a nice day at a waterfall, and for a week i wasn´t hungry, so i didn´t eat.

finally, eight days later, i awoke with a craving for cake. i´m a lucky girl with good friends so no sooner was my wish expressed, it was granted, thanks to my good friend jessica, who whipped up a chocolate vegan cake in mere moments. after the cake, i went to the doctor. but first i had to find him.

a friend had drawn a map in my journal of where to find the office--through a door between a clothing store and a music store. i found the door and began to ascend the stairs when someone asked me what i sought. when i told him, he said, "he´s not here, mi amor. he´s there, behind the cd store.") perfect! another opportunity to browse the bootlegged reggaeton cds. but, my priorities straight, i instead breezed past enrique iglesias, prince royce and pitbull and up the red staircase to the clínica medica naturista.

i found him (not prince royce), the only person in the office, a calm, intelligent médico naturista in a white linen shirt with a sunlit office full of herbal tinctures on glass shelves and white walls with faded posters. he took my temperature under my arm, asked me what i´d been eating (the culprit, he surmised, the fresh coconut water (and, sometimes, fresh bacteria, too) i´d grown so fond of--sold in plastic bags with ice and a straw from trays balanced on ladies´ heads at the bustling market).

he asked me how i´d been feeling, if i´d taken any medicines (i´d taken hp´s willow/meadowsweet for the fever, and i´d even let my doctor friend give me a shot in the rear to reduce the inflammation of my stomach. apparently butt shots are all the rage in mexico.) but, wanting to avoid antibiotics, i opted for another route.

then he listened to my intestines (which were probably quite talkative), and, after a few friendly questions about what i was doing in mexico, gave me some herbs (tinctures) and a list of foods to avoid, including a stern admonishment to avoid all street foods ("no bolsitas de agua de coco!" he wagged his finger and smiled), which i know i must oblige, at least until i feel better.

THE HERBS
(take 25 drops every six hours in 1/4 cup of water)
Castellia (Castellia Texana)
Ceratophillia (Chaparro Amargo) Castella Emoryi (CRUCIFIXION THORN--ay!)

i´m not sure what they are in english. one of them smells like valerian.
*EDIT: i went back two days later to have a chat with the doc. he was watching tv (either a documentary or a telenovela, i couldn't tell...) when i came in, and politely turned it off and invited me to sit down. we chatted for twenty minutes about herbs, mexico, tourism, health, and i even schooled him on all the vegetarian restaurants in the city.

i asked him to clarify his doctor's handwriting so i could decipher exactly what the herbs are. ceratophillia is chaparro amargo, native to northern mexico, but still don't have much more information about the other.*
FOODS TO AVOID:
beans, radishes, cauliflower, watermelon, melon, raw salads and uncooked vegetables, papaya (but the seeds are okay!), spicy food, and, in capital letters, ALIMENTOS CALLEJEROS (street food)

the entire thing--consultation, tinctures--cost less than fifteen dollars, which, though a lot of pesos, is pretty good considering what natural medicine can cost in the us.

so, for one week, this is my treatment. in seven days´ time, i will comment on my condition. it certainly feels good to be hungry again!

a few words of wisdom.

"¡¡como bien,
me siento bien!!"

--the shirts at the local vegetarian restaurant
(i eat well, i feel well!)

por todo mal...mezcal!
por todo bien...también!

--a favorite saying
(for everything bad, mezcal! for everything good, the same!)

may you be well, and hungry.
xoxo