Coca Cola, an Aligator, and yes, still a parasite

It is unlikely that Erin (or air-ee-na as she is called here) will be partaking in this blog business, so you have to deal with updates from me and my perspective.

Yesterday we visited a little indigenous (there also is no spell check, so you have to deal with that as well) village outside our city. It was very cute and colorful . . . until we reached the CRAZY part. Our friend Miguel from Mexico City continually said, "They are so crazy, this crazy town. This crazy chickenland crazy town." There were roosters all over the place - in crates, in the roads, hanging upside down in women´s hands, and being sacrificed in the church. Oh yes, the church. There is a church where the floor is covered with pine needles, they rever John Baptist above all else, they melt wax candles to the linoleum floor, and they sacrifice chickens here. There are shamans that perform these rituals to cure sick people (if you are not very sick, they use eggs. If you are really sick, they sacrifice a rooster). While we were wandering through all the candles and chanting, we saw one rooster in the process of sacrifice, and one already dead. But I have yet to mention the strangest thing about the church. Coca Cola is very sacred and part of every ritual. Yes, coke. They drink the coke, and the burping is supposed to expel evil spirits. People, even those not sick, are advised to drink coke before entering the church to experience the power and to be blessed. We forgot to do that piece, but it was still very interesting to see coke all over, among the candles being blessed.
In this town we also found a cemetery, with mounds everywhere!! It was pretty creepy to walk between oval mounds, knowing there were people right next to you.

Today we went on a boat ride through a beautiful canyon. We actually weren´t planning on going this morning, but our friend Miguel had already booked it for us, and we were tied into paying either way. If we were paying, we might as well be going. I shouldn´t have gone due to my new parasite friend, but not wanting to waste money trumped my screaming stomach. On the ride we saw monkeys, pelicans and an aligator. It was really cool!!

Now, I continue to battle the parasite. It´s gotten really bad . . . I haven´t eaten in a day and have ´gotten rid of´ everything I´ve eaten in the past month. Yikes. I just now got some medicine for it, so here´s hoping . . . .