Pineapples, Mangos, Diarrhea...hey! Pepto Bismol

My friend Kristen (OT) and I have come back to Antigua for a refresher course on spanish. I am only taking classes in the morning and am working at an orphanage in the physical therapy department in the afternoons. The fruit here is amazing and the street food is so good...sometimes I just can't help myself! Pulpusas are amazing little tortilla pockets filled with melted cheese. Then there are chile rellenos which are fried bell peppers filled with beef and spices and ciliantra. Licuados (milkshakes) and chocobananas make a fantastic afternoon snack. So between all that and Senora Connie's (my spanish house mom) fabulous cooking...it turns out I may have a parasite of some sort. Momma, don't freak out if you're reading this! I will get it checked out first thing when I get back to Honduras on Saturday...but they will probably just give me an aspirin or a lime and a coconut. I will tell you this, the only thing worse than not having a bathroom closeby when you have diarrhea is not having toilet paper when you have diarrhea. #1 rule about Central America is ALWAYS, ALWAYS have toilet paper on you. I was working at the orphanage when the diarrhea hit. I made it to the bathroom just in time but without success for there was no toilet paper to be found! I found another bathroom but no toilet paper. My teacher has been sharing her home remedies with Kristen and me about how to cure our stomach issues. Pericon is some exotic plant that is supposively good for settling the stomach. They have an herb and a saint for every issue you could imagine! Senora Connie gave me salt water, lime and alka selzer and said a prayer to Santo Hermano Pedro as she was swatting flies in the kitchen. Someone let me know if there is a fly swatting competion on ESPN because this lady's good...she doesn't play around. The orphanage I work at is named after Santo Hermano Pedro and apparently his fiest day is this weekend...but you know latinos they can't just have a party last one day...they start nine days in advance. We thought the whole country was under attack the first time we heard the 'firecrackers' going off at 4 in the morning; between that and the church bells going off every 15 minutes and the parrot next door imitating the 18 dogs our neighbors have...I have no need for an alarm clock.