The standard advice for any traveler is to be careful of the food, don’t drink the water, and be prepared for an upset stomach at some point during your travels. I can’t tell you what it was that caused me to get quite ill, but for a few days I could not eat much without throwing up and had diarrhea which kept me close to a bathroom. Of course, I thought it would just pass, and things would return to normal, but it was persistent. At 8am on the morning of Sunday 26th June we decided I needed to see a doctor.
Ines went to the front of our apartment building and saw a sign advertising a doctors office. Within minutes she was speaking to the doctor who said “I can come to you, but I will probably need to send him to hospital. If you can come to me, I have everything here I need to treat him”. So by 8:30am I was in the doctors office, being connected up. The doctor said that after a few days of losing fluids I would need them replaced. So he hooked up an IV and I started being re-hydrated and dosed up with electrolytes including lots of nice vitamins and minerals. He also gave me my first dose of antibiotics via the IV as well. I was amazed at how quickly we were seen and the doctor was able to give me the correct treatment for my condition. I tried speaking Spanish to the doctor, but he said “I can speak English, as I worked in Boston for a few years”.
I gave the doctor a complete history of what I had eaten over the previous 5 days, and he said “It was probably the Mayonnaise”. I had eaten Salchipapas (chips with frankfurter sausages) at a very nice cafe next to the Cathedral, and put generous amounts of Mayonnaise on the chips.
So I was there in the office for about an hour. The doctor gave me a full course of antibiotic tablets to take away. The cost: $60. It was so reasonable we didn’t contemplate claiming on our insurance.
