Yes, we´re back in Mexico ... Chetumal, just across the border from Belize. We spent a few hours at the bus station here enroute to Belize during our first week of travel. Now we´re lingering for several days. We´ve slowed our pace considerably due to fevers and stomach/intestinal problems we both experienced several days ago. Luckily we came prepared with antibiotics so we´re well into treating our unknown illnesses.
It´s difficult to determine what causes stomach symptoms in this part of the world. For starters, it could be different foods, contaminated food or water, or insect bites. We read in the guidebook before our visit to Tikal that you can find mosquitoes there that cause both dengue fever and malaria ... or, rather, the mosquitoes can find you. We fell ill the day after hiking through Tikal.
At dinner last night our waiter said, ¨You have to help me with this,¨ as he placed a page of lyrics from an American song on the table before me. His main difficulty was with the words light and bright. He pronounced them the way Spanish speakers pronounce the vowel i which is similar to an American e. In the end, he read through the entire page and did quite well.
Later Frances and I speculated about why he chose to ask me for help. Then I remembered! I asked him for pronunciation help when I ordered my meal, a chicken (pollo) and bacon (tocino) sandwich. ¨How do you pronounce bacon,¨ I asked, ¨Is it tocino or tochino?¨
¨Chicken and bacon,¨ he replied.
I insisted. Eventually he said, ¨Tocino.¨ I´m glad he decided that I could return the favor.
Tomorrow we visit the Mayan Cultural Museum in Chetumal. Wednesday we head for Playa del Carmen to relax, recoup, and spend a few days on the beach--which we haven´t done yet on this trip--soaking up sunshine and storing up heat (just like human solar batteries). A week from Tuesday (Feb. 3) we return to our beloved northern home (a/k/a the Deep Freeze).
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