Monday, October 20, 2008

More Iguazu...Brian Goes to the Hospital

I slept wonderfully on my back until about noon or one in the afternoon. The worst part was when I had to wake up to pee. I could barely move, but had to climb down and back up to the top bunk.

When I woke up, my feet were huge. There was no way I could wear shoes, and the worst part is that I did not have sandals. I went to the bar area and played a bunch of games. I was quickly talking with every guest of the hostel. I had become the most popular person there, thanks to the fact that I was bright red with the biggest kankles anyone had ever seen. I do not recommend anyone try this, but burning really bad is a great way to initiate the conversation with all the girls.

The girls that I traveled with began worrying about me. They found some ice cubes, and began rubbing them on my feet to try and reduce the swelling. It did not work because the ice cubes melted instantly. My friends told me that I did not have a choice; they were taking me to the hospital. We all piled into a taxi and went to the hospital.

The hospital was the most run down place I have seen in Argentina. We walked in and there was not even a place to sit or a window to ask questions. I wandered my way to a back room where all the nurses were. They all stopped and stared at my feet. Then they looked at each other in amazement. They brought me around a corner and began applying white cream called Platsul A all over my body. During the half hour I was at the hospital, every nurse came around the corner to see the fool who burned in the sun. The nurses prescribed me 400g of Platsul A and sent me on my way looking like a ghost full of white cream. I officially looked even more ridiculous and made more friends at the hostel.

I was not going to let my little set back keep me from having fun. I rested a little bit and then headed downtown for dinner. We went to an outside restaurant where I sat without a shirt. It was okay because it was dark. We hung out awhile downtown and then returned to the outdoor bar at our hostel.

The next morning we packed up all our stuff and boarded a 22 hour busride back to Cordoba. During the bus ride, we watched movies, the girls lathered me up in lotions, and I did not hurt that much. Outside our windows we realized huge forest fires. I am not sure how safe we were as we were pretty close to the fires. Later it stormed hopefully helping the fires. We eventually arrived in Cordoba where I returned home for a few hours before going to class for the day.

Again for the courtesy of those reading, I am not uploading photos.

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