Sick.

Yesterday I woke up early enough, but a fever kept me in bed tossing and turning until about 9:30. I felt like I would vomit if I got up. Sure enough, as soon as I stood up I was on my knees in front of the garbage can. The spanish couple in my dorm took care of me, holding back my hair and offering me water. I drank some more, took out the trash bag and went right back to bed until 11:30. I showered to rid myself of the previous days rock-climbing sweat and the gross, dirty feeling of being sick. I ate a mango to try to regain some energy. The shower was more successful than the mango; I still felt extremely weak and achy. I helped Natalie do a bit of research about Colombia (our family is studying it this week), tried to go buy something with electrolytes from one of the tiny convenience shops beside the hostel, both of which were closed (on a Monday at 2!?) and finally (imagining all the kids jumping on me) decided I couldn´t go to school. At about 2:30 I crawled back into bed fully clothed and didn´t wake up again until 7:00... a.m. I think it must have been something I ate the night before; Jen was sick too and she had supper with me. I will have to talk to Marla and ask whether she was ill. We all had the same thing... It has been a bad day for many of the volunteers; Janek and Lucy are in hospital with something similar and I heard of a few others getting sick too. This morning I´m feeling a lot better (I should hope so after 16 and a half hours sleep). I had a real breakfast, got dressed and feel like I could walk more than the distance between my room and the bathroom. For which I am very thankful; I already missed one sunny day in Cusco! And actually, though it is another beautiful day, right now I wish I were home. Or that you were here. I miss my real friends...
Con mucho amor, te extraño,
Julia