Malariaaaaa!

Is not so fun, but not as bad as most Americans imagine it to be. Here, it is kind of similar to how we view the flu. Maybe a little worse, but people here get it all the time and slowly build up resistances. Its way too expensive for people to stay on antimalarials their entire lives, so they just wait til they get it and then go try to get some medicine and sleep til they feel better. They know how to treat it, so if you have decent access to medical care (which I do) then it's not really life threatening at all.

I went to the "hospital" on Saturday, but since we had just finished our rural homestay, we were in a pretty rural area, so the best medical facility they had was a clinic with no ac or fans, pit latrine toilets, an approximately 20 person capacity, and chickens running around the courtyard. Oh, and I got my meds in a small, unlabled, paper bag. We got the only private room because we were white, which is nice but also makes me feel super guilty. Of course, there were 2 of us sharing a single bed as we sweated out our fevers, so it was toooo nice. Haha. On the plus side, the lab work, doctors consultation, day staying in the hospital bed, and prescription drugs came to a grand total of about $10. The whole experience though, gives me a whole new level of appreciation for the accountability and sterility of the medical care system in the US, which is a nice change since all I read about lately in the news is how much US health care sucks.

The first 2 days were pretty rough with a fever and nausea that came and went in cycles. So frustrating because my fever would almost completely go away and then 2 hours later be well above 100. Now I'm feeling pretty fine, just completely exhausted. As in, for every 2 hours or so that I nap, I get about 30 minutes of awake time before I crash. This is a little bit of a problem because my practicum proposal is due on wednesday and I still have no idea what I'm doing. I'm not too worried though because there are 7 other people right now in the group who have malaria, who are all also getting behind in their planning.

We're not really sure why so many people got it at the same time, but since we've been traveling, people have been staying outside later in the night, which is when malaria mosquitos come out, so I guess it makes sense. Everyone has been really good about taking their malaria prophylaxis, but it turns out the malaria parasites are becoming resistant to all these meds, so that's fun.

The only thing that is still really bothering me now is the food. Steamed, mashed plantain with greasy beans is not easy to force yourself to eat when you have no appetite. I would love some vegetable broth right now. And maybe some gummy worms:-)

Anyways, just wanted to post a quick update to let everyone know I am alive and doing pretty well. I'm happily resting under my mosquito net with some books and my ipod. Really not too bad. I know I'll be fine and there's not much I can do about it, so I'm just kinda waiting it out and trying to enjoy the sleep. When I get a chance I'll write about my adventures on my rural homestay. For now: Nap time!
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