What an exciting weekend! Between erupting volcanoes and tropical depressions, life is never dull here in Guatemala. I am grateful that everyone here is safe and well and I hope we can offer assistance to those who were not so lucky...
To make the weekend even more interesting I had my first medical "emergency" I guess you could say. It didn't seem like much of an emergency as much as an annoyance... About a week ago I began noticing a small itchy rash developing on my face. It didn't seem like much and it wasn't unbearable or spreading so I didn't pay much attention to it. I did go and see the Peace Corps nurse just to ask her what she thought and she said it was probably just from the sun... I didn't think that was why, thought it was nothing serious so I just sort of ignored it. BAD IDEA...

Throughout the week it didn't bother me much but over the weekend I noticed it spread to the skin around my right eye and it was becoming increasingly more itchy. Also the itchy rash had spread to my belly. I called the nurse and told her what was going on and she said it was probably an allergic reaction and suggested I take 25mg of Benedryl every 6 hours. So I went to bed Sunday night doped up on Benedryl but found it very hard to sleep because my face and stomach were so itchy. I woke up the next morning barely able to open my eyes and I thought.. "Uh oh."Mugshot.
I'm sure this photo will haunt me for life... But isn't it fascinting?!
(I can only laugh whenever I see this... I really look like the guy from Goonies, Sloth?) HA

My face was almost unrecognizable! My eyes and top lip were super swollen and itched with a fiery intensity that I had not experienced since having poison ivy last summer. I immediately called the nurse who seemed very concerned that perhaps the next step in this allergic reaction would be for my throat to close up so she advised that I go to the local health center and get an antihistamine injection right away. I was not thrilled about this as I do not love getting injections but by now, I have grown pretty accustomed to it.
We arrived at the health center and there was a clinic going on that day so we waited about and hour and half and I felt like I was being tortured. I was lathering on the Cortisone cream but nothing seemed to help...
Finally the nurse was able to see me and everyone began speculating on what could have possibly caused the reaction before finally deciding that a Cortisone injection was the best idea. Rosa motioned for me to undo my pants so the nurse could administer the shot and I said, "Sorry? Do what? Shot's go in your arm..."
She said, "No, this one goes here (pointing to her butt cheek)."
I said, "Thank you, but no way. I'll have it in my arm instead."
"It will be much more painful in your arm," insisted Rosa.
Then I saw the nurse emerge from behind a curtain holding possibly the largest hypodermic needle I had ever seen and without delay I exposed my cheek and lay face down on the table... It wasn't so bad I suppose, although there seemed to be quite an audience watching the American with the deformed face getting stuck in the bum. At that point though, I just wanted anything that would extinguish the fire on my skin.
While the injection didn't start working right away, the nurse also gave me some other medicine to bring down the swelling and calm the chaos going on inside my body.
Finally, today I can say that I am feeling much better and my face is looking more or less back to normal. I still have no idea what could have caused the reaction, and while everyone here seems to have their own theory, one of the most popular is that it was caused by this meat I tried that is made from unidentifiable pork products. I guess it is not unusual for people to have this sort of reaction to this particular meat, and while this may or may not have been the trigger, I now have a good excuse to avoid eating pig products.

Anyway, moral of the story is... if your body begins doing strange things, it is probably best not to wait and see what happens. Also, getting a shot in the butt isn't all that bad...Much better! (except for a few hive-like spots)
Thanks to these magical Guatemalan potions.