Questions about Getting Sick in Mexico

Last night my friend came home from a trip to another town in Mexico with food poisoning. She had a terrible trip on the airplane and the taxi ride back, as you can imagine. She finally had to go to the hospital in the middle of the night. It was food poisoning. I told this story to my landlord this morning and he told me that he is just getting over it. He was very sick for two days. I don't know if any of you remember when I had diarrhea for TWO MONTHS in May and June of this year. Not a fond memory for me.

People ask me if it is safe to eat at the street stands. My now sick friend got the food poisoning at a fancy and expensive restaurant in a big city.  She ordered some kind of spinach dish. She is sure that is what made her sick....

So, there are no guarantees here. Or maybe the only guarantee is that sooner or later you WILL get sick in Mexico......  If you don't want to get sick, don't come to Mexico.......  Sorry but that is what I have found out from living here for five years. I can't count the number of times I have gotten sick here. The last time was the worst. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone as a way to lose weight. I lost ten pounds but of course it all went back on again plus more....

I had lunch at a restaurant with a friend today and when we were getting ready to leave she said to me, "I am glad we didn't talk about the D word today."  I couldn't figure out what D word. Divorce? I haven't talked about Divorce with her. Dog. No, why would she not want to talk about dogs? She loves dogs and obviously this D word was something very negative.  I had to give up. I asked her, "What D word?"

She said, "Diarrhea".

I laughed. Of course, Diarrhea.   It is a common subject of conversation here in Mexico. And since I was so sick for so long it is on my mind often.  I must watch my words from now on and not talk about it. I won't mention it again in the blog.  I am sure I have mentioned it too often here, too.   Let's just pretend that it doesn't exist.....

Which is worse, listening to a friend talk about a painful divorce or listening to a friend talk about a painful bout of diarrhea? Six of one and a half dozen of the other but that is what friends do. Right? We listen to the pain and by listening, sometimes we smooth over the bad experiences for people we love. Our listening in no way alters their bad experiences. It just lets them know that they don't suffer alone. And maybe in the future when we are suffering, they will do the same for us.

Living alone doesn't depress me. Suffering alone and dying alone do.  I don't know why I feel this way. Since I live alone, I am likely to die alone too.  Some feelings aren't rational or logical.