Hey whoever reads this thing,
It's Nuri now, blogging from Guatemala City.
WHAT?! I thought Erika was traveling in Guatemala and Nuri was working at the job that he has!!!
Calm down, there's no need for Caps Lock. But I did not think I was going to end up here. Here's the deal:
Erika had to go to the hospital when her ear infection got really, really, really painful. Apparently the first night of excruciating pain without adequate painkillers was a nightmare, and it's been getting gradually but not immediately better since then. Major, major, major props to our hero Yonit, who helped Erika through the first and subsequent nights/days of pain, and got her into what we have since found out is arguably the best hospital in Central America. Yonit slept on a couch in the hallway of the hospital for like 2 nights, and with her mix of street-smarts and medicine-smarts was probably the best possible person to have been here with Erika. Total all-star.
But Yonit had to go back to the US yesterday (Thursday), and I was chosen by the Erika's Well-Being Committee consisting of me and Erika's parents to get myself down here to take over and make sure Erika wasn't sick, drugged up, and alone in a foreign country. That decision was made Wednesday afternoon -- by Thursday morning I was in a hospital in Guatemala City.
Here's the update you're all waiting for: Erika's still in pain, moving a little slowly, and definitely not 100%, but the doctor said we can leave the hospital so we're on our way out, armed with the appropriate anti-bacterials, painkillers, and quadruplicate bills for insurance companies and the like. We're going to try to have fun with this and stay at the fanciest hotel in Guatemala City, which will only cost ~$130 / night, which is a lot for Guatemala but not a lot from my perspective for a hotel that looks like this: http://www.caminoreal.com.gt/index_westincr.cfm.
This city is dangerous, but we may do some limited exploring by taking registered taxis and sticking to very touristy destinations as we've done in Bogota.
The doctor said Erika will be able to fly on Sunday, but we'll see... we're checking in with him tomorrow, and we'll provide more on this as it develops.
Erika has asked me to mention that she has stuff leaking out her ear, which she has to constantly dab at like a sick old person. That is all.
