Pretirement

Monday, 15 Jan –

Alone again – it’s easier to write this way. It’s been a week without writing or taking pictures, so maybe I won’t remember it.

The Cruz Roja was cool, now that I think of it more objectively. Time has already chilled the fear and pain I felt there and I remember those four hours in a white room with more curiosity than feeling.

My new words from that night are aguja (needle) and suero (fluids). I’ve never had an IV drip before, and actually it was pretty rad. I still have the bruise on my had from where the nurse failed to intubate there (update: that bruise is gone, now i have one on my inner elbow from the successful intubation there, and in two or three days probably i’ll have a nice bruise on my cheek from where i smashed my face on a bunkbed in my windowless bedroom last night…i’ll take a picture when it gets really shiny).

Then after six more days and no improvement…and the first thoughts of flying home for medical treatment…Rico showed up and dragged me out for chicken soup at a restaurant called “La Chata” which means “little nose” and is apparently a nice way to refer to your wife. Rico taught me some nasty things to say to girls, and we figured out how I can use the lines without getting slapped…I just follow it up with Innocent Face and “no hablo español”. The plan might not be airtight, but for a guy who just spent six days in bed, it was enough to laugh a little. Naturally, after a couple hours in the company of a sleazy tijuanan, having to run to a toilet every hour and a half turned into a big joke. And once it became a joke it didn’t seem like such a big deal, so a day later I packed up my pedialyte and took a bus to guanajuato. And now I’m in a cafe eating whatever I want…in this case mulletes. Here a mullet is half a roll covered in gravy and cheese, baked, and served with a tomatillo sauce…if only they knew what a funny name that is, their faces would turn bright red and they’d change it to something more respectable…they’re so innocent…god bless their tiny minds.