These past few days have been anything but boring and despite their insane nature, I realized how much I really do miss my long to-do lists and the stresses associated with them. I know it seems crazy but I have spent the better part of the last 10 years being constantly busy and this slower pace of life is certainly taking some getting used to. Imik s imik as my villagers would say, little by little I will adjust.
As I posted about before, we spent two weeks in Azrou, a small quaint little town only a few hours from Fez. Azrou was beautifulily situated next to Ifrane National Park, home to the Atlas Cedar tree and the Barbary Monkeys. It was a nice change of scenery from the desert Argan forest I spend most of my time in. On the last day of training we took a group field trip to a local women's cooperative specializing in essential oils and other herbs found in an around the national park. The co-op was a small and committed group of 7 women who were more than happy to answer the hundreds of questions we threw at them. Many of my fellow volunteers are looking at starting co-op's in their villages, this was an exteremly helpful visit. The greatest part was the sale they threw for us afterwords. Most of us walked away with at least a couple of items and we got some great stuff. I got two bottles of essential oils and some herbs for only about 6 dollars, it was great!
This is the day that the sickness started taking over. Most of the volunteers had contracted some sort of sickeness over the two weeks, some worse than others. The combination of bringing together a lot of volunteers for a long period of time is a recipie for disaster and a breeding ground for lots of bacteria.
Thursday I spent most of my day in bed, unable to will the strenght to get up. Friday I was feeling a little better so I headed to the field trip. Friday night we indulged in some much deserved ice cream/Snickers bar combination and then headed to bed. Saturday morning was departure day and I wasn't feeling great but Jesse and I headed back to her site to hang out for a day or so before I had to catch my very long bus ride back to the south. This is when disaster hit. I almost threw up in every cab we took and spent most of the rides trying to focus on ANYTHING but the looming feeling of vomit and talking myself out of that feeling. When we finally got to Jesse's site we bought some veggies and Coke and paid a man with a cart to carry it all to her house. We then both spent the next 24 hours immobile on the couch. The sickness attacked me first allowing Jesse just enough time to cook a delicious quiche that we could not even eat. When I say we were immobile, that is not an exaggaration or overstatement. Other than the 10ft walk to the bathroom and the occassional trip to get more water, we did not leave the couch.
This is hands down the worst sickeness I have ever had. I have had some bad hangovers in my life and even experienced a sickness that caused my glands to swell to the point that my sister made me wear a scarf so I didn't scare people, but nothing compares to the feeling I had Saturday night. Just the though of eating anything, drinking water or moving would force my body to expel all the fluids inside of it, no matter the means. Jesse and I spent the entire night competiting for bathroom time. Now mind you, Jesse has a nice bathroom in comparision to many in Morocco but this is no poreclin western toilet we are talking about. This is a turkish toilet (aka a hole). At least she has running water, that literally made all of the difference. This night was the ultimate test of friendship and frankly, Jesse and I will have to be friends forever. Two people cannot go through an extremely personal night like this and not be.
The PC doctors told us to classify dirraea as 4 or more loose stools per day over a three day period. By 3pm we were each at about 12 loose stools (loose is a generous term really, we're talking about water stools), this is when we made the call to our Peace Corps Medical Officers to get some help. The one great thing about being sick in Morocco is that we have a doctor on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week ready to help with anything. This may be the only great thing about being sick so far away from home and a western toilet. Our doctor told us to go the pharmacy and get this pill, taking all 4 at once. That was a complete disaster. Our bodies did NOT agree with this assesment and we ended up argubly worse off than before. We spent the next 12 hours with alternating bouts of diarraea and vomiting just trying to stay hydrated enough not to do more harm to our already angry bodies.
When we got up the following morning, it seemed like maybe this day was going to be better than the previous day (argubly the second worst day in my life). We went back to the pharmacy got some more pills which have reacted much better than the previous and we actually ate something. Mind you, between the two of us we couldn't even finish one cup of rice but it was more than we had eaten in the previous 30 hours.
The doctors seem convinced it was an amoeba which had just decided to take up residence in our gut and wreak havoc on everything inside our skin. While I do not feel fully recovered and even threw up in a bush in Tiznit on Monday, I pray that I never have to experience that pain again in my entire life. While Morocco does provide some awesome experiences and opportunities, it also provides some terrible realities that are sure to slap us back into reality of life outside of America. The reality is that most Americans will never experience amoebas or other food bourne illness because of the extereme care and regulation placed on food preperation. Washing hands, treating water and cleaning every cooking surface are commonplace in America but they are emerging concepts in Morocco. This extereme care has been great for my body when I lived in America but the lack of bacteria has also left my immune system and stomach unprepared and not ready for the new challenges it will face living in Morocco. The reality is that my digestive system will probably never fully recover from my time in Morocco but that is just one of the many challenges I knew I was going to face when I signed up for this experience.
On Monday I headed back to my village (the southernmost post in Morocco). After 12+ hours on the bus and two Tylenol PM, I awoke in Agadir and faced again the harsh heat reality that dominates my region. After an hour and a half cab ride to Tiznit, with 4 people in the backseat and the driver not allowing anyone to roll down any windows (many people in Morocco believe that wind can make you sick), I made it back to the firey land of Tiznit. It took me nearly 45 minutes to walk the 15 block from the taxi stand to the Water and Forest Office and another 45 to walk from there to the taxi stand (a trip that usually takes about 15-20 minutes). On the walk back to the taxi stand, I am sad to admit that I had to throw up in a bush next to the road because of the heat and the sickness. I then waited another hour for a cab to fill and headed back to my village. When I got back to my home I was greeted with my fan and some ice, making everything in the wold seem a whole lot better.
I am thankful that I didn't get my first amoeba and real debilitating sickness until 5 months in country, many fellow volunteers got sick much sooner than I. I am also exteremly tahnkful that it did not drag on for weeks at a time like for some of my friends here and that I am starting to feel recovered again after only 4 days! I guess this is all just a part of the "experience" and I can promise you right now that I will never complain of an upset stomach after eating in America ever again.
Finally, I would like to thank Jesse for allowing me to basically come close to death in her home and still wanting to be my friend!
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