Hot and Cold

The summer in Lima is not all that hot, it's the humidity that is difficult to deal with. Being from northern California, I can handle high temperature, but at least the 100 degree days of the Sacramento valley are dry heats. There are a number of factors that contribute to my already uncomfortable hot and sticky state. First, I cannot run around in shorts, skirts and tank tops like I so desperately would like. I wouldn't feel comfortable showing any kind of skin in front of the nuns and personally I do not like the harassment I receive from men when I walk down the street even when I'm wearing my most baggy unattractive clothes. Peruvian woman were a lot of tight and reveling clothing (at least they do in Lima). So when I am suffocating in jeans that are stuck to me from all my sweat, I remind myself it's my choice I suffer.

The second thing that makes being hot hotter, is all the hot food Peruvians eat. In the middle of the afternoon, in an unair-conditioned room, they will sit down and eat hot soup followed a hot entree like fried chicken and rice. And, they won't drink anything. If they do drink something, it's usually got a ton of sugar in it and is almost never cold. It is a pretty wide spread belief that drinking cold beverages makes you sick.

So today around noon I started feeling hungry, but the last thing I wanted to eat was something hot. I found myself craving Ceviche, something I thought I would thought I would do. But it is cold and filling without being greasy and heaving. Every time I have eaten Ceviche, I've always been terrified that it would make me violently ill. There are a lot of horror stories out there. And considering how easy it is to get sick in this country, eating a big plate of raw fish is not the most comforting feeling. But I decided that the odds were in my favor and nothing else seemed as fulfilling in that moment.

I went in to one of the little restaurants in Lurin. The lady working there recognized me from the gym and asked me if I was going tonight. I told her I planned on it. It was then I realized, that I had started to be recognized all over town by women I didn't know. Turns out, joining the gym really was the best thing I did to help integrate me and get to know people in the town. So I ordered my Ceviche and a bottle of water. As I sat there, I couldn't help but feel the same nervousness I always feel when I eat ceviche. I noticed a sign on the bathroom door that read "peeing only". I got a big kick out of that. What if you have to go? You can't stop it. I ate my Ceviche and thought about all the classic stories about PCV's who couldn't hold it and while it was probably painful and embarrassing at the time, in the end it was totally worth it for the great story.

With in 2 hours of eating my stomach was turning. A very familiar churning. Luckily I didn't get sick. I just had to go to the bathroom 10 times the rest of the afternoon. That may be the definition of sick to some of you, but to me, that's just another day at the office. It's not sick until it really hurts or it starts coming out a lot more places than it should. So unfortunately I did not make it to the gym tonight. Instead I stayed in the house where they were celebrating my pregnant sisters birthday. There were about 30 relatives in our tiny little house, which was totally awesome cause we don't have a flushing toiled and our "bathroom" is separated from the kitchen by a flimsy shower curtain. So basically the entire party was aware of my condition. In any case, my body probably got the rest it needed. Just when you think you are finally starting to get life under control, nature takes it's course and reminds us that no mater how powerful we may be, we are still at the mercy of our bodies and the environment.