Snip Off the Tip

So a few weeks ago when Dave was back in Vancouver attending a wedding, Meg and I (Dan) went to Lago de Atitlan to meet our friends and relax in San Pedro Atitlan, a chill village right on the lake. Our trip started on Friday at about 5pm at work. Kat phoned us asking if we wanted to leave to the lake IN 5 MINUTES!?! She teaches at a Spanish school and some of her students hired a microbus to take them down to the lake. The trip happened in lightning quick Guatemalan time...

I told Kat I needed half an hour to finish up at work and then pack. The driver was going to pick us up at 5:30pm. By 5:40pm it hadn't showed up so I phoned back and found out that the driver got lost and was still looking for the Spanish school. Meg and I walked to the park (10 minutes away) and waited there. At around 6:05pm (an hour and five minutes after the original schedule) we boarded the microbus and had a pleasant 3hr ride to Panajachel (also called Gringotenango, which translates roughly to Gringotown), where we stayed the night. I had a bit of an abdominal pain which I thought was probably from something I ate (like pupusas).

The next morning we had to wait around for our friends to arrive from the airport in Guatemala City (Meg's friends from the states, my friend Jordan from Nicaragua). We explored the city a bit and my abdominal pains got much worse. I figured if I downed some breakfast they would go away. By the end of breakfast they were pretty much unbearable, so we asked our waiter where to find a doctor. After wandering from location to location, we finally got a pharmacist to tell us where a doctor was, just up the street (yet again).

We walked in and a man motioned me into his office. I brought Meg in too because her Spanish is significantly better than mine and I was worried about things being translated incorrectly and having some kind of leg surgery or similar screw up. He started asking the usual questions, which were fairly easy to answer:

"My name is Daniel." Which sent him on a long soliloquy about the Biblical significance of my name. Did I know about the story of Daniel in the Lions' Den? Yes, of course, but that didn't stop him from retelling it. Eventually he got on to the diagnosis questions, which were also easy to answer:

"Yes, I have pain in my lower abdomen."

"Yes, it hurts like fuck when you press on it, please stop."

Then he turns and asks me: "Do you use a condom when you have sex?"

A bit surprised, I answer "Well... yes..."

He brightens up immediately and exclaims: "Aha! Well that explains it." Then he goes on to "explain" how wearing condoms puts back pressure on things and makes it easier for bacteria to enter your bladder. I was pretty sure I got this translation correct because most of it was done with obvious hand motions.

He starts writing up a prescription for some antibiotics.

"Actually, Daniel, do you know the best way to use a condom to prevent these infections?" he asks rather nonchalantly.

"No, I guess I don't, Dr.", I reply apprehensively.

"Well the best thing to do is to grab the tip and SNIP OFF THE TIP," he explains with a forceful scissors motion.

We were quite surprised to say the least. Afterwards we were recounting the doctor's office visit and Meg noticed that the plaque of the doctor and the diplomas on the wall all had a woman doctor's name, but the doctor who helped us was a man. And I'm thinking a very Catholic janitor...

Dan and Meg after breakfast in San Pedro.

Anyway, the antibiotics did wonders, and I'm fine now. Meg called her dad who is a doctor to ask his advice. He said that although he couldn't make a decision without actually seeing me, it sounded like I had an infection of some sort, even though it probably wasn't a bladder infection.

Jordan and I in the lancha enjoying some BANANA CAKE (from the famous Banana Cake lady of previous blogs with Rafer and Erik).

Meg's friends Jim and Whitney on the lancha.

After meeting up with Meg's friends and Jordan, we took a lancha (speed boat) across the lake to San Pedro and enjoyed a beautiful weekend kayaking around and eating at tasty restaurants. I even ran into a Spanish friend who I jammed with in Guatemala city and who gave me a sweet Pink-Floyd-ish CD he recorded with his friends. It's our house favorite CD at the moment (although I think we only have 3 or 4 CDs at the house).

Oooh... nice sky.

Here are a couple photos of San Pedro Atitlan, above and below.

Looking out from our hotel across the short part of the lake, with part of San Pedro in the foreground.

Dan.