My first sunburn in Bolivia

How did a readhead forget his sunscreen?
Well I woke up with diarrea for the third time in three weeks (more
about this later). After cancelling my ride to 0600 soccer practice, I
went back to sleep till 0800. I woke up to a bustle of activity. I
decided that I needed to get out of the house despite my GI
difficulties, and packed up my bag to go to the library. As I was
walking out, I realized that my host dad and some friends were headed

out to the ranch with the swimming hole. They asked if I wanted to
come. Host dad said he was worried that my stomach would get bad on
the drive or while we were out in on the range, but if I wanted to
come I could. I said that´s okay, I´ll sit this one out. They drove
off and I immediately changed my mind. So I ran out after them but
they were too far down the street to hear me. So I flagged a mototaxi
and said "catch that truck'' in completely unconjugated Spanish. He
seemed to understand, but we couldn´t make up any distance with our
5hp motor. Eventually they slowed for a corner and we cought up.
Everyone had a good laugh at my indecisiveness.

Now the diarrea. What gives? My wáter is filtered, then zapped with
UV. My food is the same as everyone elses. So why do I get sick and
nobody else does? I've managed to stay hydradated during each 24 hour
stint, so it´s more inconvenience than anything else. But it does put
me in a poor mood when I can´t exercise (no bathroom at the soccer
field and no good places to stop on my running routes). Oh well, I
can´t say that germ theory carries much weight here. I was handed a
knife straight from cutting raw chicken with which I was supposed to
cut up some oranges. I decided to wash it first, but of course I
washed it with river wáter which was probably more dirty than the
chicken. Small things like this are why I keep getting sick.
Advantages to host family are the language opportunities. The
disadvantages are giving up all control of diet and privacy. Worth it?
Yes.

On the way back from the ranch, I got in the truck and put on my
seatbelt out of habit. There was a 10 yr old kid next to me and after
studying me for about 2 minutes, he decided toput on his seatbelt as
well. Point.

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Post from June 16, 2012
I´ve been going to 0600 soccer practices and then I got invited to
play in their game on Sunday, but today I woke up with Diarrhea for
the second time in three weeks. I´ve got to stop accepting everything
that is offered to me. Im pretty sure it was this weird green drink
made with sugar cane that got me, probably made with unboiled water,
offered to me by my Spanish teacher´s mother. It´s poor form to turn
down gifts, but it also sucks to spend a whole day feeling crappy.