I met up with my friend Anna on Tuesday afternoon in the main plaza. We haven’t seen each other for nearly ten years. Anna used to lodge with us in North Somerset and saw on facebook that I was in Merida and as she was in the Yukaton she contacted me. We sat and chatted and went for a meal and talked some more, we went to the Plaza Santiago, where I had been the week before, there is dancing in this square every Tuesday night. The band played and the people danced but the day was long and so I walked back home and Anna went off back to the town centre looking for more excitement.
During the night I woke up with terrible stomach ache and before too long the toilet and I could not be parted. What was I going to do? I had arranged to meet Anna between 10 and 11 at the Italian café, a bad choice as she doesn’t drink coffee. I went back to bed and hoped that the moment would pass; then I remembered the magic of Imodium and took a pill. I went to sleep for an hour and decided to make the journey into town. I was okay but definitely not eating or drinking. I met Anna in the café and felt extremely thirsty and ordered a coke. It worked. We talked about everything and anything, it was great to be with her. We decided to go to the zoo as a bus ride may not be a good idea in my condition. We walked slowly to the zoo, it was great. Reminiscent of a Russian zoo, a lot of cement structures and old metal merry go rounds for the children but it is free and we wandered around looking at monkeys, exotic birds and big cats. There were a lot of Bengali tigers, I hope that it is because they are breeding them. There was also a family of hippos, the male was huge. The highlight of the day was the enormous iguana that appeared on top of one of the cages right opposite us as we sat and on one of the benches talking. He clambered down the side of the cage and I wondered what on earth I was going to do if he crossed the path towards us. The Mexicans were unperturbed and we all took advantage of this photo opportunity. On we wandered and I was beginning to feel a bit queasy and decided to take a sickness pill, big mistake. I came over all funny and for a moment I thought that I was going to faint. We sat on a bench until the moment passed and I said that I ought to get back home as I was feeling very tired. We caught a taxi, luxury, and I was soon tucked up in bed again, it was 3.30p.m. I was sorry to leave Anna early as she was catching the overnight bus to Cancun, but we had managed to talk about lots of things and it was refreshing to be able to have such stimulating conversation.
I slept on and off and read my book, or should I say Kindle, which I’m getting used to. I tried to stay awake until 9p.m. and then went to bed properly and slept until 6 this morning. I didn’t eat anything yesterday and after my delicious coke yesterday morning, a drink I seldom have, I’ve had nothing. I had a cup of black tea this morning and will probably eat something later. I knew that I would lose weight, we walk everywhere and it is hot. But the bug is the one that really eases you on your way to shedding those pounds. I hope now that this is it, my illness of the holiday and I can get on and enjoy myself. No more meat, from now on I am going vegetarian, the only thing I ate differently from Anna in the restaurant was the meat.
