Mexico - Mexico City - Trip Interruption: Childhood called. It wants its disease back.

So I have a serious case of chicken pox...

After a week of discovering Mexico City and its many treasures (such as the Metrobus, where a kind stranger helped Mick and I defeat an infernal ticket machine and a fellow passenger strip-salsa'ed for almost an hour next to us on the bus), I was feeling a bit run down. I attributed this to an awful cold that a certain best friend may or may not have given to me in Playa del Carmen, and soldiered on. However, on Friday last, I noticed two pink spots on my face. I figured I needed to be more vigilant with the sunscreen and went about my day.

Saturday morning I wake up and there were seven of them. Hmm, I thought. More sunscreen. As the day passed, my face was feeling increasingly swollen and Armando assessed it as worse, while Mick insisted it was better. By the evening, the spots were on my neck and arms.

At this point, I had to re-evaluate. We were supposed to be flying to Chiapas the next morning, and I figured it would be easier to get to a doctor while still in the city. So off to Medica Sur, the nearest private hospital we went. Four doctors looked at me and established that I had chicken pox, a reasonable risk of developing pneumonia and a fever of 38. This diagnosis was accompanied by strict orders of 7 days quarantine and a 10 day ban on travel. Mick and I realized that Chiapas was out, and along with it, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

I'm doing much better now (day nine), and am going for my check up tomorrow which hopefully will yield a green light on travel. The new plan is to fly directly to Costa Rica to make up the lost time.

Thanks for the calls and emails, friends and family. I only got to read the emails today, so sorry for no responses. There is no internet access in my room and I wasn't allowed to leave it until today.