My Baby Barfed, part 2

We made it into San Cristobal about 9 am, and Sierra was starting to fall apart. I wasn't sure if we should find a place to crash for the day and leave the next day for Palenque or push forward and crash later in the day. It's about 5 hours between San Cristobal and Palenque, so it would have been early afternoon before we crashed if we pushed on.

I did know that I wanted to contact my family and let them know we were out of the jungle. I didn't have a calling card on me, so I put our luggage in the storage area at the bus station and Sierra and I went in search of an internet cafe. It was a Sunday morning and most everything was still closed, so we wandered a bit before finding one as it was opening. Upon reading my email, I found out that my family had not realized I'd be out of touch as long as I had been and were worried. I shot off a quick email and we left in search of buying a calling card so we could call home.

We found a farmacy with calling cards, and I also told them about Sierra's on-going stomach and diarrhea problems...the pharmacist felt that due to the length of time she'd had it that it was a stomach infection and gave us some medicine for this. This is one pretty cool thing in Mexico...the pharmacists are familiar with most illnesses and can prescribe medicines for you - plus, many medicines that are prescription only in the States are available over the counter in Mexico. Anyway, we got our medicine and our calling card and went to call home.

My folks line was busy, so I called my sister. As soon as she heard it was me, she started crying and I started crying and she told me that she and her husband Bill were putting together a "missing" website. I felt terrible. I called my parents again and they were so excited to hear from us.

After this, Sierra and I went into the bus station to figure out what to do. She was sitting next to me and I was looking at the guide book and trying to figure out if we should skip Palenque, Agua Azul and Misol-Ha, or push forward. I even considerd just hopping on a 20 hour bus to Mexico City. As I was sitting there, Sierra suddenly threw up...all over her backpack and some guys bags. She didn't even TRY for the garbage can 10 feet away. She started to throw up again and I pulled her over to the garbage can...she missed it. What is it with this kid and throwing up where I have to clean it up and the world can see her handiwork????

I found someone so that I could confess about our mess and started to look for something to clean it up with. All I could find was newspaper, so I started to use that and I was trying to clean that poor guys bag...it was pretty much just gross.

My decision was made...now it was just a matter of finding a comfortable hotel to relax in for a day or two. I found a place and we took a cab there and settled in. Hot water!! A BATHTUB!! TV! Two beds with really, really good smelling sheets! Room service! Laundry service! We were in comfort heaven...you don't even know how much you mis these things until you have them in front of you again.

We spent the next couple of days doing...nothing. Sierra relaxed and slept and I read a lot and left her in the room occasionally to look around town a bit. I took baths. I was disappointed about missing Palenque and the other places, but figured we'd see them another time if it was meant to be.

Sierra seemed to be doing a lot better, so we got tickets to head north, specifically to Catemaco, Veracruz. The bus left at night...about 10 pm. We got to the station and Sierra started acting sick again...she flopped down on the floor and said she was tired and hot and the tile floor helped cool her down. I was so mad at that kid! All sorts of people were staring at her, and a woman and the security guard kept coming over to give me advice about stomach pills, motion sickness pills, water, rehydration fluids, etc. The security guard was so kind and helpful. He got some medicine for her and I ran and got a gatorade. She had just about fallen asleep when I gave it to her, and she took it and laid back down. I was trying to be understanding and motherly, although I was still wondering how real this was.

Suddenly (catch a theme, here??), she sits up and throws up all over some guys shoes...ok, she missed the shoes, but she came real close. I picked her up and we started running...she threw up again by the garbage, and again on the floor and then again...this time smack dab on top of some guys guitar case...we kept running, not afraid of being seen as rude, right into the bathroom, where she let 'er fly again in the sink. Having become accustomed to cleaning up my little princesses tummy contents, I got to the job...again. I started to realize that of the 4-5 times IN HER LIFE that she's thrown up, 3 times it had happened in Mexico. I came to the conclusion that she just didn't know the warning signs of getting sick, and thus it was always "sudden" to her...I'm hoping she's figured out the warning signs by now!

We came out and the guy with the guitar had already cleaned up the mess left for him. He was SO nice about it, and I was really thankful. The bus was set to board in 5 minutes and I was stuck with the dilemma of losing our money and trying to find a hotel at 10 pm, or getting on the bus and hoping for the best. Sierra had perked right up after emptying her stomach, and she felt she could go on the bus...so on the bus we went. And guess who we were sitting behind? Oh yeah, Mr. Guitar Case! I did not want a repeat-performance, so I came equipped with several plastic bags. Sierra fell right asleep on me, but I spent the night holding the bag in front of her face and jumping to attention every time she shifted. Needless to say, it was a long night for me.

We had to change buses about 4 am, and got to Catemaco around 7:30. We went to the hotel I had picked out. I had picked it out because supposedly the bathroom was in the middle of the room and I thought that would be interesting. When we got there, the bathrooms were not in the middle of the rooms, which were very unimpressive...and the price was double what it said in the guidebook. We decided to look around.

I was definitely under-impressed with the hotel options in Catemaco. We finally found a place that was reasonable and close to the lake, if not very charming. We were on the 5th floor...accessible by steep, hot stairs. Oh well! I was tired, and it was here we were staying!!