First Came the Rains....

And now the runs have come.

By the way, the monsoons have been confirmed. I have never before experienced such rain, such wind, such huge waves in a bay. Last night the wind was howling, the palm trees were bent over and the waves were crashing at least ten feet high. We're now staying at the Sri Oribindo (sp?) ashram guest house. It's lovely with beautiful gardens, and there are no required meditations. The gates are locked at 10:30, no drugs, drinking or smoking. Easy enough rules. And our balcony looks directly out over the water, our room is big and comfortable. Perfect for the sorry state we are in.

Between Julio's diarrhea and my vomiting, we are (literally) a mess. I've managed to keep down some toast, an improvement over last night when a drink of water made me throw up. It's hard to stay hydrated in those circumstances. It all started--I believe--with our shameful dinner two nights ago. Julio REALLY wanted some pizza (he's been traveling for longer than I have, so I tried to be understanding. There was supposed to be a lovely Italian restaurant with wood fired pizzas, not far from our first hotel. Unfortunately, they were closed. Julio's little heart was set on pizza and we had been on the road for such a long time that we just did it: we caved in and went to the Pizza Hut we had passed on our walk. It was okay, really, and you should have seen Julio's face when he bit into that first slice (wait, there's a picture so you will see it!). The next morning, we paid the price. We both basically peed our poop. I made the mistake of taking Immodium (which works really really well). Whatever gastrointestinal nastiness was inside was then trapped. My body had no choice but to start vomiting... At least this is my theory on why two different people who had eaten the same foods were affected so differently, in terms of the expulsion orifice our bodies chose. And I still have this cold, so the horrible headache I've been experiencing could be from sinuses, caffeine withdrawal or dehydration. who knows.

We're so fortunate that this happened here in Pondicherry, where we planned to stay for several days so we don't have to think about the bus or the train just yet. If this had happened three days ago, it would have been so much harder to handle. Plus, we're both sick at the same time and it's pouring down rain so it would be hard to do much of anything anyway. It's perfect, we're listening to the Life of Pi on the iPod (it takes place in Pondicherry), we sleep, and watch the weather.

Tomorrow the sun is supposed to come out. Keep your fingers crossed for us and our tummies so we can enjoy it.

"Into the Woods to Find the Giant..."
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