Sorry for the silence. Have been sick the past few days. The one good thing about this was seeing how great Mexican health care is.

Chris has been so great taking care of me. (You’re the best, Chris.) I’ve pretty much been sleeping constantly since the 24th. I had a 103 degree fever, but no other symptoms. My dad took me to the hospital and the doctor said I had tonsillitis. (Apparently I’m eight years old?)

Anyhow, this is literally the sickest I’ve ever been, but I’ve always been a big wimp about being sick. No appetite, no energy, huge headache, high fever, chills, one night with some profuse sweating, etc.

So, we show up at the hospital and stop by the front desk.  I tell the receptionist I’d like a medical consult  and she tells me to wait a moment. She makes a quick phone call, and two minutes later I’m being escorted to the exam room. Then five minutes later, the doctor shows up. He asks me some questions, makes some jokes, takes my temperature himself, checks my tonsils, and 10 minutes later I have a prescription for (golf ball-sized) antibiotics and prescription-strength Tylenol for my fever. Walk over to the pharmacy and it takes them five minutes to fill the prescription.

Doctor visit:  350 MXN / 27 USD
Medications: 691 MXN / 54 USD
Total: 1,041 MXN / 81 USD

Then, my dad called yesterday and said he unfortunately came down with something similar. He went somewhere else for his consult and prescriptions — Farmacias Similares — and only paid a quarter of what I did. Imagine for a second what this would look like and cost in the U.S.

Only have about another day of antibiotics and my temperature is almost back to normal, so fingers crossed because the weather is finally mild enough to hit the beach.

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