IN ACTUALITY, A DEMI-TRAGIC BOOM

Again, this is the both of us writing. Because that`s the way it should be.

Esmeraldas begat Quito. Quito begat the Jungle. And the Jungle begat Baños. Which is Spanish for "Awesome**"

Baños is a somewhat touristy small town set in a valley, surrounded by a ring of mountains and one active volcano. At night, this volcano throws lava into the misty air, unless of course you have paid a cab driver twenty bucks to get a good view of the volcano, in which case it takes about an hour-long break. Baños is a hub for outdoor activities--we`ve hiked, biked and will soon ATV--but also has cheap massages, facials, and all the other feminine stuff we wouldn`t do in the US.

Yesterday, after a 10-mile bike ride down La Avenida de las Cascadas ("The Avenue of Waterfalls--but also deadly tunnels with limited lighting and potentially lethal potholes") we returned in the back of a man`s truck. With us were our two American friends who we had been travelling with since the jungle (Aaron & Holly: Charming. Mid-western. Engineers.), seven other people, two children, one baby, six bikes and one guy hanging off the back. Upon arrival in Baños, CC asked--quite politely--if we would take his bike back for him, as he was feeling a bit under the weather. We thought he was being lazy, but when we returned to our accomodations, it turned out he was lazy. LAZY WITH DEATH.

DISCLAIMER: THE FOLLOWING 8 PARAGRAPHS MENTION VOMIT TWELVE TIMES

CC had food poisoning. His eruptions were more active than the near-by volcano, causing much of the city to evacuate pre-maturely. At least we`re sure they did, because CC was really going at it. CC had the same thing for lunch and breakfast as other people--so it is unclear where this food poisoning came from--but his body was firm in its decision that, much like the loading zone at an aiport, food could stay for a few minutes but then it just had to go.

CUT TO NINE O`CLOCK. THIRD-WORLD HOSPITAL.

One of the first things we learned about hospitals here is that you get the medicine yourself. After CC brushed away the debris that lined one of the three hospital beds and took his position, one of the doctors sent Josh and Aaron--the most handsomely fluent of the three and perhaps the most passionately caring individual of the greater Detroit area--to a pharmacy to buy injections for CC. This would be one of many trips, as each time we returned to the hospital, the doctors would have scribbled out more perscriptions for us to purchase. Total cost of CC`s life saving drugs: FOURTEEN DOLLARS. But you don`t think about money in times like these...not when someone`s life is on the line.

From the moment the needle was visible--a large needle, like one used on a horse or or Heinwich--a shadow fell upon the room. CC sat with head in hands. Josh offered whatever words of encouragement he could offer. Aaron snapped a few photos. At about minute 11 of the first injection--an injection that probed deep within the vein to deliver, with maybe a bit too much patience, every last drop of sustinence to CC`s marrow--CC made a declaration. The following dialogue actually occured in Spanish, but has been translated for the reader´s benefit.

CC: I`m going to vomit.
DOCTOR: Breathe.
AARON: They say breathe.
CC: I`m going to vomit.
DOCTOR: Breathe strong and hard.
AARON: They say strong and hard, CC.
CC: That`s what she said. I have to vomit.
VOMIT: BLLLLUUURRRRRRR
DOCTOR: Breathe.

CC vomitted all over their floor. Over their bathroom too, actually, but the vomits from the bed were a lot more dramatic. After the first vomit, a doctor moved a trash can beside the bed. CC vomited again and came short of the trash can, so the doctor moved it closer. Then CC vomited a third time, this time well over the trash can. But at least he was growing stronger.

After these shots, CC was given a strict regiment of pills and a diet the prohibits so many foods that we haven`t yet discovered the ones he can eat. And Pedialyte. Today he`s feeling better. And his dad is feeling better because we didn`t have to pay the 1000 dollar insurance deductible. In fact, there may be no record of CC in the hospital, and if there is it is under the name of "Chris Pears," as no one in Ecuador seems to understand Josh when he spells names in Spanish. Which has led to him being registered as "Jofh Shirp" during the jungle trip and now to CC as "Chris Pears" at the hospital.

But man, if Jofh Shirp and Chris Pears find out the way we`ve sullied their good names, they are going to be pretty peeved.






**-Unless all the stuff that happened to CC happens to you.