Mazamoro de Membrillo and Ciproline

I am tired of diarrhea. Yep, what a way to start a post, I know. But I got it my first week here (Thurs.), was good for a few days, and it struck again the next Monday. Now I've had it off and on for the past week and a half. I'm currently taking probiotics to get the good bacteria back into my body, to each up all the grossness! Everybody at work keeps telling me "poco a poco, Cheli" like I've eaten the universe! Okay, the first week I did go a little crazy and tried everything at once, but since then, I´ve been stickin' to the grilled or boiled chicken, potatoes and rice diet! And STILL there's a whole lotta shakin' goin' on! I miss some of the good food I tried the first week- lomo saltado, yucca frita con huancaina sauce (the bomb!!!), lucuma (it's this really rich fruit that is featured in many desserts here), and cebiche. Here they spell it with a "b" instead of a "v".

Elisa's mom (Doña Libia) is from the sierra, so they use old time remedies for stomach problems. She helped me make mazamorro de membrillo which is supposed to be soothing and nutricious. My friend Magaly took me to my HUGE grocery store Tottus to help me find the ingredients and gave me the recipe. Mazzamoro can be made of almost any fruit or starch (potatoes, yucca). It has the consistency of pudding and snot! Lol. I know, it sounds gross, but it's really good! Then she made lunch for me the next day, which was very sweet. I felt better, but it hit me again a day later. Again, I continued with my diet, but didn't have energy to do anything! Last Wednesday Doña Libia made me panatela which consists of rice and some other stuff, but it's almost soup-like. I ate that and woke up feeling terrible again. Finally, I arrived at school and said "I give up! I'm going to the doctor!" I tried to make an appointment with a specialist Kathleen had recommended, but I didn't want to wait a week. So, my friend from work, Karin, took me to Clínica San Gabriel, which is pretty close to my house. We met with a gastrologist and he was AWESOME!!!!! According to him, it didn't matter what I ate, because living in my intestines were some funky bacteria that double in population every 20 minutes!! GROSS!!!! Apparently, the only thing to kill the suckers is ciproline, and only 3 doses!! He also told me to drink something very high in potassium that I never would have guessed- regular old Coca Cola! Yep, a doctor prescribed me a two liter! I gave him a big hug, took his cell phone number and my prescription with me, and Karin and I headed out. Currently, I still do not have a huge appetite, and I think I've lost around 10 pounds, but I have some color back in my face and I can eat whatever I want. CIPROLINE ROCKS!!!!!!!!