In less than ten days I will be somewhere in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.
I’ve been thinking about this trip for a while – months. Recently I’ve been reading Eat Pray Love to get myself motivated for what looks like it is shaping up to be another solo journey. I haven’t taken a trip by myself since I was 22 and I backpacked the Mayan Route in Southern Mexico. It was a beautiful, spiritually enriching, and often, a lonely journey, but one I needed to make.
So of course, while I’m planning to take this trip with activities like swimming in the most beautiful cenotes only native to this region and hiking up some majestic pyramids, what do I do last night?
I think I broke my toe. In the spirit of having wild backpacking adventures I choose to wrap some gauze and electrical tape (it was either this or duct tape) around the offending toe and limp around my apartment all day like nothing is wrong. Sure, I could go to the doctor, but why? He’ll only tell me something that I don’t want to hear like not to walk on it or to take it easy or something.
This reminds me of the time I almost died from this crazy wave in the ocean (read that story here) and the first question I asked the doctor who was about to stitch my face up was: “So when can I go back in?” The doctor, slightly surprised at my question (which I guess might happen when you’re a young female foreigner that needs stitches on HER FACE) broke my heart by saying a whole seven days. Seven days?!? I wasn't about to hang around a sleepy beach town where I can't go to its only attraction for seven days!
Conclusion: doctors are stupid and unnecessary. Disclaimer: my scar healed quite beautifully and you can barely tell now…but that’s irrelevant. We’re talking about my toe here…
Pain is nothing. I will still snorkel, dive and hike around one of Mexico’s most beautiful states. Did you know that the average temperature for Merida right now is 84 degrees? Did you also know that I live in Chicago?
It should be better by the time I leave, right?
Your vacation sounds aaahmazing. I'm itching to go somewhere, but sadly lack the funds.
ReplyDeleteI have minor medical injuries when traveling. I sprained my ankle in Dublin, prob because I wore flip flops walking around all day in the rain, but just wrapped it up with a bandage and kept going. Then there was the time I was backpacking in Wales alone a little water filled ravine and, as I was detangling myself from a tree, hit my head against a rock. No stitches, but it did make me think about how I should make choices to avoid becoming a body in a ditch.