( continued from page 15 )
it in Nicaragua and learned firsthand about the 104F fevers and relentless diarrhea . We are probably screwed .
Frank , the toothless guard , is swinging himself in a pink and white hammock on the porch of the dorm , and strikes up a conversation about my cough .
“ Have you tried Benadryl syrup ?”
“ Frank , I ’ ve tried everything . You have no idea .”
He thinks for a minute , then recalls his last cold over Christmas that kept him from the clinic Christmas party , and the thing that worked for him was bark from the “ bully web ” tree that boils into a yellow , bitter concoction that you drink every few hours until it “ goes into your body and heals it .” A few minutes later , he gets up and drives away . He returns with a black plastic bag with 9 inches or so of rolled-up tree bark , which he says he already washed and dried in the sun . I inspect it , noting the bits of lichen on the surface and a curious yellow color to the interior of the wood . I thank him and put it into Jillian ’ s bookbag . A quick Google search reveals that in fact Frank is right , that the “ Billy Webb ” tree ( not “ bully web ” as spelled by Frank ), is commonly used in Belize Bush Medicine to treat cough , as well as to stimulate the appetite . For the remainder of the morning , Frank asks me hourly if I ’ ve boiled it yet .
By 3:00 p . m ., Jillian and I are both hungry and decide to saunter down the street in the rain to find Brittany , a woman rumored
Schedule a consult and see why EVO ICL TM Surgery could be the key to improving your vision .
13324 Shelbyville Rd . | Middletown KY 40223 502.245.0305 middletown-eyecare . com to be opening a green food shack , where we could maybe find some lunch . We gingerly step around big mud puddles and wave to the locals as they pass by in cars or smile from their colorful front porches . We are almost at the end of the street when we see two men nailing hand-carved logs onto the front of a teal green shack , and a little boy in oversized white rainboots climbing the rafters . A woman sits with her face propped in its front window , but there doesn ’ t seem to be any cooking going on .
“ Do you know where we can find Brittany ?” asks Jillian .
The men point to the woman in the window . She explains that she doesn ’ t open until tomorrow , and recommends we try Janice around the corner who makes fried chicken and bananas . Jillian and I decide this is a no-go , since I eat bananas but not chicken and she eats chicken but not bananas . We contemplate getting a cab into town and then Brittany takes pity on us and offers to make us burritos , but we will have to wait . We hastily agree , and we sit on two beat-up wooden chairs on her front porch which has a peeling layer of blue flowered contact paper over the floor , and her little boy ( formerly in the white rainboots ) jumps from couch to couch just inside the living room while playing Spiderman . She chats with us from inside her kitchen while we admire her soda bottle planters on the porch and the giant , looming palm trees in her backyard . About a half hour later , she emerges with two long , thin foil wrapped packages , for which she charges us $ 1 each . We ignore the puddles on the walk home and dig into our much-anticipated lunch — a homemade tortilla filled with beans , cheese , lettuce and tomato — our first mostly well-balanced meal since we ’ ve arrived to Belize .
I pop some Tylenol , shower off and head to bed for a nap , under my newly functional mosquito net . I wake up at 6:30 p . m . and go with Jillian down to the dorm to use the internet while we await the arrival of the students from Placencia , hoping they ’ ll want to go out for a proper dinner at “ Beyonce ’ s ,” a nearby bar and eatery well-described to us by Leslie , Frank , Karen and Brittany . They arrive around 8:00 p . m ., all giggles and backpacks and Soffe shorts . We introduce ourselves and try to make some small chitchat , but once they realize we are “ the doctors ,” they retract somewhat and start assembling sandwiches and cups of tea for their dinner . Jillian and I decide to head back to the tree house , realizing we are stuck with pasta or more pasta for dinner tonight . We settle on mac and cheese , which we eat out of large plastic bowls and vow to scour tomorrow morning ’ s market for all the vegetables we can find .
I clean up and dig out Frank ’ s Billy Webb bark : I guess I haven ’ t tried everything yet .
TO BE CONTINUED …
Dr . Perrotta is Medical Director of Adult Congenital Heart Disease and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Louisville School of Medicine in the Division of Pediatric Cardiology at Norton Children ’ s Hospital .
16 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE