Shout Out to Swayz

What would this trip be without a slight medical snafu? Also, what else would this trip me freaking out about said medical snafu?  And as usual, who is the best person in the world (not only in my self-imagined crisis but in general life terms)?

This lady.

Swayz spends her life taking care of people much sicker than I was this week,  in a way I simply cannot fathom. Throughout my whole life, people have been telling me that there's no one else they'd rather have by their side as they deal with the worst crisis of their lives.

I say that because a) she's awesome and b) it puts into perspective what I'm about to say. (Ie. I know I'm a jerk when it comes to dealing with illness).

She's my pal. She (and my sister Neek, also pictured) are my best friends. And she came home from a 14 hour day taking care of people sick with cancer to hop on Skype (thank god it's 2012) and translate the meds I got at the hospital that day. They have an additional ingredient in amoxicillin in Argentina and 4 other countries that makes people incredibly nauseous (thanks, guys. Also, I ask you..WHY?!). So Swayz gave me some good nursing tips on how exactly to combat that for the next week, while giving me advice and comfort from 5000 miles away.  I guess you can never get too old to hang out with your mom on Skype at 1am and be scared.

That's just the tip of the iceberg with this muchacha, but I'll spare you more for now. The other amazing thing is the Argentine public health system. It.is.ridiculous. In a good way. If you speak Spanish (which I more or less do at this point) you can be in and out in less than 30 minutes with a definite diagnosis (and some nauseating meds, yay!). And if you don't have insurance, it's $40 USD.  But, I highly recommend Nomad's Traveler's Insurance (http://www.worldnomads.com/) if you're coming down here for any time at all, because it's affordable and pretty much anything that could possibly happen down here is free.

Anyway, this should be the last day of Operation Lame In South America.
I hope to be back to hosting shirtless Australians in no time.