Eggs

Woo is the term I use for non-traditional medicine. It is not necessary disrespectful, but it is meant to imply the fragile nature of its credibility.  Today, I was given a woo treatment for my not-so-mysterious illness. Yesterday morning, I started to feel the onset the sporadic, violent and short-lived Montezuma’s revenge that I have been experiencing the entire trip. By mid-evening, it was near intolerable, especially after suffering through what would have otherwise been an enjoyable birthday party for my host families grandmother/mother. More on that later. By the time I went to sleep, I had also acquired significant nausea, a headache, and disorientation. In the early morning, these last three symptoms were going strong and I decided to scar my otherwise perfect attendance to avoid throwing up in class, assuming the disorientation and the headache allowed me to pay attention. At this point, my host mother was kind and gave me tea. I think manzanilla means chamomile, but the tea didn’t remotely resemble it so who knows. Either way, tea makes me feel better whether or not there is any scientific basis. When I woke up several hours later, I was given watery oatmeal in a mug, several pieces of bread and told these two would make me feel better. Since I no longer felt like I was going to throw up and my blood sugar was low, I just went with it. What I wasn’t so keen on but accepted as an act of sincere desire to make me feel better on their part, was the egg.

                Apparently, I felt strange because a lot of eyes were on my yesterday at the party. It’s true- I got a lot of attention. It’s hard for my blond hair not to stick out in a sea of stark black, not to mention I was also the only non-kin in the room. The way to resolve this was to take the illness or the eyes out of me with an egg. My host mother rubbed it all over my head, my chest and my stomach to “suck out” what was bad. I was grateful because I thought she was going to crack it in my hair! Then she cracked the egg in water, and some of the egg white streamed to the top- that was my illness. She told me by mid-afternoon, they would try again and it wouldn’t be there because I would feel better.

                I’ll be really honest, my family is fairly conservative, at least in their Catholic beliefs and I didn’t expect this from them. When she told me the egg would take the ojos away from me, I thought she was pulling my leg. While I have been subject to a couple of “home-remedies” for illnesses by my host families here in Mexico, and even at home, these don’t necessarily arise my suspicion because they are usually some sort of food or drink item associated with comfort. When you’re sick, whether or not you associate that particular thing with comfort, if you think it will make you feel better, you go for it. This egg business is a little stranger- the suspicion behind it makes it categorically different than dry toast, watery oatmeal and manzanilla tea.  Just as long as it doesn’t become a substitute for real medical care, which I didn’t need, I suppose there is no harm in it. If anything, it made them feel better, and I experienced one of their family traditions. Me? I still feel like crap, but I’ll be able to go to class tomorrow.