Mexico City and Salmonella

Hi everyone!

I have just returned from Mexico City. I was supposed to be back Monday morning, do my blog before noon (I had written it out before I left) then make it to class by 4pm, but it didn't quite happen that way. Although the beginning of my trip made the problems worth it, by Wednesday, disaster hit. Starting that morning, I had a stomach ache. That night I started vomiting like I never knew could happen. I was in such agony that I wanted to die. Soon, I just kept vomiting blood. My boyfriend (Eamon) asked the hostel owner what to do, and he told us I had to go to the hospital. He called his personal doctor, who said he would meet us at the hospital because he spoke english. I speak Portuguese, but that only helps me be understood. The Mexicans speak Spanish too quickly and have so many colloquialisms that I do not understand much.
Eamon and I grabbed a trash can for me to vomit in and took the taxi to the hospital. Once there, the doctor was the only person that we saw. He took my blood for testing, gave me some shots in my ass (sorry) and told me that I had to stay in the hospital. I was at this point in so much agony and terrified because of all the blood that Eamon and I didn't see an alternative. The doctor (in broken english) then told us that the hospital charged $2000 a night. I was so confused as to why my health insurance and travel insurance would not cover it, but I had to trust him because he was the person who could help me. I told him that I didn't have $2000, so he transferred me to another hospital.
We took another taxi and the doctor came with us. I was in absolute agony and kept losing consciousness while my boyfriend panicked. We were so grateful to this doctor for helping us, especially when no one spoke english. They gave me an IV and some morphine and soon I was out. Meanwhile, the Dr. took a terrorfied Eamon to an ATM to withdraw $400.
I spent the next couple of days in the hospital very sick. I never saw the doctors affiliated with the hospital and our Doctor gave me a strange feeling. He kept touching me inappropriately. He told me he had gone to Emory University and Harvard Medical University, but his English was not that great. I couldn't pass off his touching as something cultural, because if he had spent that long being educated in the US, he should understand US etiquette.
Then, he told me I was in a very dire situation because I had deadly parasites making me sick. Meanwhile, the nurses increased my drugs, making me feel sicker. He told me I would have to give them thousands of dollars upfront to remove it. Yet, he would not show me the paperwork, or tell me a price. My mother called the US Embassy, so someone could explain what was happening to me. It turned out I had salmonella, which no one had told me. The doctor was really rude to the ambassador and became belligerent with me for contacting the embassy. Whenever he saw me on the phone, he would take it from me and hang it up. Finally the Embassy told me I had to leave the hospital and go to the Embassy immediately. I made the nurses take the IV out. Eamon and I changed to a new hotel, saw an Embassy backed doctor and I took antibiotics until I was well enough to fly home.
So that's my story. Although it seems that I focused on the negative, Mexico was still an amazing trip. Please see my facebook for all the picture from before I got sick, because you will see how beautiful (and different) Mexico is. Meanwhile, I will post the blog that was due Monday, and post the Teenager pictures I took in Mexico. Hopefully I can figure out how to do it!