Christmas - Part II - Friends

I know that Christmas has already passed, but I realized that I didn't finish my trilogy on Christmas reflections from abroad.

Being away has it's advantages. There is no pressure to shop for gifts, no bad weather, and I am not tired of hearing Christmas carols.

But...we had some unexpected, unwanted friends visit us. And they just wouldn't leave! Somewhere on our way to this beautiful beach town we picked up lice. Ewww, gross...I know, you don't have to tell me, it still makes my skin crawl when I think about it.

First, we thought we could visit a pharmacy to get the special, toxic shampoo, but we found it very difficult to communicate our need to a non-English speaking lady behind the counter. After scratching our heads in an effort to demonstrate what we needed, she offered us a bottle of Head & Shoulders...not quite what we needed.

So a visit to the local clinic was in order. The doctor was great, knew what we needed, and had the shampoo for us the next day. Apparently lice is not at all common here, the last case he saw was a few years ago. Lucky us. The only uncomfortable part was that in the clinic, the waiting room was the same as the consultation room. As people entered the doors, the doctor would greet them with a smile and ask how he could help them. Luckily, we were the first ones in that day, but after the patients glanced warily at us, we did hear about other tourists irritable stomachs, constipation, and prescription requirements, while we tried to pretend that we weren't sitting right there listening to everything!

It was definitely a memorable Christmas. We are really looking forward to spending it with friends we like better in 2008!