Sunday, February 11, 2024

Today is our last day in the San Bartolome airbnb on Playa Honda, but we still have three more days left on the island of Lanzarote. I’m thankful for this given that Andi is still really sick and we haven’t had a chance to do much of anything here yet.

Andi has had on-going fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach cramps since Friday morning. He hasn’t kept any foods or liquids down in over 24 hours. This morning, he arranged for a doctor to visit our airbnb and give him an IV for some fluids. The two doctors told Andi they take house calls as a side business to their regular full-time jobs at the hospital. They assessed that Andi is severely dehydrated and administered him with two IV bag of fluids, and provided him with few prescriptions to help with his vomiting, diarrhea, and dehydration.

While the doctors were treating Andi at the house, I took Tory and Aden to the beach. It was packed on a Sunday morning with families playing in the sand, sunbathers (yes, many of them topless), and people walking along the boardwalk. We were amazed to see that the high tide had come all the way up to the sea wall and flooded parts of the beach and soccer fields. This made Tory and Aden excited because the sand was wet — perfect for building sand castles.

The kids and I decided to walk to a different part of the beach that we hadn’t explored yet. This area is right beside the Lanzarote airstrip so planes were flying directly overhead — which was actually kind of cool! The beach was more rocky in this area which black lava tide pools intermixed with sand. We spent a lot of time walking over the rocks looking for sea creatures stuck in the shallow lava pools.

Dormant volcanos are visible just behind the neighborhood of houses and restaurants. The entire island of Lanzarote is volcanic rock and beautiful beaches.

Tory, Aden, and I returned to our airbnb around 1:00pm. Andi’s energy level seemed to have perked up a bit after the IV fluids. He asked me to go to the pharmacy to fill his prescriptions and to pick up some food he might be able to eat like soup and applesauce.

I made the kids lunch first — a baguette sandwich and caesar salad for Tory; ramen noodles for Aden. While Tory was eating, she lost a tooth! Her 20th and final baby tooth to lose. Then, Tory and I set off for the pharmacy and grocery store while Aden stayed back at the house to play video games online with his friend Jake.

It was a warm, sunny walk to the store this afternoon with temperatures reaching 78 degrees, but the narrow streets and sidewalks of San Bartolome and the bright white color of the buildings made it a pleasant stroll through the neighborhood. We reached the pharmacy after walking for about 20 minutes, and had no problem filling the prescriptions for Andi. The pharmacist was very nice and explained in English the dosing information for me to relay to him.

Next, Tory and I walked to Hyper Dino grocery store to pickup some more groceries. We bought applesauce, chicken noodle soup, and pears in heavy syrup for Andi, as well as more bread, ramen noodles, and spaghetti for the kids. My mom’s proven cure-all for an upset stomach is pears in heavy syrup (must be heavy syrup, she says!) and it really does work to get you on the path to feeling better.

Tory also picked up more Okey chocolate milk, which she claims is the best tasting chocolate milk she’s ever drank. Groceries are pretty comparable to the USA here on the island, if not a little cheaper because items are usually packaged in smaller quantities. A large bottle of the chocolate milk was 1.75 Euro which is in $1.88 USD.

I asked Tory if she wanted to pick out a treat at the grocery store in exchange for receiving money from the tooth fairy. (I looked in Andi’s wallet when she lost her tooth at lunchtime, and Andi only had a 50 Euro bill in there). She gave me a quizzical look, smiled, and said yes. Up to this point, the tooth fairy has delivered money in the night after every single tooth she’s lost, but I have to believe she is starting to understand who’s really behind the magic. Or, maybe not and I just gave away the secret.

In any case, Tory picked out some candy at the grocery store and we paid for our groceries. Together, we made the 20-minute walk back to our airbnb on Playa Honda carrying the groceries and medicine. It was fun having some one-on-one time with Tory and we visited the whole way about traveling, makeup, her friends, and the Super Bowl playing later this evening.

Back at the house, Andi was feeling pretty crummy again. I cut up some pears for him but he was having a hard time eating them because he felt pretty nauseous. He still has a fever and body aches. The doctor prescribed an electrolyte drink for him, as well as anti-nausea liquid and probiotic that is suppose to help stop the diarrhea but right now he’s having a hard time keeping anything down. He’s in the bathroom every two minutes.

Tory and Aden talked to their friends on Facebook Kids Messenger this evening, and I made them spaghetti for dinner. I ended my day on the living room couch, finishing one book about Morocco during WWII and starting another one that takes place in Portugal.

Tomorrow we check out of this airbnb and into a new one on a different part of the island. I really Hope Andi is feeling better by then.