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| Tom, standing outside the Pharmacia, where I’d purchased a few OTC items. I listed all the items in Portuguese on my phone. There were several patrons in the store, a few who spoke a little English while I fumbled with Portuguese, who welcomed us to Campanario. Wow, friendly! |
During the long and arduous trip from Morocco to Portugal, I began to feel horrible assuming it was due to a lack of sleep the night the previous night. Once we arrived in Madeira and after a fairly good first night’s sleep, I wondered why I still felt exhausted and lethargic.
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| Inside the tunnel on the way to the Pharmacia. |
As the days passed, the tiredness and exhaustion have continued and now almost a week later, I am sick with flu-like symptoms that I can’t seem to kick. No longer can I blame being tired after many good long night’s sleep.
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| The scenery is breathtaking with all the homes on the hills in varying shades of white and beige. |
Yesterday, on our way to the Pharmacia, which is nearby requiring only one tunnel, we discussed how many times we’ve been sick; two for Tom, one a respiratory infection on the Middle Eastern cruise we took one year ago to date and the most recent flu in Morocco about one month ago.
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| The closest church in our neighborhood. Bells ring every 15 minutes, music to our ears. |
I‘ve been sick three times; once on that same cruise where we ended up in Dubai, one year ago yesterday making me horribly ill with a raging sinus infection and respiratory thing lasting during the entire two weeks we were in Dubai finally succumbing to taking antibiotics, a Z-Pack.
The second time was the intestinal thing I picked up eating salad the first few days in Morocco, again requiring the antibiotic Cipro after suffering it out for 10 days in an attempt to avoid another antibiotic.
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| The view down to the “rapido” known as the freeway. The roads here are in excellent condition although finding one’s way around is challenging. |
Now, I’m sick again. Back in the US each of us could go for a few years without a single cold or flu. We ask ourselves how we could have prevented these illnesses. The food thing was easily prevented. The rest, not so much. We do everything we can to maintain good health. We still fall prey.
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| A neighbor standing on the roof of his house with laundry blowing in the breeze. |
In each case of illnesses, we had been around massive numbers of people. Both of us are fanatics about washing our hands both out and about and at home.
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| It appears that many residents plant terraced gardens on the hills. |
We share this information with our readers not to elicit sympathy, although we do get tons of that (thanks to everyone for their good wishes during our illnesses). Instead, we do it more so to explain that at the moment, we aren’t out and about exploring the sights and posting amazing photos while we’re sick. Of course, we’re chomping at the bit to get out more than we have so far.
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| Tom asked me yesterday if I’d ever tire of the view. “Never!” I answered. When would one ever tire of a view of the hills and the sea? |
At the moment, only short trips are possible while I’m still under the weather, preferring to be lying down as opposed to sitting in the car on the hilly winding roads.
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| Notice how close the clouds are at the top of the hills. |
In the interim, we have plenty of food. Somehow, we managed to make the pizzas yesterday with a fresh one left to bake for tonight’s dinner with a salad on the side.
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| A cloudy day in the nearby hills. |
I wish I could say I’m on the mend. At this point, I feel as if I’m in the throes of the worst of whatever it is. Hopefully soon, I’ll turn the corner, anxious to explore this gorgeous island sharing photos and details of our discoveries. In the interim, we’ll continue to post new photos each day from our immediate surroundings and from any short trips.
Patience my friends…for the patient.
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Photo from one year ago today, May 22, 2013:
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| Coincidentally, it was one year ago today, that I wrote about being stricken with the illness that plagued Tom and other passengers while on the Middle Eastern cruise. Also on this date, we posted a story about an article about how my health had changed from the change of diet. Unfortunately, no diet prevents one from catching viruses. This was the only photo we posted on that date, the photo I’d used for the article. For details and a link to that story, please click here. |