We left the hotel!

Carter is finally starting to feel better. Yesterday was his fourth straight day of vomiting, and we decided to call a doctor to make sure there wasn't something bigger going on that we'd missed. The doctor's conclusion was pretty much the same as ours, that it was either a virus he picked up on the playground or it was food poisoning. It was good to have reassurance though. She also gave us something prescription-strength pedialyte-type stuff, which I had no idea existed, and he started bouncing back very quickly after drinking that.





As an aside, the doctor visit was quite interesting, as it was all in Spanish. My Spanish is fairly limited, and though I can communicate well enough to do things like ask for directions and have very basic conversations, the idea of having to navigate something as important as a doctor visit in Spanish was quite intimidating. One of the hotel bellboys came up with her and was ready to translate if we needed it (which we didn't, really) and she was nice enough to speak very slowly and clearly for me. I was able to describe Carter's symptoms, answer her questions, and follow her discussion of what we should do. I was really surprised!

He was finally able to rest once he started feeling better, and he got about 14 hours of sleep that night.

This morning he'd perked up considerably, though he's still pretty weak from not having really eaten in five days.  We hung around the hotel in the morning and then finally ventured out in the afternoon. We decided to take the subway a few stops down to where we know there's a McDonalds to see if we could entice him to eat anything. We dressed him for the first time in days, and were both shocked by how much weight he's lost. His clothes are hanging off him, poor kid.

The Santiago subway system is really nice. It's funny how I always compare subway systems around the world to New York's,  and funnily enough, every subway I've ever ridden is nicer than New York's. Go figure.

We found McDonalds and got Carter a Happy Meal - a Cajita Feliz!

Which he ate very little of, but it was the idea of it, mostly. Going out really seemed to cheer him up. He had a hard time getting back to the hotel and we ended up carrying him most of the way. We checked out the roof of the hotel where there's a lovely patio and pool. Carter's obviously not well enough to swim yet, but he really liked this cabana.

And that was about all the excitement he could handle for one day. It's actually really sad to see him struggling just to walk around when he's usually running 12 feet ahead of us and urging us to go faster. He's hardly ever been sick in his life, so seeing him taken down for nearly a week was tough. But then, I suppose there are worse places to be when you're looking after a sick child. You might as well be hanging out at the Ritz Carlton in a beautiful city in the summertime!

Our next post should be much more interesting, so stay tuned for more!