Sick in San José—Honduran Theories and Remedies

So I was sick with a stomach parasite for about two weeks, symptoms being the usual suspects (the runs, no appetite, puking what little I ate, etc.) which was unpleasant. However, it proved to be yet another learning experience in the ways of Honduran medicine.

Apparently my host mom thought I needed a sobada. In fact, she insisted upon the sobada. I didn’t know what sobada meant, so I agreed, thinking it was a tea or a pill. Oh no, nothing of the sort. It was an old woman brought from next door to massage my stomach and limbs for a half hour in front of the entire fam. Uh-huh. She rubbed my forearms and apparently felt the little indigestion balls that were affecting my stomach. She then rubbed the tummy and immediately felt the piece of bad food stuck to the top of my stomach. It was certainly awkward, especially since my ticklishness forced her to cut short the full sobada, and since the family was all staring at me and swearing it would work, but at least for that night I slept soundly. Indeed, maybe it was from popping those indigestion balls or dislodging that piece of fish. Or maybe it was from throwing up immediately after. It’s hard to say.

The next day my coworker at the municipality informed me, in detail, that she and her family all had the same parasite, but luckily they gave themselves sobadas so that should do the trick. In the end, about 6 people I knew in town had the same affliction, all with the same treatment in the form of sobadas. How do you like that?

We later found out that a big snake had gotten into the water supply and was decomposing in the water. Sometimes it’s just better not to know.