Tequila therapy for sore throat

Serendipty on the bus
Originally uploaded by Brite light photos.

23 January 2005

ZONA ROMATICA, Puerto Vallarta --“ I went in search of the best margarita therapy in Puerto Vallarta Saturday to cure my increasingly sore throat and found several practicing tequila pharmacologists willing to treat me.

The results?

Well, for most of the afternoon and evening, I felt much better, even croaking out the occasional bon mot to my traveling companions, the crew of the sailing vessel Serendipity (in the photo) and the folks from the sailboat Wanderer. When you put together Wanderer, Serendipity and Sabbatical in a group, you really have a wild trio. (In this case I guess it is actually a quintet because Sabbatical's admiral is in Sacramento, preparing for the first day of the semester at the university.)

But this morning's assessment is that my throat is probably as sore as it was yesterday afternoon before we launched off on our bus adventure to downtown Puerto Vallarta. From the sounds of the hacking, coughing and wheezing on the boats up and down the dock, I am not alone in my affliction.

One odd pharmacological note about Mexico: You can buy Cipro, Penicillin, damn near anything over the counter here, but not Sudafed. That's right, Sudafed. I'm taking some well-expired Sudafed (which might explain why it's not working very well) and sought to purchase some yesterday. Not without a doctor's prescription, I've been told. This is a country where you can buy sterilized syringes for 5 pesos (about 45 cents each).

The weather here has cleared slightly, but today's report says that in Zihuatenejo and points south are getting hit with heavy rainstorms and 30-knot winds from the southeast -- the one point from which most of the anchorages have no protection. It must be lively cruising down there right now. 'This is very unusual,' the weatherman said.

Maybe. But last year Sabbatical got nailed in the same weather conditions just about this same time in January.

mjf