I wonder whether there are things that the PC doesn’t want you to know. For instance, here in The B.F. we get drugs that wouldn’t be available to you in the States. I perceive this as a good thing . . . a very good thing.

I’m back in Pô, and nothing is going to drag me away from here for at least the next two weeks. Yesterday I returned just in time to plan tonight's Halloween party with my quartier kids. This after working stage for a week in Saponé. Yes, I pooped in a hole. So in case anyone had any doubt, I can poop in a hole for a whole week when called upon to do so.

Anyway, I took Sunday afternoon to unpack. This included the full unpacking from my lengthy stay away from Pô in late September through mid-October. I had a gallon ziplock full of drugs, including my malaria refill. A plethora of prescriptions was provided to me last month, both for my knee injury and for my tummy troubles. I resolved at the time not to forget what each push-out-pack was for . . . but of course I did forget.

Speaking of forgetting, during the past week on a number of occasions (I’ve forgotten how many), my fellow PCVs looked at me as if to say, Kathy, have you lost your mind . . . why don’t you remember this significant event? I was beginning to think I’d developed Alzheimer’s. So yesterday as I was stowing away drugs into my med kit, I realized that some needed labeling. Off to the internet to determine what I had. And what did I have? Our ol’ pal Scopolamine. Ah ha! Side effects? Memory loss whose chemical effect on the brain is almost identical to Alzheimer’s. I care not . . . it relieved my nausea. I remember using the Scopolamine patch while sailing back in the days when one could get it in the U.S. The fact that I can remember this surely means that there are no long term side effects.

I’ve also got almost a full box of Daflon™. If you really need to know what this is for, try Google. The important thing to me is, I wouldn’t have had this wonder drug had I experienced the same symptoms (there’s a nice euphemism) in the U.S. God love the Peace Corps.

Wasn’t there some type of Scopolamine cocktail in some Nelson Demille book, or in the old version of The Manchurian Candidate, or maybe some James Bond film? Wonder what happened to the Texas Rangers? What’s my name and why am I in The B.F.? We can only speculate.