Day 8

I did basically nothing today. Stayed in my hotel room for most of it. I’m still feeling very weak but I think the worst of the fever is over. I sometimes find myself panting for no reason, but I think that’s the altitude — Potosi is the one of the highest cities in the world. I left my room long enough to eat the hotel’s breakfast (tea and 2 pieces of dry bread with a bit of jam and margarine, which people around here still seem to think is healthy). Napped as much as the noise level in my hotel would allow. Loud music coming from a speaker about fifteen feet from my door, which has a hole in it. All the music sounds the same to me, like it’s the same song on loop for hours — the singer’s voice, the tones, the pacing. I guess American pop music probably would sound similarly uniform to someone who had never heard it? My mom calls with lots of anxieties about my trip, and then she offers to stop telling me about them, which sounds like a good idea to me. She’s also distressed she doesn’t have an address where she can send me a birthday present in a couple weeks. Read my kindle book, finishe my kindle book, give up on my struggle with wifi while trying to shop for and choose a new kindle book. From my laptop I manage to ping google in just under 2.5 seconds during the intermittent periods when the wifi is on. I snack on some chicharrones I have in my room. I probably will try to get out tomorrow.