Wow! Can you believe I have been here for 16 days?! I slept in a little this morning since I went to bed at 1am! Actually I got up around 8 because someone I met yesterday was nice enough to offer to help me with my shot.
It hurt more than the others, but not too bad. I am sore where I had my shot, but not too sore. I went to I think it is called Casado Viejo??? It is where the president lives and I think there is the oldest church in South America. Or maybe it was the second oldest? I took a cab ride home, and it was inexpensive and the driver was nice, so I had him drive me around and show me stuff for something to do.
I felt super stressed today for some reason, so was looking for a yoga class or a massage to help me mellow out before embryo transfer tomorrow. There is a massage place nearby that only charges $15 per 30 minutes, so I made plans to go there.
On my taxi ride I learned that the driver did massage for years, but now owns 3 taxis so doesnt do it much anymore. When I told him I was acutally getting a massage today he offered 2 hours for $20. Then like 3 minutes later he said I had a nice body. GROSS. I think I will pass on the super cheap massage from the old taxi driver.
I just got back to the hotel and am going to go get ready to go out again for the massage.
I saw a bike rental place, so maybe I will go out afterward and go for a bike ride and dinner.
I miss you Scott and Noah!!!!!!
Scott and Noah got home at 3am!!! Scott got a speeding ticket on the way home from the airport. Bummer. I don't blame him though! I want to get home quickly too!
I hope to hear from the boys again soon!
What a day!!! I just got back from my massage and everything that followed, and I am SO glad to be back. My massage was such an experience that I want to tell you every detail!!!
Before I say the story, I should say for those who don't know that I am a licensed massage therapist. I never worked much after school so I am a rookie, but I know all the little things that other people might not think about during a massage, and sooo many things went wrong!!! I found out after that only the owner of the salon has to have a license, and it was obvious that the therapist lacked in training.
The massage started out as they do in the U.S. with me taking off all of my clothes and getting under a sheet, or in this case a towel. When the therapist came back, she did not start music which drowns out back ground noise and helps you to relax. Instead she shoved cotton balls into my ears. I have tiny ear canals, so they popped out over and over and over, and she kept trying to stick them back in throughout the massage. Then I heard her put on latex gloves. I swear I don't have cooties! Then is was time to get started. She turned on a large fan pointing directly at me and took the towel completely off! Yikes! I was happy that I was facing down! The massage was terrible. She had a very rough touch and massaged so fast. She went over my spine over and over with her knuckles. For some reason she focused heavily on very ticklish places like my sides, and pinched them up and down over and over. When she massaged my legs, she did it so hard that I couldn't help but flinch. Unfortunately I did this by clenching my completely exposed bum bum. I kept trying not too, but couldn't help it. In the states when you apply oil, you apply it to your hands and then use your hands to spread it on the body. Here they squirt it directly out of the bottle on the your skin and it is soooo cold!!!
Halfway through the massage it occurred to me that she would probably have me turn over!!! I was really hoping that this was a back only, full body massage. Unfortunately not so! She had me roll over, completely naked! Yikes. For most of the massage at that point she stood at my head and would lean forward and go down my arms and also down the center of my chest(no boobs thankfully) and down my stomach. She was short and had to lean WAY over in order to reach all the way down my loooong torso. She had a very large busum, and every time she leaned forward, her breasts pressed hard against my face and I couldn't breath or see. It was so ridiculous that I could hardly keep from laughing! I had to use every ounce of focus I had to not burst into laughter which would have been very awkward considering the circumstances. There was a lot of other minor details that made the massage suck that I notice because of my training, like she was all over the place. To my leg, to my back, to my leg, to my neck, to my other leg, to my neck. When it is so choppy like this, it makes it difficult to relax. Speaking of relaxing I should mention that she put eucalyptus in the oil, so I was naked, freezing with a fan on my, and covered in eucalyptus oil which made me even colder! At one point she had me get up and sit on my knees(still naked) and bed over so that she could run her knuckles over my spine a little more!!! At least it was only $15 dollars.
I was ready to go back to go and rent a bicycle and go around town, but the taxi I got into already had a fare going to Albrook mall, so I decided to go there first. It is a HUGE mall. Scott and I went before with Noah, but we didn't even crack the surface. So I had heard that there was massage at the mall, and since my last one was so terrible, and since it was not expensive, I decided to give it another shot. This time the salon seemed much cleaner and much more professional.
It started out pretty much the same as the other one, very naked. I thought the other lady used a lot of oil. With this lady I was swimming in oil! She started out massaging my legs. For some reason she focused very heavily on the VERY MOST inner part of my thigh. Usually a massage therapist stokes about 3 times in each area, unless they are focusing on a specific muscle group. This was VERY superficial massage and she never addressed any muscles. So anyways, after about the 6th stroke to the inside of my upper thigh, I decided to start counting. She massaged other areas, but always came back to my thigh. I think I lost count after 20. When I had to roll over I was't suprised. But when she fully massaged my chest it caught me a little of gaurd. The worse part was actually that she covers you in soooo much oil, that at the end, she lathers a quarter of your body lengthwise, so like my front left side, in soap, and then wipes it off with papertowels and FREEZING COLD water. It felt like it took almost 5 minutes to get the soap off each quarter. I probably don't need to remind you that i am still completely naked, and as luck would have it, directly under the air conditioner By the end of the washing of my first quarter I had the goosebumps. By the second I was shaking a little. By the end of the third i could not keep my teeth from chattering, and by the end I think my lips were blue and I could not stop from visibly shaking. I don't get it. In school we were talk to recognize the tiniest sign of discomfort, like a slight movement of a curled toe, and to change so that they were comfortable. I think they enjoyed torturing me. Not really. At the end I was staring up at her, freezing, teeth chattering, and she said in Spanish, Did you enjoy it? What am I supposed to say? So, "Yes, it was great!" brrrrrrrrrrr! chatter, chatter, chatter!
After that I couldn't wait to get home. No more massages for me thank you! I think I ended the day more stressed and tense than when I started.
I talked to Scott tonight. He said that every few hours Noah would say MOOOOM! MOOOOM!
That looks like moom, but it sounds like mawm!
Anyways, very sad! I miss my baby!
Embryo Transfer is tomorrow!!!! I am hoping I have 4!!! Impant 2, Freeze two. Otherwise we have officially decided to only implant two no matter what.