January 5,

I woke up feeling significantly better. I was so elated… until I attempted to get out of bed! OUCH! My back seized up. REALLY?!! I did a hot shower hoping that would relieve the spasm, but nope, nada, negatory. After I got out I had put the TENS unit on me, and I took some ibuprofen. I actually did two sessions, but was still tight so I took a muscle relaxant. I tried to figure out what I did. Then I sneezed and coughed… Voila! Anyway, we got around each having hot chocolate (since I ran out yesterday). We had Muesli, with nectarine, and yogurt for breakfast. Then I laid back down.

By lunch time the medicines seemed to be helping so we set out for a walk. I only went around 500 steps and decided to go back. Man! I have come to like our place, but I don’t want to spend all my time in it!! Jeff continued on, turned in some laundry, and brought back empanadas for our lunch. After I ate, I laid back down with the TENS unit again. One positive note, my congestion is gone!

For supper we had a rice dish that we seasoned up with dill, tomatoes, onion, and garlic. It turned out pretty tasty. We also had some toasted bread and red wine. Crazy day.

      January 6,

We got around by 0730. My back was better. Only slightly twingy – which is an improvement! I’ll take it. We had our Javas, as Jeff had bought me some coffee from the store yesterday. We had the last of the rice with trail mix and peanuts. Not a bad breakfast.

We then set out for a walkabout around noon, taking it slow and easy. It was a lovely day. The clouds have gone away, leaving blue skies. I was drinking it in and doing way better. We stopped at a thrift shop to buy some long sleeved shirts for our Antarctica trip. I even made it to the Santa Isabel Grocery store. We had forgotten our list, but we remembered most of the stuff. Groceries in Jeff’s hands, we went back to our place. I felt bad that I could not carry any of them, but my back reminded me why. I made it, though, without any complications. I got 4500 steps in! But I did lay down to relax my back. We then split a salami and cheese sandwich for lunch. Then I blogged and took it easy.

Around 1700, we went back out. We needed to pick up our laundry and get our pick up order of sushi for supper. I felt a bit more pain, so Jeff had me stop at Sushi Fest Rolls for the food, and he went on to the laundrette. Well, the guy there just saw the order, and said 15 minutes. So Jeff had come back with the clothes and we waited together for a couple minutes more. Order in hand, we now went back to our place. We ate and then relaxed. I ended up with 7,800 steps, but I will have to stop there. It was a great day to be out and about in Vina del Mar.