500 mil Amoxicillin, 2 to start and 3 a day for 5 days

That's how you get rid of pneumonia . At first we thought it was just the typical respiratory cold that us northerners get here so easily in this climate. We've had a week long stretch of ultra warm temps and overcast with rain and 100% humidity, the perfect formula for chest problems and well.... you know me, having run pretty hard my system was ready for a fall. I kinda have a history of pneumonia so I should have known. The difference between my chest problems and say the cold / bronchitis that MP has is that mine wasn't getting better and had severe fever, miserable fever for days. So here's a few things I learned that might help any of you venturing into this kind of place in life.

1. At the first sign of sneezing , runny nose, throat congestion start taking an antihistamine to try and dry things out. If not all that pollen etc. that is floating around creates the infection that can go to your lungs... A friend of mine with a medical background ( well that might be a stretch, he's a mortician ) put it this way " all those fluids in your body are like a petri dish, a place to grow bacteria so you have to use your Benadryl and dry it out".

2. Bring Mucinex with you. At the first sign of mucus this helps break it up so your body will get rid of it. Coughing is a good thing as long as it's a ' productive ' cough. Mucinex and expectorants are really important.

3. Contrary to what you here about prescription drug policy in Mexico you always could and still can get anything and I mean anything you want. The key of course is to know what you need and more importantly making sure it's that thing....So, bring with you anything you're not comfortable getting in Mexico. The longer you're here the better you get with the system which I have to say works great. Most pharmacies have a medical consultant or even a doctor on site......here's a pic of my daily diet for the last 5 days. And one last thing about being sick if you'll humor me....when you bump into this like I have I just hope you have someone to help as wonderful as my own Nurse Ratchet, thanks for all the love MP, how's about a road trip to the Casino today ????

I know this ain't my usual chase the fish, kill the fish, eat the fish blog but just because I've been down doesn't mean we're not connected. The other morning I wobbled onto the beach just in time to pull this nice Robalo out of the surf for my friend Alejandro. As I walked up to him I noticed the tell tale flickering in the surf that signals the Robalo chasing sardines, really small sardines. Alejandro points and then casts his mirro lure and it's amazing, he catches the same fish. I only wish to be that good some day.... I'm still working with him though on posing those ' thrill of victory' pics.

The night I went down we had a pretty good Toro bite going. My friend Dan Stewart is an incredible fisherman. He's big and strong and comes from the 'big lure, big fish' school. He can chuck a 2 or 3 ounce top water about as good as anybody I know and to watch him fish....well, it's a thing of beauty, really.  I caught several Toro's that night but not like this one Danny worked for 10 minutes, I especially love the shot of him on the rocks...that's surf fishing baby...

Everyone in Mazatlan will agree that as far as condo buildings go, our is pretty unique. Most of them are simply rectangular buildings that run perpendicular to the beach. I took these shoots of the hallway a few sunsets back....if I were a church going guy I'd like the background of the alter to look like that.

So hey....sorry for the delay on this blog entry, I got a pretty good excuse. I'll get back up to speed here real soon and get back to doing what I do best...what ever that is. Carnaval is on the way and we're looking at another trip south so please come back to Mile 14, we'll have some fun.