Tengo mucho comezon!

I am sooo itchy! I have mentioned on and off in various blog posts that I have an allergy to Ecuadorian mosquitos, according to a dermatologist I visited in Quito and the Peace Corps doctors. I have always been "sweet meat" and typically bug bites take forever to heal on me, but prior to coming to Ecuador, I never broke out into hives as a result. Well, since being here, starting in Week 2 of training, I have had perpetual hive problems. I have taken so much Zyrtec, gone through tons of hydrocortisone and even had a cortisone shot! I have used all sorts of ointments and always have repellent on hand (including little plug ins and a portable Off fan). All it takes is one mosquito bite and my whole body breaks out. So unfortunately, even though we live in Loja where mosquitos are non-existent, we usually have at least one mosquito that gets into our house periodically and I inevitably wake up to one or two mosquito bites. A few days later, my body explodes. Another unfortunate thing is that it takes about 2 weeks before all the hives go away, and during that time period I will typically get another mosquito bite, which then leads to getting new hives.

I am also not the only one that complains of hives and being itchy. Eri and several of the other Japanese volunteers also have this problem and have also been on Zyrtec and rubbing on creams, ointments, and even lime juice! There must be something in the Asian blood (just kidding, I don't really think so, but it is strange!). Either way, that is how I am feeling today. Extremely itchy.

And for your enjoyment, here is how they typically look (if they are really bad, they fill up with fluid and look like bubbles, gross!).

My arm is all itchy!! Sadly this is on my left arm, which up to now has been relatively unscarred by the hives. Once they heal up, they usually leave scars. Fun!

These are the ones on my knee...itchy!

And currently on my wrist...I think it kind of looks like there is a worm in there (letting my imagination run wild! Pretty sure it is just hives taking on new shapes!)

I haven't resized my photos from our whale watching/trip to the beach, so until then, you can visit Jason's blog for some pix! Jason's Blog!