Down the Hatch

A few days ago I made a big mistake!

I have these oil burners all over my house. You add a little water and some concentrated oils (I prefer jasmine, lemon verbena, or lavender) and your house smells fantastic. As I was starting on a new painting I hoped to notice that my living room burner was a little low on water. So I went into the bathroom and put some tap water into a used water bottle to transport the water to the burner. After filling up the burner with tap water I left the bottle sitting out. Now that was stupid!

A few hours later I was walking through my living room and thought, 'Gosh I am thirsty.' I then noticed the water bottle sitting on the back of the sofa by the burner. Without thinking I quickly swiped the bottle and took a big swig. A big mouth full went down the hatch. As the water was sliding down my throat I realized that the water was unfiltered tap water. UNFILTERED tap water in India. Oh God!

I started to choke. I ran to the bathroom to try to remove the water from my stomach. I even tried sticking my fingers down my throat to try and provoke myself to vomit up the water. Nothing came up. (I guess it is a good thing I can't make myself vomit on command or anything.) Visions flew through my mind of sitting on the toilet for the next few days as the water works its way homeward. Ugh!

All that evening I kept thinking....its coming....the nausea, the vomiting, the diarrhea. But alas after 4 days nothing has happened. No upset stomach...nothing. So either 1) my stomach and bowels are made of iron (yeah!) or 2) my tap water is not that bad. Either way I am thrilled I haven't been sick. Let's hope it continues. 

The best part to this story is that early that day I had been reading this book about a lady who travels to Bali for a yoga retreat and gets really sick off the tap water and I was thinking, 'how could someone be so stupid as to drink the water?' Bottled water is the way to go. I thought, 'I would NEVER drink the water in a country that is known for having unsanitary water sources.' Um...then I do the same thing a few hours later. Ah, pride goes before the fall doesn't it.