Ok everyone has at one point or another suffered with bouts of the dreaded ailment, but for some reason it is the most difficult word for me to say publically. I really believe that profanity would have an easier time gliding from my lips than the word “diarrhea.”

So now I have to go into a Farmacia and find something that is the equivalent to Imodium or eat bread for the rest of my Journey. Not that I do not love bread, but after two days of sandwiches I could use a break. 

Pharmacies in Spain are not like the neighborhood Walgreens at home. There are no long labelled aisles of remedies for me to self-select from. To get to the medicine I actually had to speak to a person.

There was a Farmacia next to my hotel, so I decided if I was going to try to explain my very sensitive and urgent need it would be better done closer to the hotel (there was no real logic to this, but just go with it). I left the restaurant on Las Rambla and headed towards my hotel only to discover that the Farmacia next to the hotel had closed for the night. Clenching my stomach and regretting not looking for a pharmacy on Las Ramblas I decided I would get up early the next day to try again before the Costa Brava meet up.

At 8:30 AM I set out to determined to put an end to my digestive issues once and for all and to find a post office to mail the three post cards I had written out the night before.  My first stop- The Farmacia–it was closed. Ok a set back, but I continued on to the post office. I found it and it was open, but I did not mail my postcards. As it turns out post offices worldwide have one thing in common–nothing happens at a quick pace. There were only 3 people in the cue ahead of me and two workers. After waiting 30 minutes I could not risk being late for the Kayaking meet up so I abandoned my place in the cue and headed back to the hotel.

When I passed the Farmacia– it was opened. Well at least I would get something done this morning. I walked up to the pharmacist.

“Excuse me do you have anything for diarrhea?” I asked. The woman looked at me and blinked behind her glasses. I decided to try again. “Por Favor. No habla espanol. Do you have medicine for d-i-a-rrhe-ah?”

“DIARRHEA?” the woman asked a bit too loudly. I looked around to see if there was anyone else in the store. No we were alone.

“Yes, diarrhea. Do you have Imodium?” I ask in a lower voice hoping to encourage her to do the same.

“DIARRHEA? DIARRHEA? DIARRHEA?” the woman raises her voice a bit higher every times she said it. OMG I wasn’t sure if she understood the word, was trying to understand or just like saying it, but she was making me feel uncomfortable. This was getting me nowhere. Remembering my translation iPhone App Speak and Translate I said.

     “Por Favor I will be right back.” I rush up to my room. Repeat the phrase in English and watch how my words appear on my phone screen in both English and Spanish. Without Internet I could not play the verbal translation for her, but she could read it from the screen. I was good to go!

I walked back into a not so empty pharmacy. All my determination drained away as I heard the woman’s voice in my head shouting out DIARRHEA! DIARRHEA! in front of all these people. I turned around and convinced myself I would find another pharmacy on the way to the meet up. Just don’t eat anything bad I told myself.

After my full day kayaking and snorkeling excursion I found a pharmacy on my walk back to the hotel that evening. I showed the pharmacist my app. She nodded her head as she read.

“For you?” she asked.

“Yes,” I answered with a bit of hesitation.

The woman smiled, handed me a box while giving me instructions in perfect English. And she never mentioned or use the word diarrhea once.