I’ve been harboring a zit behind my ear which refuses to squeeze out and got infected. Last night I attempted to preform… ahem… self-surgery with a paper cutter but I was unable to extract anything meaningful. Instead, this morning I was met with my right ear and nearby nodules inflamed. The infection had spread.

I decided to take my case to the doctor. Here in Mexico there are private doctor practices next to each pharmacy, and it costs only $2 USD per consultation. The quality of the doctors varies, but for simple cases or when you know exactly what you need it’s even better than Spain’s lauded healthcare. So if you have that pesky throat infection and you already know you need antibiotics you can get the prescription in five minutes by simply asking for it.

The doctor who attended me was a wonderful lady. I was straightforward with my case. She shook her head. I said I know, I just can’t help trying to fix things on my own. When I mess up I come to the experts. She seemed satisfied. Experts love their clients come to them with their tail between their legs when they try to prescind from them. She prescribed antibiotics and after a long chit chat about matters of health (ceasing smoking, exercise and such) I was sent home.

As I walked home I wondered if the antibiotics were less healthy than putting a knife to the ear. One will kill the microbiome in my gut which I painstakingly collected from the numerous streams of the camino. Should I interrupt the treatment, the bacteria might gain resistance and become more difficult to eradicate.

Then I remembered my roosters. Their feet still look scaly and inflamed, but they no longer peck at their feet in desperation of the mites that are wreaking havoc under their skin. The recommended course of treatment was to rub their feet with an ointment, but after an incident in which one of the roosters put a claw to a vein on my leg I’m no longer willing to meddle physically with them. So I put a grinded anti-parasitic pill into their water and allow the drug to act from the inside.

And so I subject myself more or less to the same treatment: when the direct course of action proves to be too painful, you take the next best option, drinking a bit of poison to do away with something that is undesirable within you.

Is not all life like this?