Growing up in a Latino household is like growing up in your own separate world with irrational beliefs and traditions. Especially when you're sick.
Why should you drink tequila when you're sick, you might ask. Well, let's take a quick run down to understand a bit. I’ve always had long hair, so whenever I showered before going to bed or going outside, I would always hear them complain.
“Te vas enfermar y nosotros vamos ser los jodidos” – Translation, “We are going to be damned if you get sick”.
Yup, they are that dramatic and had a crazy theory about it.
So, yeah, I had to make sure to completely dry my hair or else. Another complaint, I would hear from them was, “Andas en tus dias, no vallas andar descalza porque o si no te va salir venas en las piernas cuando estas vieja”. – Translation, “Since it’s that time of the mouth, you better make sure you aren’t walking around barefoot because if you don’t you will get spidery-veins on your legs when you're old”. Like come on, where do they come up with all these ideas?
Thankfully, my parents never fully believed in the healing of Vicks, but my grandmother did. She praised Vicks as her holy grail and cure to everything.
Basically, I can keep up with rambling and list all the crazy beliefs I grew up with. But, let me spare you the details and share you with a couple of articles from Cosmopolitan and Latina to hear more about it.
So, you might be asking yourself, how does this concern me?Let's get started with the real story, shall we? Why should you drink tequila when you're sick?
Last month, I went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch with my family and ordered a Pineapple Mojito. Boy, was it delicious! After lunch, we went to the mall to go Christmas shopping, stopped by Crate and Barrel and rested on their soft, relaxing couches. I don’t know what happened, but I started to get drowsy that my mom thought I got tipsy from one drink. (Inner Me: Mama didn't raise no quitter.)
As soon as we got home, I started to develop more symptoms of a cold and sore throat. The next day, I woke up worse. My mom made sopa de res (beef soup) to help me feel better along with a tequila shot, lemon, and salt. I gave her this confused look and she said you should drink tequila when you’re sick because it helps soothes your throat. According to my parents, their theory is that the burning sensation of the tequila going down your throat kills the bacteria developing. As you can tell, I was a bit hesitant due to growing up with numerous theories. Thankfully, it worked. I was amazed by the outcome and really didn’t believe this theory because I thought it was just an excuse to drink tequila. But, I guess they were right after all with this remedy.
So, next time you are sick with a cold and/or a sore throat, take a shot or two of tequila with a wedge of lime and salt and you’ll feel better soon. The doctors back in the day use to recommend it to their patients, I'm just following orders.
Te( )amo
Te(✔)quila