Last Sunday I woke up with a sore throat but didn’t think much of it. (4 am start, didn’t get much sleep, climbing a volcano all day...) Feeling poorly on Sunday night and on Monday morning it was apparent that I had a nasty cold. Monday afternoon we stopped off at the “Farmaci” on the way home to get some cold and flue tablets or throat lozenges. The woman behind the counter/cage (most of the small shops have the staff and all products locked behind bars. The bigger ones just have security guards with shotguns) offered a range of strange unidentifiable liquids when I requested something for a sore throat. We asked if they had any tablets and I was offered something with the brand name of “Speedy” (Amphetamines anyone?). We just took some Vitamin C tablets and tried a larger chemist instead. They had some throat lozenges available which came in a box of 100 but they sold them by the strip! Must have needed a prescription of some kind or maybe a controlled substance because they asked for a name to put down on the hand written receipt.