Good Times

 Sometimes I really love this place. Jane and I had a gorgeous morning run yesterday up into the mountains at the top of the Escaleras de Fortín. I'm really going to miss the view from the top of those stairs. Last night we had a great Thanksgiving dinner. About 20 of us showed up and the food was actually surprisingly close to a real American dinner. Plus, the cooks/waiters were all beyond amable. I stopped to talk to the laundry lady this morning and she told me that she's decided to raffle off a piece of barro negro pottery to one of us Americans. She gave me a lottery ticket--numero dos. There are 7 of us that come to visit her. Cross your fingers! Now I'm sitting in Brujula with my americano doble and about to knock out some of these papers. Yeah, so maybe I'm a little sad that we'll be leaving soon.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

Curanderas and Cave Exploring

Yesterday, we had pretty much the equivalent of a class field trip to Capulalpam, yet another pueblo out in the mountains. I feel like we've traveled to so many of these tiny little mountain pueblos now. You'd think it'd get old but each one has been really unique.  The purpose for this field trip was to visit with curanderas and learn a little about curanderismo though that ended up being only a small portion of our day. We left the city at 7:30 in the morning. I was under the impression that the pueblo was only a little over an hour away but if I've learned anything on this trip, it's that no one ever actually knows what's going on. Anywho, with stops and all, it took us nearly 3 hours to get there.  I didn't mind too much since I've always really liked long drives and I don't have a problem with car sickness. Speaking of car sickness, thank goodness no one got sick this time. I think our driver was a little tamer.

After about an hour, we stopped at this restaurant/store that was literally in the middle of nowhere. Probably the best way to describe it would be the mexican version of a roadhouse diner. 

Me and Helen outside the restaurant

Some of the boys ordered food, but most of us just got some hot chocolate or atole. I'm so hooked on the atole here.

After that, we got back in the vans and less than 5min later made another unexpected pit stop, this time at a molinillo factory. I say factory but in reality it was a family's house with a little workshop in the back, though it was pretty incredible the amount of molinillos they were able to make there. Molinillos are effectively wooden whisks used for making a pot of hot chocolate. The verb "moler" in Spanish means "to grind" which is basically where "molinillo" comes from. Here's a picture of a one I found on Google Images.

Molinillo

It was kind of neat watching the man make them. They start with a big block of wood and carve it down. Once they get it into a club like shape, they attach it to this machine which rotates it around and allows them to carve it more precisely and evenly on all sides. I know they serve a very functional purpose but they really are a work of art.


Anywho, soon enough we were back in the vans. It took us another hour or so before we got to where we were going.  When we got out of the vans our guides walked us over to the church in town. I'm not one to spend a lot of time touring churches but what I really liked about this one was the wooden sculptures they had on the inside. They were huge (probably about 10 feet tall and another 10ft wide) and they were so intricate it was hard to imagine anyone could have possibly carved it. It must have taken ages.  The other thing that was pretty neat was that the courtyard in front of the church had two different entrances. As our guide explained, one was the entrance for the living and one for the dead. He also said that when someone dies, they enter the church through the entrance for the dead but leave through the entrance for the living so that the afterlife can be filled with happiness and rejoice. Kinda cool idea.

After the church, we finally made our way to see the curanderas.  I'm not sure if I explained before in other posts what a curandera is but they're the traditional mexican folk healers.  They normally use herbs, massages, pláticas (chats), limpias (soul cleanings), etc to cure their patients.  The curanderas that we visited had a little less traditional set up.  They still practiced all of the traditional treatments and rituals but instead of practicing out of their separate homes, they had come together to form a combined practice. In addition, the curanderas are situated right next to the town's centro de salud.  This allows them to work closely with the doctors there. I thought it was really neat to see such a cooperation between western medicine and traditional mexican folk medicine. As one of the curanderas explained, both types of medicine have their limits and that's by why having doctors and curanderas work together, they can actually reach out to more people.

The curandera showing us different herbs they use

One of the curanderas talked to us a little about the different herbs they use and what purposes they serve. She went through about a million different kinds and held up examples of each but the two that I actually remember were guava leaves which are used to cure stomach pains and diarrhea (note to self: find me some of those guava leaves) and rueda which people sometimes drink as a way to abort their babies at home since abortion is illegal here in Mexico.  After our herb talk the curanderas offered us free limpias which are supposed to get rid of all the bad energy surrounding you and really purify your mind and soul. I was pretty excited because limpias and curanderismo are things we've been reading about since the beginning of the quarter and I couldn't believe we were actually going to have the opportunity to experience it. Let me just start by saying it was QUITE the experience. Here's the video of my limpia.

When the curandera cracks the egg into the glass of water at the end, she's looking at the different shapes the egg white forms. Each shape symbolizes something negative she's removed from my soul by doing the limpia. In my case, she told me some people were sending me bad vibes, that I'm stressed, and that I had a little bit of susto (fright). Also, I didn't realize this until I went back and watched the video but towards the end she mentioned that my feet get cold. Did she actually know that my hands/feet are cold 24/7?? Creepy.


The day didn't end there though. After that we walked just outside of the town and ended up on this small trail off the main road which led into the mountains where there are actual caves. As we were walking there, Doctora and I had a little conversation about what we were going to be doing. She told me, and I quote, "Basically they would never allow you to do this in the US." Great. Haha. I really had no idea what we were in for but let me just say we did some pretty intense cave exploring. 

Exploring the caves

Because of the flash in the picture it doesn't look like it was actually that dark but let me assure you it was pitch black.  Also, it was really wet and muddy so we all came out looking like a mess. A few times the guides had us stop and turn off our flashlights so they could show us some of the neat shadows the rocks make on the wall. I had a really hard time seeing any of the figures they described. It was decided I have no imagination.

After our little cave expedition, we ended the day at a restaurant out in the middle of the mountains. At this point it was already starting to get dark and I think we were all getting kind of tired. I didn't actually order anything to eat but I stole a bunch of Helen and Alyssa's tostadas which came with their really yummy looking trout. The ride back to the city wasn't anything too exciting. We watched Leap Year which was kind of a silly movie but it had a really cute romantic ending. I always seem to fall for those. Anywho, after such a long day of traveling and touring, I really knocked out by the time we got back. Today's been a bit of lazy day. I should've gotten a lot more work done than I did

Back in Oaxaca and Missing Puerto

Last night's sunset in Puerto Escondido

We just got back this evening. The bus ride was fairly uneventful. Some people got sick (as per usual), we stopped for lunch in this really cute little town in the mountains, and Alyssa brought her pirated version of Inception which we all had a good time watching.  Coming home to an empty room was a little depressing. I miss having everyone so close by. Also, I'm really starting to miss home home. 13 days until Mom gets here. :)

Sexo en la Playa

What a week this has been. I'm not even quite sure where to begin.  Between class, papers, and enjoying the gorgeous beaches here in Puerto there's been so much going on. The official countdown til the end of the quarter is 15 days and I can't decide if that makes me really excited to go home and see my family/friends or really sad to leave Mexico and everyone here. I think it's a little of both but in any case, 15 days means it's really time to get down to business as far as classes go. 2 papers (one individual, one group) and a final. I think I can do it?

At this point, my group is just about done with our group paper. We're writing about teen pregnancy in Mexico which has turned out to be quite an interesting topic.

Working hard on our paper

On Wednesday our group interviewed one of the doctors here in Puerto. What we found out shocked me. The majority of students in Mexico receive only one class period of sex ed in all of their schooling but even worse is that since so many students drop out of school early, lots never actually receive any formal sex education.  The kids are even less likely to talk about it with their parents so almost all the information they receive comes from their peers.  Also, contraceptives are not always seen as socially acceptable. I would've expected a higher use of contraceptives initially and then as teens get more comfortable with their partners the rate of contraceptive use would decrease. Apparently this is not even close to reality. Only 1 in 10 teens in Mexico uses contraceptives the first time they have sex. Insane. Probably the most shocking of all though was that for those young girls that do get pregnant, most never tell their parents.  The parents only find out because they recognize the signs in their daughters.

The theme for this week's classes was reproductive health which fit in perfectly with our group essay topic.  We had a couple guest speakers, one of which talked about contraceptives and contraceptive use in Mexico and the other talked about parteras which are similar to midwives in the US. The second guest speaker actually ended her lecture with a demonstration of the traditional role of a partera from pregnancy through birth of the baby.  Erica volunteered as our pregnant woman and Edgar as the daddy. We had a lot of fun watching them.

Edgar and Erica

Giving Birth

Yesterday, we actually had the opportunity to visit some parteras at their houses.  We got to speak with 3 different parteras which was reallyy neat. One showed us the room in her house she used to deliver babies.  There were 2 different beds: a hard wood one for delivering the baby and a softer one for after the baby is born.

Talking with one of the parteras in her house

I think the best way to describe parteras is as SUPER midwives. Not only do they deliver your baby, they open their houses to you. They sit with you and coach you through all of your contractions,  prepare special teas to alleviate the pain and hot chocolate to keep your contractions coming.  After the baby is born they bathe you and the baby, wash all your clothes, and prepare a home cooked meal for you. Most don't charge for their services but instead ask for whatever the mother can spare. In some cases the woman doesn't have any money to pay the partera but none of the parteras had a problem with that.  They told us that they understood what it was like to be poor and therefore were sympathetic.

When we were visiting with the first partera, I asked her who had delivered her own kids.  I expected her to say another partera or a friend but instead she replied that she had given birth to all 8 of them by herself. A lot of times, when she started getting contractions she would run next door to get the neighbor and ask them to come over to cut the umbilical cord.  I can't even imagine.

Right now there's a lot going on educate the parteras since most have never had any formal medical training. In most aspects, this isn't much of a problem because though they have no medical education, the parteras are really good at what they do and have been doing it for years.  The problem is with high risk pregnancies.  In reality, parteras are not as well equipped to deal with high risk pregnancies as hospitals and centros de salud so right now there's a big push to help parteras identify the signs of a high risk pregnancy so they can refer those women to a hospital.

One of the books la Secretaría de Salud give to parteras

 Today, we went to a local middle school to give sex/contraceptive talks to all the students. I was SO nervous before we left. Not only was I going to have to explain to a bunch of 13 year olds what a condom is and how to use one, but I was going to have to do it in Spanish.  Let's just say I was definitely prepared for the worst--middle schoolers pointing and laughing hysterically and me making a quick dash for the exit. Thank God that is not what happened and on the contrary, today was probably my favorite day all week. There were 5 of us in the group: Mayra, Jennifer, Ally, Alyssa, and I.  We divided up the material so that we were each presenting on something different. I was blessed with the condom/banana demonstration which I was pretty ecstatic about. Actually, I think I had maybe a little too much fun making flaccid jokes out of our squishy bananas. Haha.

In any case, we arrived at the school during their recess.  I saw the kids looking around and staring at the huge mass of gringos that had just invaded their school and once again thought for sure we were doomed.  By the time we made it up to the classroom even Mayra, our only fluent speaker in the group, was nervous. In short, we were a mess.  I'm not sure how we pulled it off but we did and I think we did an okay job. We started with a quick question and answer to break the ice and see how much the students already knew. Then we briefed them on the 3 most common contraceptives for their age group: injections, birth control, and condoms.

Condom Demonstration

After that we broke them off into groups and had each group present on one of the other types of contraceptives (IUD, implants, patches, etc).  Finally at the end, we had some fun and did a banana/condom race between two guys in the class.  Neither one put the condom on completely correctly but it ended up being a good learning experience for everyone in the class.

Us with all the students

Now, I'm back at CasaMar writing this blog post and soaking up some rays by the pool. This weekend there's a surf competition going on at Playa Zicatela. It actually started this morning but lasts all weekend. I think I'm going to head over there tomorrow and watch for a bit.  Sunday morning we leave to go back to Oaxaca. I'm not at all ready to leave the beach. Also, Doctora mentioned that we're going to be taking the more curvy road back since the one we came on is now blocked off. Yes, apparently there's something more curvy than what we took initially. Can't wait! ;)

Más de Puerto

Last night Michelle, Helen, Alyssa, and I went on a long walk along the beach at sunset. I will never get sick of watching the sun set here. It's gorgeous.

When it finally got dark, we decided to take a taxi to the big market here, Súper Che. I bought way too much food, including a bag of chocolate covered raisins which I probably ate half of before I got to the check out line.

When we came back Michelle came downstairs to use our oven.  She was baking a surprise cookie cake thing for Sarah, who had to leave today. Her mom is terminally ill and hasn't been doing very well lately so she's going home to be with her. The cookie was sort of like a going away present which was nice.  In any case, I'm pretty sure Michelle tried to burn down our room in the process because the cookie started spilling over the edges while it was baking and then dropped down to the bottom of the oven where it turned into smokey ash. Our entire room was filled with smoke, which is when we realized our room did not come equipped with a smoke detector. How safe. In the end though, the part of the cookie that was still left on the pan turned out pretty good and I think Sarah appreciated it which is what counts. It was pretty sad having to say goodbye to her today but it was great to see the whole group come together as one and see her off. I'm pretty sure she got a hug from every single person on our program.

This afternoon we had an activity planned to visit Laguna Manialtepec.  Once we got there we divided up into 3 different motorboats which took us around the lagoon. 

I really don't know what's so significant about the lagoon except that a lot of different birds migrate there in the winter and it was kind of pretty.  After about 30 or 40 minutes we stopped at this beach.  The distance between the edge of the lagoon and the beginning of the ocean was only a couple hundred yards and it was really really pretty because the sun was just starting to set.  Some of us started up a game of soccer on the sand which was fun but I fell way too many times and it was too humid outside for the sand to fall off your skin so it just kind of collected there. Kinda uncomfortable. After the sun set, we took the motorboats back to where the vans were waiting for us.  Some people were sad we couldn't stay longer. Apparently once it gets completely dark you can swim in the lagoon and it lights up neon green around you because of the bioluminescence. Unfortunately the van drivers wanted to charge us a little too much more than it was worth so we decided to come back.

Now I'm sitting out at our little table on the patio with Ally, Angela, Erica, and Michelle. I really haven't gotten any work done. It's hard to do anything productive here. Oh well.

More Brigades

I know I'm really falling behind on my blog posts. I have to say it's really hard to keep up with all the work we have while we're here living in paraiso. Plus, our internet in CasaMar is pretty sub par which makes it only easier to find other things to occupy my time with.  Right now I'm sitting at an internet cafe typing this.  (Actually, to be more exact, it's kind of a mini supermarket with tables out front that just happens to also sell WiFi for the day.) In any case, the internet here is good enough to upload pictures so I just added pics to the last couple blog posts I made and I'm currently uploading a new album on Facebook.

I wanted to take a sec to write a little about the brigades we did on Thursday and Friday though. Thursday's brigade was on Chagas which is another tropical disease like Dengue.  It's transmitted by a bug called the Chinche but unlike Dengue, it's a parasite that causes the disease and not a virus.  Here's a cute little picture of a chinche.

Chinche Bug

These things freaked the hell out of me. I was definitely not a big fan of this brigade.  We had to follow the public health workers around, check dark corners of the houses, stacks of bricks, palm frond/adobe roofs, etc. for the bugs. When we found them we watched the workers use gloves to pick them up and put them in plastic containers to take them back to be tested.  Some of the bugs were more than an inch big. It was awful.

For Friday's brigade we drove an hour out on dirt roads to this REALLY small town in the mountains.  There were probably less than 200 people living there. Crazy.  We had a little town hall meeting with all of the residents that were home that morning where our class presented everything we'd learned about Dengue and Chagas. It was actually only about 4 or 5 of the native Spanish speakers that talked to the people about the diseases, but we all got the chance initially to introduce ourselves.

Some of the residents listening to our presentation

All of the residents were really receptive to our presentation and afterward, when we broke off into groups to allow the residents to ask individual questions, the people really pushed for us to come back to their houses so we could see more of the town.  We sat in the backyard of this one woman's home and went over the different ways the residents could protect their homes and prevent the diseases.  Most really participated and were interested in how they could keep their families safe.

After about 45 minutes we were supposed to meet back up and get ready to head back to CasaMar, but the women in our group absolutely insisted on showing us the river that runs through the town. We were late to meet back with everyone but it was worth it. The river was really refreshing and it made the women really happy that we came to see it.

We finally met up with everyone else and were just about to get in the vans to go home when the woman with the yellow dress in the picture above stopped us and told us that she had prepared some food for us.  We were supposed to eat at CasaMar as soon as we got back, but out of respect there was no way we could pass up the offer.  We were shuffled off to this lady's restaurant which was really just a few concrete pillars with a roof on top. They served us beans, rice, and tortillas and it was the BEST beans, rice, and tortillas I've ever had.

Beans, Rice and Agua de Jamaica

Maybe because I was starving. Maybe because the women were just so loving and welcoming. But I honestly never forget that meal.  Also, by the end of it they had brought out a bottle of mezcal and were handing out free shots. Somehow someone got Doctora to take a shot. I got it on camera.

Last night, we explored the bars on the beach for the first time. The dynamic was really different from that of Oaxaca. It was a much more relaxed, younger crowd. Most people dressed in white or light colors and I definitely spotted a few free spirited hippie/surfers.  Since we went out so late, we didn't actually make it home until after 4am. By that time I wasn't even feeling tired anymore and instead Michelle and I got caught up talking. We didn't mean to but we ended up seeing the sunrise at 6:15.  By 7, we both passed out in our beds and then were up again for breakfast at 9. (It's really hard to turn down the food here. Hahah) All in all, it's been a pretty great last couple days. I'm absolutely exhausted now but maybe I'll be able to take a nap a little later.  ;)

Dengue Brigade

Yesterday was our first brigade here in Puerto.  After breakfast downstairs we all climbed into vans and were bussed to a small town about 10 or 15 minutes from where we're staying.  There we met up with some of the community's public health workers who are responsible for educating and protecting the community against tropical diseases.  It was only 8:30 or 9 in the morning but we were all already dying of heat which made having to stand in the sun for an hour listening to the workers explain what we were going to be doing that day a little miserable.  Not to mention we all came dressed in long pants (most of us scrubs because we're bio nerds and have nothing else to wear) to protect us from the Dengue mosquitoes.

In any case, yesterday's brigade targeted Dengue Fever.  For those that don't know, Dengue is a disease that occurs in tropical climates. It's caused by the Dengue virus which is transmitted from human host to host by a specific species of mosquitoes called the Aedes.  The disease can actually be fatal and since all you need is one mosquito bite to contract it, it's often hard to prevent the spread of the disease.  The best place to start is by eliminating the mosquitoes that pass on the virus. As I learned, mosquitoes lay their eggs in water and then spend both their larval and pupal stages there, before they later emerge and fly off into the air as adults.  Hence standing water, whether it be in lakes, puddles, or buckets in one's backyard are great breeding grounds for mosquitoes.  When we went around and visited the different homes in the village, the first thing we did was look for mosquito larvae in existing standing water (ie in water tanks or aquatic planters). Then we looked for anything that could collect water if it were to rain (ie empty buckets and coconut shells) and either turned it upside down, punched holes in it, or got rid of it completely.

I didn't mention before but the people in this town, because of a lack of water, only getting running water in their houses 2 times a week.  Therefore they all have huge water tanks in their backyards which they fill on days when they actually get water.  The standing water in the tanks is a risk for spreading Dengue so in order to comply with health codes the residents are advised to keep their tanks covered and asked to put a special chemical in them which kills mosquito larvae. The chemical only lasts about 2 or 3 months which is another reason the public health workers have to come around so often--to check the chemicals and replace them when needed.

Inspecting a resident's water tank for mosquito larvae. The white bottle floating in the water has the bag of chemicals attached to it.

What I thought was pretty interesting and a little scary is that the chemicals they put in the water can only kill the mosquito larvae but not the pupa. This is because the larvae actually feed on the chemicals however once the larvae pass into the pupa sage, they stop eating and the chemicals no longer have any effect. As long as those pupa don't die of some other natural cause, they will develop into full grown adult mosquitoes.  Another fun fact: mosquitoes lay on average 75-100 eggs at a time. That's A LOT. Can you just imagine 100 mosquitoes all flying off at once?! What's even crazier is that if for some reason the water the eggs are laid in ends up drying out, the eggs will form a protective shell and can actually survive in the sun and out of water for up to a year.  All it takes is a little bit of rain to prompt the eggs to hatch into their larval stage.  This is how you get huge outbreaks of mosquitoes and disease right after a rainfall that's broken a dry spell.

Anywho, after we were briefed on the disease, we headed out into the community to observe how the public health workers go around and inspect homes.  Most people gladly invited us into their backyards though there was one woman who refused because the actual owner of the house was not home. In that case, as with any other time someone refuses the inspection, the workers schedule another date to come back and try again.  Obviously, since mosquitoes born in one backyard don't necessarily stay in only that backyard, it's important for the health of the entire community that every home and backyard be checked for mosquito larvae.

In any case by the time we got back to CasaMar after having spent all morning baking in the sun, I was pretty much ready to shoot someone . I was so ridiculously hot and sweaty.  The amazing tostadas we ate for lunch somewhat made up for it and then a little later Michelle and I went for a run along the beach just as the sun was setting. That really did make up for it. It was beautiful.

After I showered and everything, Erica, Ally, and Helen made us asian food for dinner--rice and cabbage/beef stir fry and we all sat out on the girls' balcony upstairs. There were about 10 or 12 of us. Sarah made some sort of tropical pineapple rum drinks for everyone. (She's a pretty legit bartender I have to say.) All in all it ended up being a really nice night.

Is This Really Fall Quarter?

We finally arrived in Puerto Escondido Saturday evening around 6.  It was a full 12 hour trip including the 1 hour lunch break and couple rest stops we made.  Doctora was hilarious. She came prepared with a communal puke bucket, latex gloves for the friend blessed with holding said communal puke bucket, air freshener for use by those sitting next to the bathroom, and antibacterial spray for cleaning up the seat after you "piddle." You think she's done this before? Haha. In any case, the road was way more curvy than I expected and the bus driver drove at least twice as fast as the most insane bus driver in the states would drive. I hardly ever get motion sickness but I'm glad I decided to take the Dramamine.  There were at least 4 or 5 in the group that actually did throw up.

For lunch we stopped at Playa Cangrejo. I can't really explain the excitement I felt when I saw the ocean for the first time in 7 weeks. The beach wasn't even that pretty but the fresh ocean breeze felt amazing.

Lunch at Playa Cangrejo

We all sat down at this little hut/restaurant thing on the beach. Some people ordered fish tacos or other yummy looking fish entrees. My host mom was nice enough to pack me a torta for lunch so I didn't have to spend any money, though even so, it was pretty tempting. Later, someone ordered a flan for dessert which was impossible to pass up. I ordered one for myself. So good.

After lunch, we had another 5 hours before we got to where we're staying.  The place we're at is called CasaMar. It's basically a complex of little mini condos and we're the only ones staying here for the next two weeks.

Pool Area at CasaMar

I'm sharing a room with Ally, Angela, and Erica who are all pretty cool. It's been a nice change of pace. Plus, the room we're in is awesome. We have 2 full beds and a twin, a bathroom with a huge shower so I can actually shave my legs, a little kitchenette with a stove, oven, and refrigerator, and a nice patio area where you can watch the sun rise or set, take your pick. The only downside to this place is that the internet really sucks. I wanted to upload photos for you guys but I think I'll have to wait until tomorrow or Thursday when I go to an internet cafe.

Sunday was our first day out exploring Puerto. We woke up at 9am for breakfast. Did I mention there are 2 women who cook for all of us everyday?  The food is delicious and also way more nutritious than the food our host family in Oaxaca prepares for us (though their food is also pretty delish). After breakfast, Nick, one of our program coordinators, stopped by and invited any of us that wanted to to accompany him to Playa Carrizalillo. In case you were wondering.. yes, it looks exactly like the picture I posted last week. It's absolutely gorgeous. Possibly better than Hawaii. I honestly can't believe I'm getting class credits to sit on the beach here. We spent about 4 or 5 hours there swimming, talking, and sitting under palm frond umbrellas drinking out of real coconuts before we had to meet back with everyone at CasaMar.

The Davis crowd at Playa Carrizalillo

When we got back, our entire group left almost immediately for Playa Zicatela which is the beach right in front of where we're staying. It's not quite as nice as Carrizalillo but it's much bigger (nearly 4 miles long), the waves are much bigger, and it's basically where all the surfers go to surf. We're not supposed to swim there because there are dangerous rip currents but the people from CasaMar threw us a nice little welcome party there. They brought taquitos and salad for lunch and gave us free surf lessons at the very end of the beach which is a little bit safer to swim in.

Surfing at Playa Zicatela

Needless to say, by the time I got back to the room on Sunday I was feeling pretty dead.

Yesterday, Monday, was another free day.  We were supposed to have class in the evening but Doctora canceled it. She said she wanted us to have another day to enjoy ourselves. I think she probably just wanted another day to enjoy with her hubby who's here visiting but what do I care--another day off for us! In the morning some of us decided to go on this turtle/dolphin watching tour. We never ended up seeing any dolphins but we saw LOTS of turtles and some manta rays, which I didn't know actually jump out of the water!

¡TORTUGA!

It was really neat to watch and I know Ally got some pictures of them so I'll have to get those from her later. I wish I could say everyone really enjoyed the tour but of the six of us that were on the boat, three were throwing up over the side for the majority of the trip, sometimes all at once. It actually became kind of humorous at times but thank goodness I don't get motion sickness! We got back around 2 for another delicious meal (shrimp spaghetti with pink sauce) and then while all my other roomies went to the beach for more surf lessons, I literally passed out in my bed for 3 hours. I guess I really needed it.

This morning a group of us woke up early to go running along the beach. I've never run barefoot before but I really really enjoyed it... right up until I got back and realized I had blisters on both of my big toes. Haha. No but really, it was great and I'm definitely planning on going again, maybe even tomorrow. Also, when we got down to the other side of the beach, we realized that's where all the surfers hang out so we stopped to watch for a bit. It was like straight out of a surfers' magazine. No joke. They were really carving it up out there. We came back for breakfast at 9 (french toast, fruit, yogurt, and coffee). Honestly, it doesn't get much better than that. Then after breakfast Michelle, Helen, Lisandra, and I went back to Playa Carrizalillo with the intention of getting some reading done. Surprise--in the 3 hours we spent there, I managed to read exactly 0.5 of an article. Pathetic. I did however work on my tan, cool off in the gorgeous blue/green water, and order myself a naranjada. A morning well spent if you ask me.

This afternoon we had a class activity on the beach.  I was really tired and not in the best mood when I left for it but it ended up being a lot of fun. It was a relay race with questions on the reading interspersed.  Each person was in charge of a different part of the race: running, potato sack-ing, cartwheeling, and blowing a bubble with bubble gum. I got to do the cartwheeling in my group. Then later tonight we had a lecture by Dr. Herrera Naranja on tropical diseases. Honestly, he kind of scared the crap out of me and I felt like he talked down to us a little too much but the topics he covered were interesting. 

Tomorrow morning we're doing our first brigade. It's our brigade on Dengue Fever and as I understand we're going to be breaking off into small groups and dispersing around certain villages to talk to the people about the disease. Except for having to wear long pants and trek through dry brush all morning in a million degree weather, I'm really looking forward to it. Hehe. Also, hopefully I'll be able to get to an Internet cafe and upload some pics tomorrow afternoon so stay tuned! ;)

Emotional Intelligence

The doctor I shadowed today had none. Okay maybe that's not quite fair to say. She was a nice lady. I just didn't agree with how she handled some of her patients.  She hardly conversed with any of them, except to ask the necessary questions that led her to make her diagnoses.  At one point she abruptly got up and left the room in the middle of a consult without even dismissing herself. She had decided she wanted some tea, walked across the hall to make it, joked loudly with the administrators next door before returning, seating herself, and continuing with the consult as if nothing had happened.  Also, I was shocked when she explained to a patient their diagnosis of the fungus, Cándida, simply by stating the name of the fungus and listing off the medications and how often they should be taken in order to treat the problem.  There was no explanation of what Cándida is, not even that it's a common fungus and not some type of fatal disease.  There was no warning of how the patient could expect it to affect her body or how to know if it gets worse. There was no explanation of how the medications would work to get rid of it.  When the doctor finished reading off the last of the medications, I stayed quiet at first, believing that Cándida must be some really common illness that I did not know the English translation for. Why else would the doctor have failed to give more information? This was not the case. Although Cándida is apparently fairly common, the English translation is exactly what you'd expect: Candida. When I finally did ask the doctor what "Cándida" was, she looked at me a little strange and said something to the effect of, "You don't know what Cándida is?" Thank goodness the patient was still in the room when the doctor explained to me what it was. I'm pretty sure the patient had no idea either but was too embarrassed to ask.  There was obviously a real lack of patient-provider connection/understanding.

Tomorrow, is our last day here in Oaxaca before we go to Puerto Escondido.  I'm really excited! I think I'm going to take the day off from clinic so that I can pack everything up and get myself ready. Maybe with my free time, I'll even start the 5 page paper I was planning on having done before we left. ;) Tomorrow evening we have a meeting with the whole group and then Saturday morning we hit the road at 6:30am!!!

Long Day

Today was an interesting day. Honestly I feel both physically and mentally exhausted.  There was a bit of drama this morning with other students from our program because Helen and I decided to return to Hospital Civil.  We got the okay from the doctors last week but I think the students scheduled at the hospital this week felt like we were barging in on their time there, which I completely understand. So tomorrow Helen and I are going to Centro de Salud Pueblo Nuevo instead of going back to the hospital.

In any case, this morning at the hospital ended up being another great experience.  We went back to the Gynecology department. A lot of the doctors there recognized us and a few actually remembered our names which was cool.  It wasn't all that busy at first. I think there were only 3 women waiting to give birth, but I noticed that one of them seemed to be in a lot more pain than the others.  When I asked the doctor about it, he said that she hadn't been given the epidural yet.  This was apparently for two reasons: 1) because they were sill waiting for her lab results and 2) because there was no anesthesiologist around.  Kind of crazy if you ask me. I can't imagine an anesthesiologist just walking off in the US.  Anywho while the doctor was checking up on her he had me put a glove on so I could actually feel the baby in the birth canal. That was really neat.  The woman ended up giving birth only 10 or 15 minutes later. No epidural but she was great.

A little later, we also got to see a really interesting case.  The mother was pregnant with a baby who's abdomen hadn't fused correctly and as a result its intestines had developed on the outside of its body.  We watched the Cesarean to remove the baby and then I followed the doctors to a different room where they tended to the baby. 

The brown mass next to the baby's body is its intestines

Because there was no space in the hospital and no surgeon currently available, they had to bandage the intestines in a way that would keep the baby stable until it could go through surgery. What they did was basically cover the intestines with a wet plastic bag and tie it down to the baby's body.  They said there was no urgency and the baby would be stable like that for awhile. I thought that was pretty incredible. Poor baby though!

This afternoon we had our last Spanish class. It was kind of sad saying goodbye to Manuel but I'm sure we'll see him around.  Oaxaca isn't THAT big. On the bright side, we now have only THREE days until we leave for Puerto Escondido. I don't know how much I've written about it previously but we're going to spend 2 weeks living in apartments on the beach there. It supposedly looks something like this.

Playa Carrizalillo, Puerto Escondido

We'll still have classes during the week as well as Dengue and Malaria brigades, which should be really neat, but I hear we'll also have ample free time to explore the beaches.  I can't wait. The only let down--by bus, it's a 12 hour drive from Oaxaca on curvy mountain roads. Saturday should be interesting!

Can You Say SECOND PLACE?!

Yesterday was great. As predicted, I got nowhere near enough sleep. We met at Profesora's house at 6:30am, loaded up two taxis with all the goods we bought at the mercado on Saturday, and headed to the Panteón.  I don't know how well I've explained what we were going to be doing at the Panteón but basically every year the Panteón (the cemetery in town) hosts an altar building contest.  Each team has all morning Sunday to build their altar and then they have to be present all afternoon to explain to the judges the significance of each item they put on their altar.  We were the only non-locals to enter the contest and I'm so excited to say that we just found out this morning WE WON SECOND PLACE!! Here are some pics of the process. I'll post more on Facebook.

Setting up the crates and background arch

Andy working diligently on the tapete

The finished product and the group that made it happen!

We decided to dedicate our altar to Macedonio Alcalá who was a famous Oaxacan musician and songwriter.  He played a bunch of different instruments but was mostly well known for playing the violin (how neat!).  In the 1800s when the state of Oaxaca tried to become independent from Mexico, Alcalá wrote the song for what would have been their national anthem. The song is called "Dios nunca muere." As you can see in the pics, we decided to also make our own tapete.  Andy was in charge of drafting the design for this project. He featured the skeleton of Macedonio Alcalá playing the violin with a cross in the background.  You can't see it in the picture I posted, but under the cross, the tapete group wrote "Dios nunca muere," the name of Alcalá's song. Also in the background around the cross the group stenciled in one of the ancient patterns found on the ruins in Mitla. I'd say pretty good job for just learning to do tapetes this week!!

Last night, we had the opportunity to see a few of the local cemeteries after dark.  For Día de los Muertos, the most traditional families go to the cemeteries and spend all night sitting next to the graves of their loved ones.  They talk, sing, pray, drink, and bring food.  I couldn't help but think this was such a somewhat odd tradition.  In the US, it's almost a curse to be found in a cemetery after dark but here, for Día de los Muertos, everyone's happy and joyful. There's music and food and LOTS of people. I think that's really neat. It sends the message that death is not something to be feared, but rather something that unites all of us, something that we will all experience at some point, and for that reason something to be honored and celebrated. 

Me with Maggie (Frida Kahlo) and Profesora De la Torre

After spending some time in the Panteón General which is where we built our altar, we went to Xoxocotlán (also known as Xoxo) to see the two Panteones that they have there. The first Panteón we saw was the newest. It was really big and reallyy busy.  It was hard just to get through the front gates.  The second I liked a lot more.  It was much smaller, quieter, and more traditional.  There were several families sitting in circles around the graves.  It was really kind of magical. Here's a snapshot.

The old Panteón in Xoxo

We didn't make it home until a little after 1:30 last night. I was so exhausted that I slept until 11 this morning. We didn't have class today because it's a holiday. Lovee Día de los Muertos!! Anywho, we're leaving now to go visit a couple smaller cemeteries tonight. Gotta run!