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.  ;)