ha tenido oro en su vagina?

Tessa, Sandra, and I joined a short hike with a group from Minnesota today up Cerro de Oro, part of the volcanic complex surrounding SLT. It was pretty vertical for the first half of it, then turned into pathways through rocks and trees, ducking under branches and leaves, dirt kicking up everywhere. I felt just like Leonardo DiCaprio when he was going jungle-nuts in The Beach. JUST LIKE THAT, YOU GUYS. It's amazing that people hike up it for work - there were coffee plants and stacks of wood scattered along the trails, signs of daily life. It was super fun, with beautiful views of the lake and volcanoes. There's something satisfying about being covered in dirt when you walk through the door at the end of the day.

bigfoot sighting

It feels like I've been here a month, even though it's only been 10 days and I know the next few will go by so quickly... Everyone's getting more comfortable with eachother and things are starting to get weird. Finally.

Life has always poppies in her hands. Oscar Wilde

Video montage from the first week of our trip

as simple as...

Liz and I did a brief presentation on malnutrition during tonight's group discussion. It's such a difficult problem to address and manage because so many factors come into play - economic, environmental, political, etc. How do we break the intergenerational transmission of poverty and malnutrition? And whose responsibility is it it, if the families themselves are too impoverished or uneducated to take steps that would stop the cycle? Even when government or charity groups attempt to initiate programs that address malnutrition, you have to wonder whether their work is sustainable and able to create lasting change...or whether they are even following through on those claims. USAID & Mercy Corps have a program here called PROCOMIDA that asserts the government is "bolstering" the work of local health facilities. Given our experience in every community surrounding San Lucas Toliman, I am inclined to be skeptical about the actual follow-through for these programs. Clinics lack the funds to stay stocked with even the most basic of medications and the most I have seen in terms of nutrition programs sponsored through the clinics are some hand drawn posters that line their walls, hardly the effort you would expect of international aid organizations or national government.

Pampojilla, Xiqujuyu, a culture of violence

Things I take for granted:

• My education
• Hot showers with water pressure
• Drinking water out of the faucet and never worrying about it making me sick
• A variety of food and as much of it as I want
• Birth control
• Healthcare
• My voice

We are set up right now at a woman's house in Parcelamiento Pampojilla where women are gathered to be seen. One bedroom for interviews, one for the exam, and everyone waiting outside on the covered balcony. This is the nicest home I have been to in the communities - tiled floor instead of packed dirt, a full kitchen, and more than one bedroom for the family. There are a ton of stuffed animals, framed paintings on the walls, and the smell of almond oil or something sweet they used for cleaning.

The first woman I saw, 20 years old, had her husband along with her. They seemed very sweet and excited and she looked to him to answer ever question we asked. I thought their dynamic was probably a combination of the gender roles here, their relationship, and the natural sentiments/roles that develop between a couple in pregnancy. But when I talked to Dr. Chaperone about it, she said that the husband answering for the wife was often a sign of domestic abuse. I didn't get that feeling from them and I really hope it's not the case...

It's much cooler than yesterday, with a soft breeze. That, coupled with the fact we get to sit in the shade and don't have a gaggle of kids to entertain, is making for a calm day.

I need to get started on filming interviews for the video. The days are passing so quickly - it's hard to believe it has already been a week, and yet it feels like I'm living such a different life that it has to have been longer.

...

We've moved now to another village, Xiqujuyu, where we have a couple of women to see. One wouldn't let us into her house - the health promoter explained that her brother had just hit her and she was crying, too embarrassed to have anyone in. She is pregnant with her second baby out of wedlock, something that brings "shame" to the family. I was shocked at how little the health promoter was concerned for this woman and how obvious it is that violence is a regular part of the culture.

In which I'm hot and sleepy and don't feel like writing

We went to two villages today - Nueva Vida and Quixaya. It was crazy hot out and I was tired all day. But - good day. It's amazing how quickly you can get used to an entirely new situation and environment. Everything is suddenly less vibrant and intoxicating as it becomes your reality. Que pena.

It's been so great to be able to experience firsthand what we learned in our maternity course. I hate to feel appreciative of other's disease or hardships, but I am grateful for the chance to be able to interact with these women and learn from them. I can read something in a textbook, but until I deal with it first hand, I have a hard time remembering or understanding the pathophysiology behind it. I also really appreciate the reminders to think critically and not make assumptions or create cause-and-effect relationships in our head, when there are often other variables to take into account.

It took about 20 minutes but with careful sleuthing, some of the ladies and I found "Mini Super Sally", the one store in town where you can buy wine (two varieties - boxed or bottled) and other American goodies like granola, whole wheat bread, and nuts. We also bought a bunch of fruit from local street vendors, which will be awesome after eating nothing but white bread roll, cheddar cheese, and tomato sandwiches for lunch every day the past week.

Panamaquip, San Martin

This morning we were driven to a community called Panamaquip, set high up in the mountains with Jurassic Park views. We had to stop the truck at a point where the road ended and hike up to the village... I can't imagine living somewhere so isolated. There is a small one-room clinic there where we set up a table for interviewing women outside and performed exams inside the dimly lit room. There were about 5-10 kids playing with us, a combination of children of the mothers we were seeing and kids who walked by the clinic and decided to join in - so unbelievably adorable and fun. They were all singing songs and performing dances for us - some local jigs and even a Justin Bieber tune. The power of his bowl cut knows no boundaries. The primary language here is Quetzechal, but all the kids speak Spanish, as well, so we had some fun trading words between the three combined languages. Definitely my favorite day here so far.

I'm insanely stoked... because of my background and incessant filming, Dr. Chaperone asked me to create a video about the trip and what the students learned in place of writing a paper. This will mean I need to interview the other girls about their experiences being down here immersed in the culture and doing nursing work. I'm hoping she will let me interview her, as well, but she is very camera shy and hasn't let anybody take a photo of her yet. I only have about an hour left of footage on my videocamera, so I will have to edit somewhat as I go.

After lunch we went to a second community called San Martin where we did a few exams in women's homes. In one of them, the father of the baby came home - the first time I have seen the husband present. He was so excited, concerned for his wife, and a really sweet guy. Dr. Chaperone had him do the doppler exam so he could be involved - such a special moment the first time they heard their baby's heartbeat.

The average age of most pregnant women I see is late teens /early 20s depending on the community. Many women do not believe in birth control because of their religious values so unless we are in a more "progressive" educated village, girls tend to get pregnant very young. It wouldn't be the least bit unusual to see a girl my age with 4 or 5 children, something that seems so unspeakable to me. That is not to say they are unhappy, though.

For last night's "reflection", we had a guest speaker, Dennis, come talk to us about the education system here and a non-profit organization he runs to sponsor local students whose families are not able to afford to send them to school - CFCA. Tonight, a man named Felix came and talked to us about his work with a non-profit that provides resources and support to families who are born with kids that have cleft lip and palate - Evelyn's Baskets. He travels around the country in the back of chicken-buses (the trucks we are transported around in) to meet the families and teach them about caring for their babies and the options they have for surgery. He was a really neat man - besides helping the org, running the hotel we are staying in with his family, raising kids and being a husband, he is also a professional clown on the weekends. Supreme.

"Let's go wash our machete so we can cut that mango." - quote from one of the girls today. Living the dream.

Sunday Funday

After breakfast this morning, I went to the Sunday market and walked around for a bit. Vendors set up their goods along the streets that run along the town's center. Most are selling fruits, vegetables, meat, burned CDs, or random household items. I feel like I stick out like a sore thumb - the only tall blond person among hundreds of tiny brown men and women dressed in brightly colored, woven clothing.

At 12, the group met and picked up a truck around the lake into a town about 30 minutes away called Santiago. Bigger than San Lucas, they have more shops and a restaurant Dr. Chaperone feels comfortable eating at (she will only go places she has been before... her life is a mystery-thriller), where we got lunch. We all walked around and got spend-happy at the tourist shops, buying beautiful leather and embroidered bags, quilts, scarves, etc. I'm trying to bring gifts back to people they will actually like and use, but sometimes your judgment gets clouded in foreign countries and you start thinking your friends absolutely WANT and in fact NEED forty thread bracelets and a wooden sculpture of a pig.

This could all be yours for the low low price of ten quetzales.

For the ride back, we picked up a taxi-van, which ended up packed with 23 people, one of them drunk and trying to softly caress Tessa's thighs until the driver finally pulled over and the 10 year old van-enforcer shoved him out. When we got back, we spent some time sorting through the remainder of the baby clothes we had donated. We are making little "burrito" gift packages for every woman we see - a baby blanket with a sleeper and two onesies wrapped inside.

We work the next five days, then have the weekend off. Nobody knows what we will be doing or where we are going until we are actually in the truck taking us there, a fact I am completely okay with.