start the morning off with some potty talk? I'm going to be a
general surgeon, all of my mornings will begin with potty
talk, let's do it...
old habits die hard, so they say... this is particularly
relevant when discussing the most basic of habits - dropping
your toilet paper in the toilet post-wipe... sorry for the
lack of filter, I lost it sometime during the past 4 years
and I'm worried I may never find it again. from the age of
potty training until we're placed back in diapers when our
elderly sphincters fail us (oh boy, am I really writing
this?), toilet paper belongs in the toilet! simple. in
queretaro, cebu, thailand, arusha, and here, they take a
different approach, defying something I've been trained to do
since before I can remember - toilet paper goes in the...
little garbage can?... next to the toilet?! mind blown.
apparently the sewage systems here can't handle the toilet
paper, and so it is excluded from the waste flushed... the
problem is, as a seated pee-er (sp?) it is difficult to
remind yourself in the few seconds it takes to sit, pee, and
wipe that the last step is not to release the soiled tp into
the bowl below. so yes, despite past attempts at
deconditioning me in other developing countries, I am already
feeling the guilt of several instances of mistakenly letting
the tp go in the toilet, and if the sewer systems clog here I
am likely to blame, along with every other gringo/a who has
spent their whole life not thinking twice before releasing
the tp post-wipe.
ah the joys of travel :) at least its not a squatty potty...
on to more sophisticated topics: today we traveled to one of
the local medical centers: jambi hausi. we watched a video to
educate ourselves on the clinic's role in the community, had
a q&a session where we learned they treat over a thousand
patients a month (free care to kiddos <6, prego woman, and
reproductive health service, which is awesome!!). and were
told that they have a combination of western docs and
traditional healers (no official training, just born with the
'gift' and trained by an aging family member - apparently
they are combing the community now for a baby born to fill
the roll of the current healer), as well as an herbalist
medicine man (also without formal training, but who has been
learning from his grandfather since age 3 and he is now 60
something), who had all variety of beautiful animal skins and
dried reptiles, etc. he heels not by talking to the patient,
but by taking a urine sample and using a special tool he
would not allow us to see to assess the ailments and guide
the healing concoctions he spends all night making (he
collects all of the herbs himself), sleeping only 2 hours per
night.
we had sessions with each, the most interesting of which I
found to be the wrinkled elderly woman, easily under 5 feet
tall (like most of the indigenous population here), dressed
in the traditional clothes of long black skirt, white
decorated blouse, many orange bracelets on both wrists, and
endless gold beaded necklaces (pictures to come later)... she
is a traditional healer using massage and cui (guinea pig).
yup, this is the guinea pig's further role in the community I
alluded to earlier. if this woman assesses her patient and
decides they have an ailment that needs further workup and
healing, she will have the hospital admin go buy a guinea pig
from the street and bring it to her, then (from my sheltered
western, hippy oregonian, animal-loving perspective) she does
the most awful thing - she firmly grabs the cui by the hind
legs and head, stretched it out, and then vigorously rubs the
poor animal, which is squealing the entire time, over the
body of the patient. this goes on for some undisclosed amount
of time until the healer is satisfied, at which point she
cuts open said cui. if the cui looks healthy and fine on the
inside, the patient is likewise healthy and fine. if any of
the organs are damaged in the cui, this mirrors the ailment
of the patient and she will treat them appropriately. we saw
video of this ritual and it looks terribly traumatic for the
poor guinea pig :( wildly interesting though, despite my
medial mind, which can't help thinking that the violent
handling of the guinea pig would undoubtedly bruise and
damage multiple organs and the rest (aka the treatment) is
placebo effect, which we know to exist and be quite powerful.
use the resources you've got, I guess. yeah maybe I'm not
gonna try cui after all, they seem to be up against plenty
here as it is, without a gringa wanting to turn them into
food as well...
we also got a tour of the local hospital, and honestly I was
impressed as compared to the hospitals I've visited in the
philippines and africa. this was followed by some market time
- both the food market with animal organs and heads and slabs
of meat everywhere (nothing refrigerated of course) as well
as endless fruit and vegetable stands with so many unfamiliar
and beautiful varieties. this was followed by the tourist
market, where I want everything because it is all so colorful
and gorgeous with soft alpaca everywhere and I think I should
have brought more money to buy gifts...
the bargaining is fun, and arguably the place where I will
learn the most spanish. I was with liz and trisa for an hour
or so before we headed back for our afternoon spanish
lessons. we are the weakest speakers in the group (two of us
having taken a considerable amount of french and the other
german), so between the three of us we can usually come up
with enough spanish words to semi-communicate the bargains
we're hoping for. there is also a lot of laughter at
miscommunications and we are constantly scanning the market
for our fellow travels to hollar over and ask how to say
something - I love it all.
back to peguche for spanish lessons then our evening workout
before dinner, and that is where I checked a very important
item off of my bucket list...
at the hostel, which is set into a valley leading down to a
creek (so that you only see the top level from the road and
everything else is down these meandering cobblestone
stairways), we do our workouts by the water, on a cobblestone
patio covered with tropical trees and surrounded by oversized
plants with the creek rumbling in the background. it is
beyond lovely, particularly because at this elevation the
bugs are scarce. one bug, however, doesnt seem to mind the
altitude... we were in the midst of our set of lunges when I
first saw a flicker, almost imagined, out of the corner of my
eye - I explained it away as one of the cats running wild,
eyes reflecting some light I didn't see with my mere-human
vision. push ups - I could've sworn I saw another flash of
light, a one-eyed dog in the bushes across the way? nah...
squats - now that was clearly something! and not the
reflection of an animal retina, no this was... err... maybe?
a firefly?!! it is hard to know when you've never really seen
one before - possibly the only thing keeping oregon from
perfection: no fireflies :( when my suspicions were confirmed
by the girls from the midwest I lost all focus on my workout
and began following these flickers of light around. in a
squat I would wait for the light, then move closer, wait
again, the light again, closer yet... until finally I got
one!! (it wasn't exactly that easy tho because it was so dark
and they only flicker their light every so often and I had
several false catches before finally I was certain I held
captive in my hands my very first firefly - epic). and the
little guy just crawled along my hand when I opened it to let
him free and when I was wondering if maybe I had caught a
random bug with no bioluminscence capabilities, he scurried
to the end of pinky, flickered his little neon butt and flew
away. it. was. awesome.
now that is a moment I will never forget... and today I am on
a mission to find a jar, because nothing sounds more
incredible than an evening of chasing ecuadorian fireflies to
create a latern, and then of course setting them free ("oh
right, you're one of those" said dr. W last night when I told
him I caught, and released, a firefly) - what else would
you do with such a beautiful creature?...
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