Cómelo!

The title of this blog means, Eat it! This was a theme of the week I am about to outline, but don't worry, I won't focus too much on food.

We just got back from the most fantastic week yet. Well, I guess it was a week ago, but I am just now getting to write about it. This was a week-long, ND-sponsored trip, which means everything was paid for, but I would have gladly paid, at least a little, for the experiences we had. And no, it wasn't fall break so it was furthermore ND-sponsored hookie. Baller.  I shall start at the beginning...

Day 1:
Monday afternoon we set out toward Cuetzalan en route to a little town called Zacapoaxtla. We got there just in time to make it to the nursing school, take some classes, have some dinner (pan dulce and coffee would end up being a large part of two of the three meals every day on this trip. No complaints here) and sleep in our hotel. Libby and I got to share what looked like an adorable honeymoon cabin room.  There was so much plaid.
Zacapoaxtla is a small little town nestled in a beautiful and green mountain range. I immediately had a town-crush on this place. It is quaint, friendly, and clean. For the next two days we were to work in clinics in pueblitos located on the hills surrounding Zacapoaxtla and take some classes with students at the local nursing school. My classes this first night were on diseases and pharmacology. The pharmacology class was all about organic chemistry! We were all so excited. Seriously. That night we played Bananagrams, which, if you have not played, I highly recommend. It was quite fun and hilarious and all the laughter felt great.
Oh and did I mention Zacapoaxtla is super cold? So, snuggled under three or four plaid blankets, I enjoyed some much needed rest.

Day 2:

Outside of the clinic. These mountains go on forever. 

This morning we woke up super early to eat and go to the clinics. It turns out we were there for National Week of Vaccinations, so Malia and I got to go to a couple preschools in the area of our clinic and hand out yogurt-like stomach vaccines to all the kids. We were supposed to be helping out with weights and heights, which I did a little, but all I wanted to do was play. And we learned a song!
Alla en el Jardin!
Hay un pato blanco
Que se mueve así (moving hips)
Así así así!

And then the duck did some other motions that I don't really remember. But you get the idea.

Dr. Benjamin and I

Day 3:
Today we went back to the same clinics in Zacapoaxtla. Instead of going to the preschools, I stayed in consults with Dr. Benjamin. He was very nice, talked to me a lot, explained everything and let me help. I took the blood pressure of every patient and at the end got to help remove a mole on a lady's breast. I held back skin with the clamp and cut stitches etc. We talked a lot about medicine and the situation in Mexico. He is big on preventative medicine and general practice. He also likes teaching (he is one of the teachers at the nursing school). He said teachers are much more respected in Mexico.

Observations: One thing that struck me both of these days was the approach to family planning. Given the 95%+ Catholic population, the doctors are not offering information on natural family planning at all. I asked about it, and they just proudly showed me their pamphlets with at least 10 different times of contraceptive methods, but no NFP. It seemed as though the only natural method they mentioned to me was the rhythm method, which really does not work for many people. I got the impression that a lot of woman didn't seem to think they had a choice, even though, as Catholics, they did not want to use artificial birth control. No one is teaching them the other option. I watched the doctor take out of a woman one little birth control contraption that was essentially blocking her fallopian tubes because she wanted to switch methods to injections. Her beautiful little 2 year old daughter scribbled on a paper on the procedure room floor right under her mother. It was an eery contrast. I am in no place to judge the woman, and it really is a difficult issue, especially in towns such as this. Some of the students went to clinics that were handing out condoms to 13 year old girls because the kids just have sex when there is nothing else to do. I started imagining myself living in the community, offering extracurricular stuff, talking about such issues and teaching women NFP. So there's my personal exploration for the week.

Us with most of the nursing school. This lasted about 20
minutes with each group of students and staff wanting their
own picture. And we were standing in wet concrete. 

This night was a blast. First, before we left the nursing school, we had a hug desmadre of a picture taking session with the students. Our trip then continued on to Cuetzalan. This hour-long bus ride was fantastic. We were packed like sardines into a little combi bus that took us on windy roads through the dark mountains. We played some great car games and again, I hadn't laughed that hard in a long time. Our new hotel was yet again precious. We ate some food (yup, pan dulce and coffee) and went exploring.

The bus ride. Who would have thought that transportation
such as this might end up being the most dangerous thing
in Mexico.

Cuetzalan is a little bit bigger than Zacapoaxtla, and a tad more touristy, but still a very small rural town. The cobblestone streets were steep and slippery when wet, but quite beautiful.   It also has its own famous regional wine, which we

were able to discover this night. Who knew you could basically just ferment anything and call it wine? There was even peanut butter flavor. We tried two that night. One was sweet and pretty delicious but the other was like drinking fermented and chunky prune juice. Blech. Later on we went to the most beautiful cemetery I've ever seen. It was late at night, so that in itself was a little surreal. There was no order to the grave layout and each one was unique. Crosses were everywhere and at the end was a church with huge letters saying "Puerta del Cielo" (door of heaven). Many of the graves were super old, but almost all had some type of flowers on them. The dead seemed very well loved.

Graveyard at night.

Days 4 and 5:
In Cuetzalan we were to learn about traditional medicine and observe in the hospital. The hospital we were at was called an Integral Hospital, in which traditional medicine is offered, but doctors are also present to step in or give opinions if wanted or needed. We got to meet and talk to some curanderas (healers) and parteras (midwives) who were all little old ladies in very traditional dress. One activity basically consisted of getting massages by these women. I didn't think they were really all that different, but they were noticeably special because of the woman's hands which were so warm, soft, used, wise, and loving.

Sign out front of the hospital

The partera on the right is one of the best in the area, if not the
country. She was so willing to talk to us and share her
work and stories. One incredible thing is that she birthed
her own six children. Alone. What a tough cookie.

And then we all teamed up on the curandera to give her
a massage. I wonder how often she's had that experience.
I hope she liked it.

We also had our own Zumba class taught by an instructor that came to the hotel. Zumba was a lot more fun with the entire group, and by golly did we leave it all on the floor.

The next day, we switch hotels, and my mom and brother came to visit! Oh man it was so great having them here. Just an hour or so after their arrival, we had a two-hour Temezcal experience together. A Temezcal is a vapor bath used in traditional medicine. After receiving an incensing by Margarita, the lady who led us through the experience, we entered the Temezcal. First we had to kneel, forehead to ground, and say Ometeotl, a word that acknowledges the duality of God, female/male, sun/moon, earth/heaven etc. We entered left to right and sat around the hot

The Temezcal by daylight. We fit roughtly ten sweaty
people in there.

 stone pit. First we began by saying what we were offering to the Temezcal. The point was to leave our toxins, impuritites, worries, hate, anger etc. behind in the bath. Next, the hot rocks were brought in. There needs to, at the end, be 52 rocks, for 52 weeks of the year and some other symbolic things. It turns out 52 is a pretty special number and we saw it several other places that weekend.  One of the girls welcomed some of the rocks by marking them with a medicine rock. Margarita would then throw herbed water on the, filling the closed hut with steam. I've never dripped so much in m life. We chanted a song and I got to play some maracas. In between sets of 13 we drank some cool and delicious tea. Margarita guided our experience with some words and teachings. Here are some:
-we must live in the present
-the temezcal bath is the womb of the earth
-our bodies are the manner by which we are here
-do everything thing with love
-only construct with your hands, never destroy

My mom and brother loved it. It was a great welcome to Mexico.
Later that night Lisette planned a surprise birthday party for Andy and myself. It was so sweet. She put together party bags and we had pie and played pictionary-telephone. Another great game with lots of laughter.








Day 6:

First we went to see some ruins. There was something about the number 52 here too.

We went to a reserve that went on as far as we could see. This was some of the most green I have ever seen anywhere. Every view was breathtaking. 

We went on a plant tour. Our guide showed us the traditional uses of many of the plants and trees. We ate several of them. Cómelo! 

So it was either these little buggers or something else, but we all got eaten alive on this tour. I thought the bites might go away, but now, a week later, they are the worst them have been. It looks as though my legs are suffering from the boils plague. Each boil looks as though it is about to give birth. 

We learned how to make cups out of the massive leaves in the forest in order to drink fresh spring water. It was delicious!  And to think that the main advice people told me when I said I was going to Mexico is to not drink the water... 

Oh look! We found a waterfall! This was the moment many of us had been waiting for since August. 

The water was icy cold, but there was nothing to stand in our way. The current was pretty strong too but it was fun trying to swim upstream...and then give up and swim around to the back of the waterfall.

Everyone was so happy.

Mom and Robert and Waterfall. I was pretty pumped with this entire situation, to say the least

That night we went to a restaurant bar, had some dinner, and listened to some live music by a psychologist playing guitar and singing. To my surprise, he called me up to sing for my birthday. Hey Jude. I didn't realize how bad of a singer I was, but I had the help of the audience, so it worked out okay. I hope.
I finished the night at another bar with my mom and brother listening to some great Mexican trio. It was fantastic.

All in all, Cuetzalan was fantastic. I was so glad to be able to spend some time with the fam and I'm glad they got to see a very different part of Mexico from Puebla. I miss them already!

I'm sparing you on a Mexpandable Waistlines for now because this has already been a beast of a blog and I can't think of one in particular. Oh wait, I just did. Well, maybe soon. Just know that our waistlines were Mexpanded on ND's dime all week. And, even in Mexico, I was able to have my traditional carrot cake for my birthday.