Mexicomo?

I have somehow landed myself already in Mexico. We intended to spend a lot more time traveling around Guatemala, but neither of us could help it when we heard that we could jump on an 11 hr bus from Antigua to San Cristobal, Chiapas, Mexico. It was a long day, but here we are! We are both so excited. Ahhh I loved Guatemala, but I am exuding with love and joy for Mexico. We hardly slept the night before and had to board the bus at 5am, so we were like zombies all day in the bus. When we arrived, we immediately dropped our stuff at a hostel and went out to score some street food.... fruit and cucumber smothered in lime, salt, and chile, fried potatoes with hot sauce, corn on the cob, etc! Mind you, we also had some excellent street food in Guate: tostadas with beets, guacamole, onions, and fresh parsley; tamales; pupusas; chuchitos (which seemed to be like fried tamales); and mountains of tiny round thick tortillas.

We loved walking around the beautiful colonial streets of Antigua and drank a lot of amazing hot chocolate (thank you Maya!) and even ate some nice Thai food. Before that at Lake Atitlan we enjoyed kayaking, and we visited a friend in the Peace Corps in Patzun, a smallish town with literally zero tourists, which was a nice change.

May I say that if I never ride another chicken bus it will be a-ok with me! The last one I road, I swore we were going to fly off a mountain. The driver sped around blind turns putting his entire body into turning the wheel. Later I will upload a picture of the audante--the guy who collects money from the passengers--crawling atop the seats of the completely packed retired US bus (I swear there were close to 100 people in it).

quick update

I can´t stand sitting in an internet cafe getting bitten by mosquitoes while my Quetzales tick away, so this will be a brief update :)

Justin and I spent a couple nice days in Xela as well as hiked up the the highest point in Central America: Tajumulco Volcano, from which we could see Mexico. It was a 2 day journey that involved several buses and a couple days of hiking and a cold night in a tent. Not too treacherous considering it´s height though and super beautiful!

Now we´re in a village on Lake Atitlan. Today we came by micro bus and then chicken bus (named as such because it is not unusual to have any assortment of live animals along for the ride in the painted retired school bus)...the first one of which dropped my suitcase on the side of the road going around a corner and we had to stop to get it.

We´ve eaten a lot of delicious tamales, tortillas, and tostadas on the street, which has got to be my favorite hobby.

Also, I was amazed and very excited to see Justin´s new moves that he picked up from 2 weeks of private salsa lessons while here by himself. I can´t wait to get him on the dance floor in Antigua where I hope to meet up with an old salsa dancing pal from Iowa City (or rather from here but we know each other from IC).

en Guate!

Here I am in Guatemala. I spent the first night in a hostel where I met a lot of new friends. The next day we all visited a non-profit that works with the families who pick through Central America´s largest garbage dump (located in Guatemala City) for things to re-sell. The organization gets kids out of the work and into school, helps them get access to showers and 2-3 meals a day, teaches them that they are important and worthy of love and respect, and does a lot to encourage their creative development through art and play and music. The parents also have the opportunity to learn to read and write and also go through the grade school program privately with the organization. They are also helped to start handi-craft businesses like making beads and jewelry out of rolled magazine pages. I was very inspired. The woman who started it sold all her things in the US and moved down here with only $5,000. She started with 40 kids and now it serves 300 families and about 500 kids.

Then I took a 4hr bus to Xela to meet Justin. Along the way I met a couple from New Mexico and we bonded on our love of desert creatures (they are herpatology nerds and I´m more of an entemology nerd), hiking, and green chile :) Then Justin picked me up and we had a very nice reunion. He showed me around his town, we ate Indian food and drank a hot fruit drink from the night market. We plan to get going on a bunch of treks ASAP, so you might not hear from me for awhile... I cannot wait to get out there and be in the beatiful naturaleza!
love!

food and other delights

Well, it's been a whirlwind trip to be "home." First of course was New York City for 4 days, which was simply wonderful. Vegetarian dim sum, Indian food, lots of walking and subway riding, vegan cupcakes, and some new passport pages! I can't tell you how wonderful it feels to shower--and how unnecessary it seems at times--I mean I'm not even filthy! Same with washing my clothes :) What luxury we live in here.

Then to the midwest: Des Moines for a couple days, then a brief stop in Iowa City where I got to eat at one of my favorite restaurants in the universe: Red Avocado, saw some dear friends and experienced a friend's backyard prairie, visited with my 2 favorite midwives outside the wonderful New-Pi Co-op. Then to Madison, WI to visit a very pregnant friend (I was hoping for slightly better timing so I could catch her birth, but wasn't that lucky). There, I was delighted to find my longed for breakfast burrito and shocked that there is not only a Peruvian but also an Indonesian food stall!! I was also delighted to see the abundance of tulips as well as to see that people are not crazy about killing dandelions: there are actually thriving yards and fields of them. Then back to DSM, where I on 2 occasions was very pleased to eat rhubarb: thanks mom!

Next to Kansas City to visit more wonderful family, where I sit right now, packed and ready for Guatemala tomorrow. Today my mom, grandma, and I had a lunch of crepes and cappuccino downtown and went shopping--a truly girly treat, then we had dinner with the boys at a steak house, where I had a sweet-tea infused vodka drink. Kansas City is full of surprises :) I also learned more about my family history: that my great great grandparents homesteaded in Colorado and that I have some Scottish ancestry and that my great grandma's mom died three weeks after she was born--of course my big question was: who breast fed her then?? My grandma didn't know. My great grandma then went to live with an aunt in Boston before reuniting with her family in Colorado years later. As I heard these stories, we drove around and looked at different houses which relatives had inhabited at different points in time over the last 70 years, which was made especially beautiful considering the green-ness of everything this time of year and the roses and irises in bloom. In the evenings we played hearts and gin rummy and my dad and grandpa beat me basically every time.

Less than 48hrs till I see Justin, and less than that until I eat a piping hot tortilla.... :)

NYC

Omg I love New York so much! I feel like a little school girl!

Coming here after Haiti was one of the best decisions I could have made. At first I was so anxious to get back and lounge at my parents’ house, thinking, ugh, I should have just come for a day and 2 nights to do my class and then left instead of staying a few extra days…. ha! yeah right! From the minute I’ve gotten here, I’ve been bouncing off the walls with glee. A city that to me might normally seem cold, distant, crowded, and dirty, after Haiti seems very friendly, clean, amazingly orderly, so very accessible, and so filled with wonder and abundance and joy!

I am happily zipping all over the place on the subway. Today I went to Harlem and walked around looking for a clinic. It didn’t faze me at all being the only white person I saw and I found the people to be very friendly—yes granted a couple men called me baby or “pretty” or otherwise, but compared to Haiti, me sami! It was like heaven! When I told my old college roommate, Britten, this over lunch at a fancy Japanese restaurant expensed to her law firm for which she’s an attorney, her jaw dropped, and she told me I probably should be hanging out there, haha. If only she could see where I just came from though. As I told Violet, my friend whom I’m staying with in Brooklyn: I just want to lick the subway polls and roll around on the cement! The streets and everywhere looks so glorious and pristine comparably! Haha.

Today I bartered in Haitian creole for a hat in soho. I also discussed routes with a guy who was looking for east broadway on the subway, haha. 1 day here, and I’m feel like I fit right in. I never ever ever pictured myself loving NYC and even having the thought: “I could live here!” I’m sure my amusement would quickly wear off when reality of paying rent hit home…but then again, you can find things so cheaply here too! I bought sunglasses for $5 today. Street food abounds for cheap. And Violet and her roomies find a lot of good scores dumpster-diving. Plus there are so many free exhibits and classes and cool stuff that would cost a lot in say Santa Fe or would not even exist in Iowa. BUT the one huge draw back of course, is there is no green chile here… the breakfast burrito I’ve longed for, I feel is unattainable here. I tried to have Mexican food last night and was very sorely disappointed. Sigh… I got to see James, my buddy from Santa Fe (Actually from Jersey, but we knew each other from Santa Fe), and he agreed that Mexican food is very disappointing here, and it is a fact that you cannot get New Mexican food outside of the “Land of Enchantment,” where the chile consumption is so great that none can be afforded to leave the state.

Well I’ve been here not even 24hrs and I have eaten 4 or 5 apples (I’d been so craving cool weather fruits), drank many glasses of water out of the tap, taken 2 hot showers, and have thrown many pieces of toilet paper into the toilet…and some into the trash can out of habit. I have also been delighted to leisurely stroll across the street, gazing up at buildings or texting or smiling at a passer-by, instead of clutching my bag and looking around in every direction so as not to get run over by a moto taxi, jumping over piles of rubble or garbage or sewage. Damn, life is good!

Tomorrow the journey continues with a full day class in neonatal resuscitation followed by dinner in China town.

Ready to leave!

In truth I've been ready to leave for a long time...In truth I've never hated a place so much and been so ready to leave...And really, I've never actually hated a place, and never been able to understand when people said that they hated a place...so maybe this was the universe's little gift to me to help me understand and empathize with people who have been in a place they can't jive with. Of course, I'm always able to find redeeming qualities anywhere...here it's the abundant tropical fruit and the beautiful (albiet often trash-filled) beaches. I appreciate too the rain in the evenings and the hot sun during the day which dries (and I like to think cleans) my hand-washed clothes so brilliantly. Also, I love how at any point in time, you may wander up to the clinic and see some stray chickens or goats munching on the grass...or perhaps a horse, as I saw today.

Today, my last full day here, I am soo ready to leave! I walked down to the lab to get an HIV/Syphillis test, thinking it not a bad idea considering how much blood and bodily fluids I've been splashed with here. Along the way I found it very hard to fight the overwhelming urge to knock men off their motorcycle who made kissing sounds at me or called out "baby!" to me. I had to go two different labs because one of them didn't have the tests today (?). The second lab was an interesting experience...by "lab" I mean a dirty shack with some folding chairs and a woman at a folding table with a box for $. Behind a dirty (no really: dir-ty) sheet, there was a "supply" room, which seemed to just have a bunch of needles and glass tubes for blood. The one and only tourniquet sat on her little table next to the money box. I paid her the equivalent of $3.75 and she opened up a fresh needle/syringe (yes, I was watching), tied off my arm, and not bothering to wipe it off with alcohol or change her gloves poked my arm. She didn't find a vein the first time, so she withdrew it, and without changing the needle, poked a second place in my arm. Thankfully she found blood there and pulled back a sufficient amount of blood to put into the vial and send off to the hospital (no testing on location).

When I got back home, I quickly washed my last load of laudnry so that it would have time to dry today before I leave at 7:30 tomorrow morning. I ignored Ena, one of 2 house helpers (cleans and cooks) who has been asking me for weeks about this particular pair of pants I have. She wants me to give them to her and ever since she asked me the first time, she stares at them every time I wear them. It's quite uncomfortable... Anyway today she was asking what time am I leaving tomorrow and making very baby-sweet faces at me (which she never does otherwise). I do plan on giving them to her--not because I don't like them, in fact, I really do, but I feel like, what the hell? If she really wants them, why not...but I'm also feeling a selfish flash strike through me saying screw you! They're my pants! You probably won't even fit in them and I need them to do yoga in when I get home! haha. Alas...because of these feelings, I feel like that's exactly why I should give them up....oh geeze.

So I went back at 2pm to get the results and learned that she didn't understand my request for both tests and only did the HIV (which by the way was negative). I walked home crying on street, upset because there is no testing in the afternoon and I leave in the am, and I don't have heathcare in the US to get tested nor treated if I am positive, and I basically went to that shady place for nothing, because HIV can take 3 months to show up and I more wanted the syphillis test because antibiotics are cheap here and it's an easy fix....blah, blah, blah....alas, I looked it up, and there are plenty of free clinics in NYC, which I figure like here, will be an interesting experience if nothing else. Fingers crossed that I didn't incur any infections just by going to the clinic here....

Now just to stuff my face with Haitian rice and red beans...maybe one last coffee with fresh raw sugar...and basically wait until tomorrow morning! Or rather wait until 6:15 tomorrow night when I land at JFK. Yay!
****And I should say: I do not in anyway condone such whiney behavor, nor waiting for time to pass... I think it's pretty pathetic and downright stupid in fact... I should be living and thriving in the moment, soaking up what I can from a place I'll never return to... so I'll keep that in mind... as I drug myself with kava and valerian to go to bed early tonight :)

Happy May Day/International Workers' Day/Beltane!!

Today, I'm a little more removed from the above holidays, and more aware of it being the celebration for Jacmel's patron saint...all night and all day there has been loud music, cars and motos going by at absurd speeds (I always expect to hear a crash, but only have a couple times in 3 months), and lots of business in the streets. I slept in this morning and spent the day lounging and knowing (with excitement) that the coming days will be my last in Haiti...probably forever. I did laundry, made some Haitian coffee in the espresso pot on the the stove, packed a little, saw a woman in early labor, and made a delicious salad out of leaves from our moringa tree, fresh squeezed limes (also from our tree), sea salt (from the region), basil from our garden, and tomato and toasted sesame seeds from the street market. Yummmm

The last few days have been quiet. Jan and Betty-Anne left and Melinda came back this afternoon from her trip to Taiwan. So for a couple days, I got to be in charge of the clinic, which was exciting, though I was relieved we didn't have too many customers :)

I've really realized what a difference community makes, at least in how I experience the world. Before all the visitors came, I went about my day, doing laundry, clinic, class, etc, talking with lots of people, but maybe not connecting too deeply on a daily basis. It was fine, but with Jan and Betty-Anne and Dave and Kristen I had so much fun and felt so much more like myself, which is funny, because who am I to be but myself if I'm all by myself? I felt though that different parts of me came alive to interact with all the different people and the different situations that presented themselves by vitue of living with more people. Thus by having others to share my experience with it became deeper and more expansive...I got to feel like more that just a midwife hanging around, waiting for births.

Even though I had people here with me before--the apprentices, Ninotte, and Melinda--I didn't feel like I connected too deeply with them--be it for language or world view differences or simply because people were busy with their own lives outside the clinic, so it was surprising and awesome to feel like I was part of a tribe again with our visitors! (Do I sound like a lonely house-wife or what?) It's great what a difference sitting down to eat with others makes. Being able to just stroll around at night and go to the beach and actually do things since I had people to do them with was also fabulous and liberating! All this being said, I do enjoy the alone time too, and throughly enjoyed getting lost in and finishing the book: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (highly recommended) since they left.

Now Melinda is back, we've got a woman in labor, and I'm hoping the next few days fly by in not too exhausing a fashion....maybe have a couple babies, a day of postpartums, then a day of class, then a day of prenatals, and then I'm off to NYC on Thursday! :)

PS I also wanted to note 2 new things I've learned recently:

#1 Twins are considered evil until proven otherwise in Haiti. Thus, parents have to sort of "denature" them by doing various things, usually envolving the saving grace of Jesus Christ of course. One of the apprentices is a twin and said that she used to do evil things as a child, and had powers until her mom "messed her up." Another person in class stated that her father was killed by a twin. Apparently the powers only exist while both twins are alive, so it was historically common to kill one of the twins at birth. Also it is not common that the twins will try to kill each other, despite the fact that they would loose their powers if they do so. As someone explained to me: "don't we all do things that aren't good for ourselves just because we are drawn to do it?" True...
#2 Some people believe that if a woman's water does not break in due time, that it will come out her mouth in the form of vomit and then she must rinse her mouth with vinegar so that her teeth don't rot