Witch Doctored

I've now had two experiences with traditional Guatemalan medicine. The first time was a couple years back when I was working in Pueblo Nuevo. One day I was incapacitated by awful cramps. It felt like my insides were twisting themselves into knots. I was supposed to lead a hike that day but I could hardly sit up it hurt so bad...and I'd like to think I have a decently high pain threshold. The woman with whom I was staying used to be a witch doctor, before she became a midwife and married the community pastor. She pulled out this secret pomada of hers--a deep berry red and pasty like Mexican tamarind candy. She had me drink half a cup of tea made from boiled roots and herbs and things I couldn't quite distinguish. Afterward, she rubbed this pomada on my back and stomach while chanting something in Mam--an indigenous Mayan language that other Guatemalans call the "devil's language"--I couldn't understand. Within the hour, I was up on my feet and hiking up to the waterfall. Maybe placebo, maybe not.

My second encounter was here in San Lucas, just yesterday. My man and I broke things off and I was feeling pretty down about it. I don't like to talk to a bajillion people about my issues, but being a guest here with Angel, everyone noticed. Awesome. I didn't say much about it, because there isn't much to say and I didn't really want to talk about it. It was their opinions about my relationship that led me to say things that ultimately ended it in the first place. For something that was supposed to be the right decision, it felt pretty awful and wrong. Every time it was brought up, I'd nod my head and try to focus on something else, willing the tears that welled up in my eyes to find their way back into my tear ducts. To cure what they called my "enfermedad del corazon, or del amor" they had me drink some kinda crazy tea boiled with orange peels and "gotas de maravillosa," the secret ingredient. I didn't believe for a second that this could possibly affect whatever was happening in my head and heart, but coincidentally enough, I felt...I dunno...better. Ha. Mas tranquila, as they described it. Nonetheless, as appreciative as I am of their concern for the health of my corazon, I'm still looking forward to returning to my apartment where I can take full advantage of being by myself and not having to explain the faces I make or the thoughts I have. So far, Guatemalan with doctor medicine, you win 2 for 2, placebo or not. Might be time for another dose.

el camino de lagrimas

Being back in Guatemala had been...good. It's been great seeing the fam again, being so close to the lake, working with the kids, etc. What's less amusing is the hours of data organization, being attacked by mosquitoes, and regulatin. We have a little over 1600 kids in our nutrition program now, and are in the process of adding two new communities. Things are starting to slip through the cracks...thus the regulatin.

Working here can't really be described as efficient, but the promoters are--I hope--doing their best, given the crying babies we leave in our wake. Most are not fans of the hanging scales...something about being suspended in a diaper-looking swing on what could be a meat hook...I don't blame them. Por eso, el camino de lagrimas.

Working in the communities has also reminded me of how much I hate insects and spiders. The words sancudos and aranas make me wince. Flies, for example, are gross. Is it absolutely necessary that they exist in the food web/chain or can they be eradicated? Just buzzin around, all up in your grill. While I was making my rounds, visiting families with kids suffering from third-degree malnutrition (the worst), flies just swarmed EVERYwhere. It was gross. These visits were even more disheartening than the armies of flies, though. These kids were living, for the most part, in awful conditions. A good majority of them had no shoes (typical) and were covered in layers of dirt, their hair discolored from chronic malnutrition, their eyes too big for their thin faces, tiny bodies. Sometimes, you want to reganar las mandres, but oftent he mothers aren't in much better shape. And to make the situation even better, many of the men are too machista to stop having kids. One family had five kids, three suffering from third degree malnutrition, and one more on the way. Another family has nine kids, with a newborn, three severely malnourished. Sad story. It's pretty humbling to see all those families, though. When we came across a kid who was in the normal range for weight AND height, I almost felt like congratulating the mom...for something that should be the rule, not the exception.

But ya know, it's not really my place to say who should do what. To each his own. I've heard some interesting perspectives here, though. For example, one woman was telling me that she believes farmers are smarter than students and professors because they make more money and have nice homes. They get paid three times a year from the three different harvests. "The professors don't have homes like theirs." Very interesting. Sex is another interesting topic. I had a conversation with someone about oral sex and porn. This grown woman was talking about how she couldn't believe that her (now ex-) husband had asked her to give him head and proposed anal, etc. I couldn't help but laugh at the way she talked about it. So, imagine her reaction when she saw a porno for the first time. This was some intense stuff sent to a friend of hers by her kids in the states (interesting mother-child relationship, yeah?). I didn't push her for details, but it involved large animals and pregnant women. She also mentioned her appreciation for the black men in the vid. Cracked me up, imagining this group of indigenous Mayan women holed up in a room watching this porno, blushing from both the vid and the quetzalteca. Hilarious.

picked right off the plant. delish.

trying to grab the bull by its horns. unsuccessful.

up cerro de oro