South Amercian healthcare, part dos

When we last tuned into the trials and tribulations of those foolish, er rather, fortunate enough to test the South American healthcare system, we were able to witness the astonishing medical acumen of Uruguayan medical training.

Today we get to continue the chapter regarding adventures in healthcare. Today´s subject is Allison, a nice young lady from Boulder, Colorado, and also my roommate at Jatun Sacha.

Allison had the very poor idea of contracting some kind of intestinal infection, which I think is South American for "We don´t know what the hell it is, so let´s call it that". She began to get ill on Tuesday morning, mostly throwing up and exciting things like that. She has been dating (if that is what we want to call it) one of the guys who works at the reserve. His treatment involved some sort of medicinal plants in a pee tea. Which Allison drank. Others would not do so, but then, you don´t know Allison. But let´s get back to our story.

Fast forward a day later, she is still sick (imagine that) and the folks at the reserve seem really unconcerned by the fact that she can´t get out of bed, is sweating profusely, and throwing up every 20 minutes. So one needs to take matter into their own hands. I convinced the one person who works there and has a car that she needed to be taken to the hospital in Tena. We were able to accopmplish this given my poor Spanish, so I consider that a victory in itself.

She dropped us off there and we attempted to explain to the doctor what her symptons were and she gave a vomiting demonstration. Meanwhile, he is busy watching the Ecuadorian equivalent of America´s funniest home videos, and answering cell phone calls that last 20 minutes. But anyway, he decides she has this infection and must be admitted overnight for anitibotics and rehydration. The nurse and receptionist (not clear on the receptionist´s job as she oscillates between answeing the phone in her business suit and trying to jab needles in people´s arms) take us into a room where the nurse tries about 4 times to get her blood pressure and then hook her up to the IV. While she is vomiting and falling off the table.

She tries twice to get the needle into her hand for the IV, can´t do it, and so asks me to leave. Closing and looking the door behind her. I find this turn of events rather disconcerting as there is quite a bit of rust in the room, I am not sure where the needles came from, and no one seems concerned about washing their hands of wearing gloves. About a half hour later they all come out and take her upstairs to the room she is going to stay in and proceed to put at least 3 different colored medications in her IV. I am not sure what any of them are as no one speaks English and my Spanish lessons so far have not included things one might need to know in hospital speak.

She seemed to be doing better by the time I left yesterday, and now I am off to the hospital to make sure she lived though the night and try to help her figure out what they are going to charge and how all that fun stuff is going to play out.

Thanks for watching and tune in next time when we discuss strange rashes that come from wearing wet clothes all the time, how to get insect bites directly on top of one another, and the possible explinations for the gecko moving out of our room and the ramifications of his decision.

Volunteer in the rainforest!

Week 2: So here we are volunteering in the rainforest. In the past week we have learned the capacity for alcohol of college students (in case one has forgotten), How many ways one can serve rice (1), and how much mud it takes to pull your boot off when you are hiking in el bosque.

There is now a geicko living in our room. I hear this is a good thing as it eats all the spiders I am currently cohabitating with, but it also shits all over your bed if you don´t cover it with your mosquito net.

Some of the other folks had a tarantula living with them and they kept putting it out, but apparently when they find a place they like, they always come back. It would wait on the steps for them to return at the end of the day to let it in. The two in the room decided to put it on a leaf and send it down the river. When it returns, it is going to be pissed, but thankfully for those folks they have moved rooms and new people will get to deal with it´s wrath.

We have a group of 20 14-15 year olds checking in tonight, so I can regress past college and back to high school! Not sure when was the last time I had this much fun! On another note, one of the college kids (ISV) decided to play a joke on the snake people the other night. The snake people are a bunch from Arizona State U here to study the snakes. Apparently at the bar the other night, one of the ISV group went to them and did the old "I hear you are looking for the one-eyed snake" bit, and wipped his package out on the table. Snake people declined to find it funny, and now the poor boy has been sentanced to staying away at mealtimes and any other time the snake people are around. Ah, summer camp!

Yesterday we worked in the Amazon Plant Center. We cut down trees, which was not really my idea of reforestation, but what the hell. Hopefully it has something to do with bringing back more native species of trees, but didn´t really get the deets on that. I am getting quite handy cutting down trees and weeds with the machete though, so will have to practice this new skill when I return to visit mom.

In related wildlife news: Two of the three showers are inhabited by some wildlife. In one corner we have some very large black spiders, and in the other is one of our tarantulas. In the shower with no inhabitants, the bathroom geiko is a peeping tom. Guess the good news is that if he shits on you, at least you are in the shower and can wash it off right away. Unfortuantly, I have yet to see any other kinds of animals that I was hoping to see here. I hear there is a group of monkeys living down the street though that will take anything you own and barter it for food later.

I have eaten more starch in the week and a half that I have been here than probably in the whole last year combined. We did go into Tena last weekend for shrimp though, so that was fun.

All in all, I am not sure at this point what I am really accomplishing here, but will post it just as soon as it comes to me in a dream. Undoubtably, the most I will learn is how many ways you can fry bread, and how many other starches can be served with it at the same time. :)

Saludos!

All wet, all the time..

That tarantula is hanging out in the bathroom again. I have hung clothes to dry that are now more wet than they were when I put them up. It is possible there are roughly a hundred ways to fry dough and serve it for breakfast.

It is also possible that I have nevr smelled this bad in my life--and very hard to do anything about it when you have to put a wet bra back on after your cold shower because the clothes just won´t dry. It is raining again today, and I was scheduled to work in the organic garden today with the guys. Turns out they were going down to the beach to fill 150 pound bags with sand in order to turn it into cement at some point and there wasn´t enough room in the truck for me. Pedro (the volunteer coordinator) really thinks that I am not strong enough to carry it anyway (mas fuerte! mas fuerte!), so I find myself with a bit of free time and can use the computer!

Yesterday I was actually the Spanish translator for new people who came and were getting the tour of the botainical garden--how do you like them apples! Hard to belive my Spanish is better than most people here, as this is the second time I have acted as translator for a tour.

Some fun things I have seen so far this week: We had a boa constrictor lounging in one of the rain gutters the other night. He had his eye on this massive grasshopper that he was making a slow move for in order to have dinner. Apparently he moved too slow or changed his mind though, because in the morning the snake was gone and the grasshopper had moved to a differnt side.

One of the guys here that works out in the forest looking for people cutting down trees and stuff like that has this pretty amazing snake collection. He keeps them all in a jar of formaldahyde in his cabin. Disturbing to consider where the formaldahyde may have come from.....we will put off determining the origin of it for our next moment of reflection.

I like the preserve, but it does have a bit of a summer camp feel, at least right now. Because of the time of year, most people that are here are school groups and into doing things that 18-20 year olds do. Everyone seems more excited about the bar than anythting else, which I find amusing and slightly sad since I am really just past those days..ah well, such as life. Perhaps the other preserves will have differnt people to offer because I will be there during what is typically the school year.

OK, no wisdom to offer today since I am still sick with a jungle cold. Maybe next time, so stay tuned for what is hopefully a more interesting update in the next chapter of our story!

In a country where everything is green except the lettuce

It´s hot, damn hot....well not so much today as yesterday, I guess. So here I am in the jungle! It has become clear that the computer that is here at the reserve is a pretty hot comidity and the chances of my actually getting on it are probably relatively slim, so here are my thoughts so far.

Ecuador is really a very lovely country. It is not quite as advanced as Argentina, so I am back to remembering not to flush the toilet paper and not to drink the water. The city of Quito looks amazing, although I haven´t had much time to check it out. There will be plently of time for that when Mary is here though and in between my variety of travels and volunteer works. The equator is really near Quito, so I am sure I will drag Mary up there to do the old balance the egg on the nail trick. Will make sure we get plenty of cheesy photos!

Took the bus yesterday to Tena and really had to remind myself to pick my jaw up off the floor once in a while. The scenery is absolutely amazing and the road is often closed due to mudslides. The road is a dirt road for about half the time and there was a spot where the driver was having to steer the bus around all these rocks and mud that are in the road from the most recent rain. That and slowing the bus down so a variety of people can hop on and off to sell you a fruit cup, potato chips, chickens, and white women. Whatever you want I am pretty sure they either have it or can get it.

Then there was the lady who got on the with the mystery animal. These busses run from Quito to Tena, and also at times act as the local bus. It is a bit like riding the M79 from Manhattan to Washington DC. She had a baby slung around her waist and some bag making a variety of chirping, beeping, and mewing sounds. The contents of her bag never having been revealed, I will get to spend the rest of my life wondering....

Anyway, got to Tena and had to hunt around to find the local bus to JS. A very lovely young guy helped me find it and placed my bag on it for me. Turns out he was the one who also hops on and off the bus as it is moving helping folks get on and off. As Shannon I am sure can testify, the idea of safety is a bit negated here. There were a number of children siting on the dashboard in the front window as the bus cruised around town, and everyone´s variety of shopping piled in wherever it can fit. I shared a seat with a couple of children (I know...) and they were pretty suspicious of me and my hair, I think, but very cute. The people have all been really friendly.

Anyway, here I am at the reserve at Jatun Sacha! Things I have learned so far...check the mosquito net before going to bed to make sure the huge evil ants that bite and sting for 4 hours are not in the net with you, Everything you own will be moldy within 2 weeks, no matter what, All the clothes I have are once again inappropriate, My flashlight is crap and hardly helped me find the bathroom last night, These rubber boots I bought in Quito for $5.75 will be the best thing I have probably ever purchased, as the mud I walked in today was halfway up my calves.

Speakiing of today, it is Saturday, so it is todo al bosque, which means everyone goes to the forest. The put us in two groups and the one I went with toured the secondary and primary rain forest, and learned about local trees, the variety of species they have here, etc. It was all in Spanish and I picked up about half of it. A girl in the group was able to traslate though, so that filled in the blanks.
It is raining now, what a shocker, huh? But it is a nice rain and cooling.

On our walk, we ran into a herd of cattle. It was very strange. We are in the middle of the forest, it is dark, and the guide stops us and says to listen. We do, but don´t hear anything, and then we look and a small herd about about 6-8 cattle are stolling up the muddy path from the other direction. They stop and look at us. We look at them. They look at us, trying to decide if we will retreat or they should. The finally decide they should and do so. We follow and I must say that for the next half our or so have to avoid all the cow shit mixed with the mud. A very unexpected experience! After a lunch stop we swam in a small lake in the middle of the forest. OUr guide was great and fed us ants that taste like lemon. Apparently the trick is to make sure you chew them before swallowing or they might crawl back out your nose!

I also just saw my first huge tarantula outside the computer room here. I have one roommate and she is cool girl from Colorado. I am the oldest person here by roughly 15 years, although my roomie is pretty old by standards too--she is 22!

Beter let some others have a turn at the computer, but will try to keep a written log of more things that occur to me and then at some point try to deciipher my handwriting and write it all here! By the way, in case I didn´t mention, it is beautiful here, although a bit more rustic that I thought, but it is all good......more later!