Hola!
I think our first true health brigade was a success but I struggle with the idea that I'm not actually doing a lot to help the people of this country. We traveled to an area further in the mountains where there is a small school. The people from the community lined up in the cement courtyard between our "eye clinic" and "regular clinic" in our makeshift waiting room. Our clinic consisted of one room with 6 small school tables where we had our conversations with our patients, a table for check in and a table for our mobile pharmacy. There is no privacy. One young girl needed an abdominal exam so Misha (Indiana) and I had to take her outside in the courtyard and have her lay down on the cement steps. We put our coats down so she wouldn't get dirty and others watched as we listened, pushed and tapped on her abdomen. It's a very strange thing to have what in the US we consider very private conversations in a room full of people.
Misha and I successfully treated several patients but our last two patients didn't speak Spanish so we had a three way translation: Kichwa to Spanish to English - now there is a chance to have important information lost in translation. Of course these were also our two most complicated patients of the day with alarming symptoms such as spontaneous, intermittent complete vision loss. Sigh, it truly is sad. However I was also struck by the parallels between the poor here and the poor in the US. They have bad diets, stop taking their medications because they run out and don't seek medical care because it's too expensive. The differences? In the US many of the poorest patients with the worst health problems have severe substance abuse problems. In Ecuador the poorest people don't have food or warm places to sleep and they are poor becuase they are indiginous or marginalized, not because they did anything to bring it upon themselves. However, I was also struck by the number of things that are actually available to the people here. Many services and medications are free. There are even basic surgical procedures such as appendectomies, tubal ligations, some joint replacements and others that are completely free of charge. The free services shocked me. If a country that is economically unstable can offer free necessary surgery to its citizens why can't we? Of course I know there are many difficult political and cultural reasons for our poor health care system but it makes me think and makes me a bit more frusturated with our own system. The day was mentally and emotionally exhausting.
We haven't had much in the way of down time since we have been here. In fact I've had hardly any time to just sit and reflect on our trip so this is a healthy time right now. Today we had several interesting adventures. In the morning we went Agato where we met up with some traditional Ecuadorian healers. First we walked around in the mountains learning about various plants and their different medicinal uses. I'm going to attempt cataloguing them soon with the help of my fellow travelers. After looking at different plants we ventured into one of the many corn fields. They can compete with the midwest for the cornfield density prize. They have a tree here called the lechero tree that they plant around the corn fields. Legends tell the indiginous people these trees are protectors and all connected to the mother tree which is up on the side of one of the mountains surrounding the valley where Otovalo and Peguche rest. Lechero are planted around the corn fields as protectors for the corn and they are said to never die. The leaves also contain a milk-like substance that when applied to the skin gets rid of warts. It certainly seems to be as good as anything I've seen used in the U.S.
Today we sat in a large circle ouside with the mountain sun on our shoulders. In the center was a small fire with a red rug and many herbs next to it. As we watched several students participated in healing and diagnostic ceremonies. Emma was the first to participate. As she stood on the small red rug one of the indiginous healers chanted, perfumed her with burning sage and other herbs and literally swatted her with the leaves of a small plant. Her ceremony was diagnostic. The end result? She is stressed and tired - hmm, considering we are all medical students that isn't too surprising. Next the healers asked for a volunteer who had been through recent emotional turmoil. Well, I was generously volunteered. After quietly removing my shoes and walking to the rug a small elderly indiginous woman chanted and gently brushed my body with beads. During her ceremony she beckoned to the mountains and the water and the trees to give their positive energy to a cup of horchata and an egg. I then drank the horchata and slurped the not quite-completely-cooked egg. I admit I've never been much of a believer in these sorts of things but for the first time in a while I feel energetic and at peace. Hmm, maybe there was something to it. The last ceremony was one with a cui (guine pig). This was the most disturbing because the guinea pig starts alive and then the cut it open at the end of the ceremony. The purpose of cutting it open is to diagnose internal problems for the person in the ceremony. This is an important part of the culture here and so I am grateful for the experience but I'll admit it isn't one I want to have again.
In the afternoon a small group of us set off into the hills to adventure to parque condor. As we walked briskly along the road we had to dodge carnival foam, bombas and buckets of water everytime a car drove by. I think it's cheating if you spray someone or dump water on them from a moving vehicle - we were so defenseless! As we ventured up the mountainside through small villages and past run-down houses I said hello to all the pigs and cows who graze casually along the road. We even had one pig who escaped off his tie and snorted and ran in front of us, trying to evade capture. Haha, pigs aren't that fast but I commend him for trying. We wandered off in the wrong direction and ended up lost so we climbed up a steep hill between corn fields to the road above us and then there was success - we made it to the Condor Park!! It was worth the walk. All over the park there was beautiful landscaping, beautiful views and amazing birds of prey. Eagles, hawks and owls galore - up close and personal.
The big downside of today was that about half our group ended up really sick including sending one of our girls to the hospital with horrible nausea, vomiting and barely able to walk. Fortunately some very wonderful locals helped her out of the parque condor and into a cab to the hospital with two other students. Currently she's still at the hospital and since we don't have great communication abilities here I don't know her status but the rest of the students are sending good thoughts her way.
Now, even though a trip to the hospital is the most recent happening here in Otovalo I needed to end this entry on a more upbeat note. Anne, Linds and I spent a lot of time bargaining in the market. There are beautiful blankets, jewlery and bags and well I made my appropriate contribution to the Ecuadorian economy. My spanish is getting much better as are my bargaining skills and I'm proud to state I've scored some awesome deals and there will be plenty of gifts when I return - I know you are excited!
Ciao!
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