BROTAR

Brotar v: (planta) to sprout; (enfermedad eruptiva) to break out; (líquido) to gush, to flow, to issue.

You might not like the fact that this verb best describes my day. Context: In my Spanish class senior year, we had to read and summarize an article about adolescent acne that used this verb more than was ever necessary. Then we had to read it again the next week because the teacher forgot about the previous week´s assignment. You´ve gotta love the Charter Academy. This verb is used surprisingly often in Spanish literature and poetry to describe natural springs or budding plants, but the only mental image I ever have is of pimply-faced Hispanic preteens.

Seeing as it´s a Tuesday, I had my early morning hospital internship today, my last rotation at El hospital salubridad, a small public hospital in Cholula. Although it´s not very far away from UDLAP, we have to take 2 different buses there and 2 back. My internship buddy and I have had our fair share of missteps (literally and figuratively) on the public bus system, but today´s adventure takes the cake. Our 2nd bus showed up and was more full of people than I had previously imagined was possible. When the accordion doors opened, several passengers and various limbs brotaron onto the street. Unfortunately, we then had to employ all our balance and coordination skills to get ourselves on the bus and remain upright. Apparently very few tax dollars go into road maintenance here, except to install speed bumps. Oof.

We finally arrived at the hospital, barely escaping with our lives from that deathtrap bus. This week I was assigned to shadowing a general surgeon and the first surgery on the list was a cyst removal (not 100% sure on that diagnosis or the spelling). Context: a cyst is more or less an oil duct in the skin that gets plugged but keeps producing oil, creating an isolated sac under the skin. I.E. a hugeass zit... Apparently this cyst had been chillin´ in the patient´s thigh for FIFTEEN YEARS and it had worn out it´s welcome. I will spare you the gruesome details but, as you can imagine, a golfball-sized mass that is squished between a thigh muscle and elasticy skin is under quite a lot of pressure and if a hypothetical surgeon were to accidentally puncture the sac during removal, it´s not ideal. Yup, you guessed it. BROTARRRRRRR.
So after they got that under control and stitched up the lady´s thigh, I was informed that the next surgery was a toe amputation on a patient with diabetes. Context: Patients who don´t monitor their blood sugar well tend to have decreased circulation in their extremities, leading to ¨dead¨ fingers and toes. Anyways, this patient´s foot was pretty nasty and apparently infected. The surgeon starting draining the excess fluids (think brotando), then decided that I should leave before I became ¨contaminated¨ to the extent that they wouldn´t let me leave. Apparently this toe was allowing bacteria to BROTAR into the air.

To make up for kicking me out of that surgery, the surgeon sent me next door to watch a C-section. Although I had observed an emergency C-section last week, I was still not prepared for how quickly the baby just appears, all of a sudden. You could even use the verb brotar to describe the mode of this child´s entry into the world, perhaps.

Thennnn, as a change of pace, I ate lunch in the cafeteria today because I am out of fresh produce, peanut butter, and bread in my room. I thought I´d spice up my green salad a little with a pepper and onion mixture which turned out to be MUCH hotter than I expected. This plus the fact that my lips are terribly chapped and sunburned from the weekend´s beach adventure resulted in my sitting in the dining hall, alone, with tears running down my face. I used at least 5 napkins in my attempts to stop the tears and snot that were flowing (BROTAR) eeeeverywhere. Huge. mess.

That is all.

Vamos a la playa! A mí me gusta bailar...y nadar... y comer

This weekend's itinerary featured the port city of Veracruz (not to be confused with the general state of Veracruz. Just like the city México is not to be confused with the state. Or the country. And you probably should try to keep Puebla and Puebla straight too.) 
I had a bit of an internal struggle over this trip because it was going to cost about 1/4 of this month's stipend and it´s apparently hurricane season on the Gulf Coast. I finally managed to repress my thriftythrifty self and decided to go. I cannot express how glad I am that I went. And in reality, we all stayed in a nice hotel right on the beach with a pool, private beach and free breakfast for the equivalent of about $25/night. Have I mentioned that I love Mexico?

We didn't arrive until after dark on Friday night but that definitely didn´t stop us from searching out the grocery store for some necessary beach items, stealing/borrowing a shopping cart (don't worry Mom, we returned it) and hitting up the ocean. Keep in mind that Veracruz has been consistently in the upper 90s or low 100s for weeks, that the humidity is approximately 200% and the wind is non-existent. As you might be able to guess, the ocean temperature resembled that of a bathtub and while Veracruz isn´t exactly known for its beautiful beaches, a Gulf Coast beach is a beach.

We spent the larger part of Saturday lounging around in the sunshine, splashing in the slightly murky waves, exploring some tide pools, and paying $50MX (less than $5) for a ride on a 10-passenger banana float boat thing. Totally worth it. Later in the evening we cleaned up and headed towards the Veracruz zócalo, which is the town square area that every city and village has, featuring restaurants, live music and vendor booths. I decided to branch out and defy our Shark Week-inspired fears by ordering baby shark enchiladas. I don't know that they were ACTUALLY made out of baby shark, but they were damn good.

We also discovered the most magical dessert there will ever be: peanut nieve. Nieve is an ice cream & snow cone hybrid (the name literally means snow) that comes in all sorts of exotic fruit flavors in addition to the typical chocolate, vanilla and strawberry lineup. Everything is made with the real deal ingredients and the fruit flavors usually will still have the seeds included. One word: NOMZ.

Today we had a lazy morning, mostly inside due to a baby tormenta storm, packed up (it´s amazing how much mess 8 people can make in 48 hours) and headed to the Veracruz aquarium. Supposedly, it´s the largest in Latin America but only costs $90MX.
**Note: the current exchange rate is $1US=$12.40MX**
It definitely wasn't as good as the Chicago or Portland aquariums but we had a good time and indulged our inner children for a few hours with plenty of ooohs and aaahs and failed attempts at no-flash photography in dark rooms.
One thing that I didn't like about Veracruz was how forward everyone was about trying to get our business. In the other cities we've visited, vendors will pester you a little if you show interest in their goods or make eye contact but will generally let up if you stop showing signs of interest. Not in Veracruz. We we accosted (this may not be a real word) constantly by people chasing us down the street trying to get us into their restaurant or to sell us sunglasses or to talk up their touristy t-shirts. I don't know if it's just because Veracruz is so tourist oriented or what the deal was, but i did not like it. But I guess that's just part of the whole experience and what I get for being a blonde gringa wandering wide-eyed around Mexico.

We had a bit of an interesting viaje back to UDLAP because we had decided at some point that we should save a few pesos by taking a 14-passenger vehicle for 16 people. FAIL. My sunburned self ended up smooshed against window and semi-spooning three other people on a bench seat for 4 hours. The trip was slightly improved by the fact that we had a pirated copy of the 6th Harry Potter movie to watch. And you know what, a little discomfort never hurt anyone. And if we weren't all comfortable with each other before, we are now. Plus, I definitely got all 7 intimate touches for the day. And I didn't get carsick. And it was a beautiful drive. And did I mention that I love Mexico?

The whole country is gearing up to celebrate the Bicentennial anniversary of the country's independence from the dirty Spaniards (kidding. kinda.) on Wednesday/Thursday. We don't have classes and we're going to spend some quality time with our hostish families with the highlight definitely being a Mexican Dinner. Yeah, sometimes food is important to me.

I say PYRAMID, you say CLIMB IT



So today we got up at literally the crack of dawn (fun fact: it is still dark in Puebla, Mexico at 6:45AM) to get on a bus to visit Teotihuacán. From the beginning, I guess I should have known that this trip was destined to be a desmadre.
First, there was a slight fiasco concerning the true number of passengers in order to reserve the van-bus-camioneta.

Secondly, after we reserved the bus and driver, David, a family emergency caused a last-minute change in drivers. José Antonio just wasn't as quality as David, although he was very nice and well-intentioned. 

Thirdly, it rained. All day. Literally. We have all accepted the fact that it rains here every afternoon and plan accordingly but today it was raining before we woke up and never ever stopped. It turns out that in it's pre-Aztec glory days, this site was home to regular human and animal sacrifices, mainly to the rain and sun gods. Apparently SOMEONE pleased the rain god today.

Anyways, we arrived at Teotihuacán, still praying for sunshine and after another slight fiasco involving half-asleep peso counting and parking fees, we bravely set out armed with PB&J sandwiches and rain jackets.
Background info: According to my Frommer´s Mexico 2010 guidebook (shoutout to Heidi Groover), the ruins of Teotihuacán are

¨among the most remarkable in Mexico-indeed, they are among the most important ruins in the world...Teotihuacán (teh-oh-tee-wa-khan) means ¨place where the gods were born.¨

So yeah, it´s a pretty big deal. The archaeological site features The Temple of Quetzalcoatl (you´re on your own pronouncing that one), The Pyramid of the Moon, the Avenue of the Dead, and the Pyramid of the Sun, which is the world´s 3rd largest pyramid. The whole complex was planned based on the position of the sun at the equinoxes. We could not verify this, however, because the sun did not make an appearance. Nevertheless, we climbed up the both pyramids and defiantly ate our picnic lunches on top of the Pyramid of the Sun, as advised, and ignored the rain, más o menos.


Overall, I´m glad we went because this was definitely a must-see sight in Mexico. Next on my must-see list is the Diego Rivera mural at the Palacio Nacional in Mexico City. I refuse to leave the country without seeing it. I´m also having an internal struggle over where to travel at the end of the semester. Most of the ND crew is thinking Cancún/Yucatán, but I realllllllly want to go to Chiapas, which is the most southeastern state in Mexico. The whole state is practically on the Natural Wonders of the World list and it´s really difficult to get there from outside Mexico, whereas it´s actually cheaper to travel to Cancún from Chicago than from Mexico City.
In other news, I just successfully made my first batch of rice and beans. It was a bit of a mess but worked out well and should last at least a week. I officially feel like I´m living in Mexico.

Success.

So today was overall great for various reasons:
1. I did not faint at the hospital.
2. First real exciting hospital internship experience (not, fainting does not, in fact, count): In following the obstetrician/gynecologist today, I got to see a baby be born. Witness a birth? Watch a birth? I'm just now realizing that it is impossible to phrase this event gracefully in English. It's much more natural sounding in Spanish. To give birth=dar la luz, literally, to give the light.
3. I ate the leftovers from the best fajitas the world has ever seen. NDH ain't got nothing on homemade, fresh ingredient fajitas. Shabam.


4. I helped assembly a pirate-themed presentation for my physics lab and finished my homework in record time. Everything is improved times ten with a piratey undertone.
5. Tomorrow is Friday (this is both true and I felt the need to have a number 5).

Good enough.

I really should be studying uniform rotation, coordinate systems, and vectors for Part I of my Physics test tomorrow, but I’m taking a brief break to write an update on today’s happenings. As I mentioned before, my hospital rotations started. I am going to spend Tuesday and Thursday mornings of the next three weeks in El Hospital Salubridad in Cholula. It is a public hospital with the main attractions being Urgencias (emergency) and Partos (OB). So I’m pretty much getting to hang out with a bunch of gynecologists for the next month-ish.
Anyways, the first day was an overall success except that I fainted within the first hour. So now I’m THAT GIRL. I think it was just a bad combination of factors: general low blood pressure, early morning wakeup, lots of standing and a history of similar behavior (thanks Wassmuth genes!) I was in the best of hands and was given a bed in which to recuperate, a hot cup of milk (not ideal), and the report that my blood pressure was 90/60. The bright side of all this is that I
A) Learned the Spanish verb “to faint”- desmayar
B) Will not have hypertension issues anytime in the near future
C) I didn’t throw up. That would have definitely been worse.

When I wasn’t elevating my feet and reluctantly drinking my warm milk, I spent the morning shadowing an OB-GYN. I got to see a lot of beautiful Mexican babies, met some very nice doctors and med-students, and generally got my bearings in the hospital. I was loaned some surgery scrubs so I could witness a birth, but I ended up having to leave before the baby was actually born.
Based on today’s experience I have decided several things:

1) I’m going to eat a slightly more substantial breakfast on Thursday.

2) The Mexico bus system is not too bad and is actually quite extensive if you figure out the routes and don’t mind waiting a bit.

3) I never want to birth a child in a public Mexican hospital.

I ended up missing my one class today because of a slight communication problem but was back in time for the Salsa-cumbia class that I’m taking with a few other ND kids. I had a blast! The first few classes we were just learning basic steps and it wasn’t terribly exciting but today we were able to dance with partners and learned some step combinations. We’re already making plans to hit up Legends’ Salsa Night during the spring semester.

Ok, I’m going to go spend some quality time with Newton. Wish me luck!

La Preciosita

This weekend's adventure was a little off the beaten trail, figuratively and literally. We were lucky enough to connect with a few students from another university in Puebla to go on a rural Mexican adventure. After a bumpy ride and a complex 9-point turn on a narrow mountain road, our bus arrived at a trucha farm. We went trout fishing! If I translated correctly, this fish farm has been around since the '60s and stocks their "lake" and also supplies other places with trout. I did not actually manage to catch a fish, but someone had to leave enough for everyone else right? Also, the fish were vicious.

After we caught all the fish in the lake we were treated to a fantastic lunch and a tour of the farm before we loaded onto the bus again. We then went to a small community called La Preciosita which is made up of about 1000 inhabitants, mostly women. Approximately 70% of the men have left the community to work in either the US or Canada and the women are definitely running the show. We brought some piñatas along to share with the local kids but never could have imagined the chaos that Dora the Explorer and Woody the Cowboy piñatas would cause. The idea was that the smallest kids get to go first and each kid gets to swing at the piñata until the end of a cute little song that I no longer remember. It was a good thing that this activity went down in the church basement because it was only through divine intervention that no one was smacked in the head with a broomstick.

We all were assigned host mamas and they fed us, taught us how to make food (which we had to sample as part of the process, of course), then we later ate the final product. Keep in mind that we had just eaten a huuuuuge lunch about 3 hours before. We were all feeling stuffed to the point of being sick by the time we laid down for bed. I can´t speak for everyone, but I personally woke up still feeling full. That, however, did not stop me from eating breakfast. We had leftover tamales and a regional specialty that is similar to a gordita (corn dough around refried beans) plus homemade salsa, fresh cheese, herbal tea and atole, which is a hot beverage made out of cinnamon, milk, some untranslated mystery ingredients and corn of course).

Later in the afternoon some local artisans came over and taught us to weave baskets using pine needles and thread. We were all very successful and pleased with our finished products. Well, most of us...some of the boys were not enthusiastic about spending the morning sewing pine needles.
<> 

Featured on this week´s agenda are- the first Physics test, the first hospital rotation and the FIRST ND FOOTBALL GAME of the semester. So it should be busybusybusy. Additionally, as of tomorrow I will have been in Mexico for an entire month! I can´t decide how I feel about that. I´ve been so busy that it doesn´t seem like it´s been that long. Then I think about everything I´ve done, seen, learned and all the great people I´ve met in the last month and it seems impossible that it´s only been 30 tiny days. But now I´ve blabbered on quite enough and it´s time to study for that looming Physics test!

Mira, la vista padre!

"Look, what an awesome view!" This exclamation from an enthusiastic Mexican tourist pretty much sums up my day. I co-organized the first solo daytrip for the ND-Puebla crowd and it was a complete success, if I do say so myself.

As I mentioned before, we went to Tepoztlan, in the state of Morelos, for the day. After a few struggles sticking to our early morning departure, we set out with Driver David towards Cuernavaca/Morelos/Tepoztlan. I meant to nap during the ride but ended up looking out the window the whole time. The Mexican countryside is simply gorgeous, especially during the current rainy season (see previous entry).
Upon arrival in Tepoztlan, we said adios to David and set off to find the following important items:
1. provisions (never hike without snacks!)
2. bathrooms (even if it did cost $5MX each)
3. a pyramid

Upon approaching the trail to the pyramid, we scoffed at very serious signs warning about dehydration and the dangers of hiking with serious health conditions. After about 5 minutes, we were not so skeptical (especially the Midwest kids who have noooo elevation skillz). Although the hike was only 1.2 miles, it climbs almost 2000 ft in elevation. 

We are going to have thighs of steel tomorrow fo sho! But, as another wise Mexican tourist said, it was vale la pena, worth the effort. The view of the Tepoztlan valley from the pyramid was breath-taking and we were lucky to have a clear day.

After tumbling back down the mountain we found ourselves some food, pronto, and explored the Sunday market. We boarded the bus home with our prizes from the market and everyone was asleep in 10 minutes flat. My best find at the market was a bag of weird fruit called lychees (they taste a bit like grapes).