Recipe time!

So not much has been happening around here. A lot of the same old stuff. So here is a little recipe for those battling from a cough and cold. This little syrup will put some hair on your chest and get rid of any phlegm in your throat. It is a cough killer. Just beware that it also a breath killer, so follow it up with some mouth wash or hierba buena.

Ultimate Cough Syrup
3 ounces minced garlic
1/2 pint vinegar [I used apple cider vinegar]
Sugar

*Bruise and mince the garlic to get it as juicy as possible.
*Put the minced garlic in a jar with a lid. Pour the vinegar on top, and put the lid on. Let this macerate (soak) for 4 days if you can. Shake it twice daily.
*After four days, drain and strain the maceration. I do this buy putting unbleached organic cotton (or cheesecloth, muslin) on the mouth of another jar. Slowly pour into the cloth to let it strain out the garlic. When the liquid is captured, squeeze the garlic in the cotton to get out every little bit.
* Now make it into a syrup by adding sugar. The recipe I have calls for a pound of sugar to be added to the mixture. I tried and failed to get the garlic infused vinegar to digest all that sugar. So mix in enough sugar that it is completely absorbed without crystallizing. The guideline is usually 1 part solvent to 2 parts sugar. So keep that in mind.

With the correct amount of sugar, this syrup does not need refridgeration but since you probably have a refridgerator, it doesn't hurt to store it there. Shake before use and the normal dosage is 1 teaspoon three times a day.

Yum.

A picture!?

Okay, we are slowly getting together enough technology to get our pictures onto the internet! How exciting!

Long and low

Yesterday I advanced to the newest level of the car driving game here in Nicaragua. Now it might seem as though I am fixated on these car adventures, but let me explain how driving cars here in Nicaragua is not like anywhere else I have ever driven. What do you do when you need to pass someone? You do it, no matter where or when or how. As long as everyone else sees that you are coming. Stoplights? Those are optional. Stop signs? I have seen one. Most intersections are rotundas, and those scare me. So the daredevil stunt driving Nicaraguense combined with my healthy respect for anything auto-related makes for an interesting cocktail of misadventure. Especially since yesterday I was promoted to ambulance driver.
Story goes like…. I was sitting in the pharmacy (the real one, not the green one) with Sarah (she escaped the oficina for a full day!) when Pat came in. There was a mild bout of chaos and Spanish and then she looks at me.
“Okay, so we have a patient who NEEDS to get to the hospitalito ASAP. She is probably having a heart attack. We have a vehicle here and therefore we usually like to run an ambulance service if we can. I would go, but I can’t really leave the American doctor here by himself. Can you take her?”
Seriously?
“Oh, wait do you even know where the hospitalito is in Ciudad Sandino?”
This is my break. I know the hospitalito is over by the mercadito, but from this direction I have no clue how to get there. Not in any fast manner that is, and I suspect driving a patient having a “possible heart attack” would necessitate a speedy trip.
“Ohhh… uh… the hospitalito?”
“Sure you do! Its over by the mercadito! The pinkish-peachish building. We pass it every Saturday on our walks!” chips in Sarah.
Thanks man.
“I can send Juana with you, she knows how to get there and she can tell you the quickest way. I know this is a lot to ask but if you can’t do this then we will send her home. And it would really be best if she could get to the hospitalito. She might be having a heart attack.” Pat reiterates.
Fine, yes okay I can go. I will be driving the microbus (seriously the largest conversion van I have ever seen) with my Spanish speaking guia, a panicked family member and of course the woman who might be having a heart attack…
The roads of Ciudad Sandino are worn thin - even more so than the meager stretch of road where I have gotten all of my practice. I have to cross entire arroyos, giant gulleys of waste and water and waste water. The streets are slowly being paved but before they are improved they are completely ripped apart with giant holes every 10 feet.
The microbus is low and long. I knew this as soon as I got in but I also knew it because Pat told me several times.
“You gotta get her there, but you gotta drive slow. The microbus is low and long.””Mind the side mirrors when you make turns, this vehicle is much lower and much longer than the Isuzu.”
“Have I told you Alyse, the microbus is low and long.”

Regardless of length and clearance height, I got the patient to the hospitalito. Juana was a great guia, even though we took the shortcut and at times I am pretty sure I was driving through peoples yards. And I got confused at my only stoplight and almost hit a few people to which she yelped Dios Mios! But in the end, it was a happy ending, another thing crossed off my list (I still have to check if I ever at anytime in my life have actually wanted to drive an ambulance…) and the patient is safely in the hospitalito.

In other news, I had my first follow up appointments yesterday with patients. They both went amazing! Maria Fuentes had come in complaining about a painful skin ulcer on her leg for which I gave her some aloe. She loved the aloe saying it really soothed her inflamed skin when she washed with it in the morning and evening. We talked for a while about other plants she used. She has an oregano plant that she uses to cook with her pollo whenever her companero has a cough. And she loves cilantro. I gave her more aloe and then an entire aloe plant. That way she can always have it on hand.
Maria Silva was suffering like so many others from a cold. She had a scratchy throat and small cough. I had given her a jarabe de zacate de limon y oregano (lemongrass and oregano syrup). She gave me very useful feedback on how long it lasted and the taste. (Enough in the bottle for the 5 days of treatment, and it was very sweet which was great because her cooking was very simple. Almost like a little dessert). She had used the treatment successful and cold tell it helped her. I went ahead and gave her a little more (after discussed the fact that there were no herbal injections available) and she too was very happy.
It wasn’t until later that I realized I had conducted two complete interviews by myself in Spanish.

Another Nica Weekend

This post is going to be lame compared to the last story. Sorry all, but nothing as exciting as reliving a scene from one of my favorite movies has happened since then.
I got sick on Thursday afternoon, and was better by Friday. Everyone is chalking it up to a little food poisoning. After the fact JHC and even the host family let me in on a little secret: everyone who has lived with Dona Yeny gets sick. Awesome.
This weekend was way tranquilo. We did absolutely nothing but read. I had started a book when I was resting on Friday, and finished it last night. It was 600 pages. That is how much of nothing we did this weekend.
Yesterdays weather was strange as it was overcast, windy, and even sprinkled - something that NEVER happens during the dry season. It felt really nice outside. Everyone was going on and on about how cold it was and when I checked the temperature on my watch, it said it was 75 degrees. Frigid.
My plan for today is to get back into the garden and harvest some lemongrass.

Proof the Gods are indeed crazy...

…and I was their latest victim. I usually ride in the broken down Isuzu with Pat, the long term JHCer who is charge of the facilities at the clinic. I like riding over together, because Pat insists on speaking only Spanish with me, the slow gringo Spanish that lacks a harsh accent or strange Nica words. Even though I enjoy playing the ‘don’t hit the dog watch out for the potholes’ game every time I go to the clinic, I also like not paying attention to the road and watching the scenery pass by. Whenever we drive together it is also easier because Pat has keys to the large gates at the entrance of the clinic. In an effort to keep the clinic secure, only a select few have keys to these gates, and I am not one of the few. Whenever I drive alone, I always have to either honk the horn long enough for Dona Conchita to hear me, or turn off the truck, go inside and get Dona Conchita myself. Not a big deal, but not having to ask Dona Conchita to open and close the gates every time I need to come and go is always nice. ANYWAY, the gods are crazy and this is why:
Yesterday afternoon I was at the clinic with Pat, however, she finished her duties far before I was ready to leave, so I drove her back to the Foundation and returned to the clinic solo. Conchita was there to open the gates. 3 hours later it was my turn to leave. I go searching for Conchita, but she is nowhere to be found. Her son Carlos is the night watchman and he was getting ready to come on shift. So I waited for a bit and when I was told the gates were open, I was free to go. I got the truck started (song, dance, prayer) and started to drive toward the gates. They were unlocked, but not opened. No big deal I think, I will see if Carlos is coming to open for me but I can clearly open these gates by myself now that they are unlocked. I wait a second, and not wanting to be a bother I decide this is a job I can finish myself. I put the truck in neutral, pulled the emergency break, and jumped out of the car. I start to run towards the gate (only about 5 feet in front of the truck) when I notice the truck is slowly running forward as well. I run back to the door and it is jammed! It won’t open, it is not locked, but it won’t open. Maybe the gate will stop the slowly moving truck. No such luck. The truck bangs through the gates, old and rusty enough to send a large noise throughout the barrio. I am running beside this old piece of truck still trying to open the door. The gates open to a small alley that runs the length of the clinic. Directly across from the gates, only about 8 feet from my rolling truck (now picking up speed due to the eroded surface of concrete separating the gates from the dirt road) are houses guarded by scrap metal fences. In my mind I can only see my truck, the piece of crap it is, crashing through gates and houses leaving me to explain how and why in broken Spanish. Not wanting this AT ALL, I jump in front of the truck and push with all I have to cancel out the trucks inertia.
By this time I have attracted the attention of everyone on the street. Everyone has gathered outside of their casitas, dropping wet clothes into full pilas, picking children up in the arms, and staring at me. All the patients sitting in the clinic, bored and suffering, jump to their feet and peek outside the door, keeping one ear inside in case their name is called. Which is useless as the pharmacists, lab techs, and doctors have joined the crowd of people answering my calls of GAHHH with their blank stares. What the hell is the chela doing? The man who lives in the house my truck is about to destroy attempts to open the passenger door and get the truck to brake. No luck. Somehow - the gods must have gotten bored - the truck stops millimeters from the scrap metal fence with me pushing, sliding, and cursing.
Whew.
Carlos runs up. Que pasó chela?
I try to explain to Carlos how I didn’t want to bother him to open the gates he had already unlocked, so I was just going to do it myself. How was I supposed to know that at that moment the emergency brake would go out and the door would jam shut? How would I know the gates would throw themselves open and the truck would pick up speed going over that bump that often causes me such trouble to get out when I AM driving? My explanation was lost in translation and everyone just laughed. Carlos pulls at the door and gets nothing. A local gang member walks over and tries with no luck. I crawl in the truck through the other door and try again. Nope. Everyone is jiggling the door with hopes of being the lucky winner to get the door open. We stop for a second while I tell a blank faced Carlos how the door broke and I jumped in front of the truck, and the truck door casually creeks open. As if it was never shut in the first place.
The gates were opened the rest of the way by a woman waiting for asthma medicine, I backed the truck up so I could make the turn into the alley (rather than into the scrap metal fence) and I left. I gave a victory wave to the kids pointing and laughing and I breathed a deep sigh of relief.
This morning I had to return to the clinic by myself again. Maybe I was paranoid, but I think the people gathered in the streets once more when they heard the Isuzu coming, with tickets to the second showing of “Chela Can’t Drive.” Everything went fine, except for the part where I needed to push the truck to get it to start…

Life in Bella Cruz

I am back for a much-needed update – the past few days have been ridiculous. We moved in to our host families on Friday evening. We nervously packed all of our belongings (not as efficiently as the first time we packed our bags) and trekked over to Bella Cruz, our new barrio. The first stop was Sarah’s house, the one painted bright flamingo pink with tons of ankle biting dogs around. Becca, our liaison to the hosts, yells inside “BUENAS!” Chaos ensues and we are let in the gate. We are introduced to Sarah’s family, Dona Mierta y Don Paulo. I swear that Dona Mierta is a long lost Green. She looks like a Green, thinks like a Green, and most importantly she LAUGHS and TALKS at a level to rival the Greens. We should check out her family tree and see if the Saldana family branches off into Nicaragua. Very sure there is a family connection there somewhere. ANYWAY, Sarah lives in a small room in the back of the garden. There are 4 rooms in a little building, all with doors to the garden. She has people living on both sides of her room, and access to the outdoor shower and pila. Becca told us Dona Mierta y Don Paulo were like characters from a Roald Dahl book, and she was right on.
Next is my turn to meet my new family, Dona Yeny y her hijo Alexander. Dona Yeny lives right next door, sharing a wall with Dona Mierta y Don Paolo, the only distinction is one side is BRIGHT PINK and the other side, Dona Yeny’s side, is BRIGHT RED/ORANGE.
We walk next door and “BUENAS!” a few times before Dona Yeny appears. She shows we right to my room, painted BRIGHT TURQUIOSE. I have a huge bed, a little candle for when we lose power, and a little lock on my door. My area of the house is separate from the rest of the house (you can tell because my side is the turquoise while everything else is the red/orange) complete with its own bathroom and door that locks. It is nice to have the privacy. Of course the bathroom all to myself is also nice. It is modest with a toilet and an area designated shower where you can dump the buckets of water on yourself. Works for me.
The food is really good, traditional Nica food. Most of my meals so far consist of gallo pinto, platanos y tortillas. The tortillas are made across the street and come to me still piping hot. Delicious. I think I will be getting gallo pinto cooking lesson tonight, as I have asked to be trained.
Dona Yeny’s is the place to be for all the barrio children. As I sit on the front porch I am surrounded my many children coming and going. We are they coming from? Most likely across the street at the pulperia/tortilleria. Where are the going? Same place. What do they do while at Dona Yeny’s? Nothing, just like me.
So our weekend was left wide open to see what our families do on the weekends. Not much. Things start EARLY, like when the rooster caws, everyone is awake. Breakfast is at 7a, and I always eat alone. When and where Dona Yeny y Alexander eat is a mystery. But that is how it is. Then the day begins; there is a lot of time to do a lot of nothing. Coming from North America, it is strange to have an entire day in front of you and seriously have nothing to fill it with. Nothing. This is poverty. The people in the barrio hang out, visit each other, play cards, wash clothes when there is water and shoot the breeze.
The best part of our new families is the conversation. Befriending the barrio kids is an easy task, and a great way to start learning Spanish. They think it is HILARIOUS when you can’t say something right, but will always correct you. And it isn’t as nerve wracking to look at the 12 year old girl and say… “Debo decir ‘la comida ES sabrosa’ o ‘la comdia ESTA sabrosa’?” No shame in asking her because like any 12 year old girl, she loves telling you the right way to do something.
So living with the families was the best idea for us at this point. A delegation moves into the dormitory on Wednesday and we really didn’t want to have to share bunk beds with them for 2 weeks. This way we are completely immersed in the culture, in Spanish, and we both get away from La Ciudad.

One final note: with the computer situation being as such (where I do not have daily access to internet anymore) my blogging and emailing will slow do considerably. I think I am going to aim to update my blog twice a week. Probably once on the weekend, once we find the internet café, and then again during mid-week when I can type on a laptop and then in one swift ninja move, upload to the internet. Please keep the comments coming, they make my day!

Hasta miercoles!

success!

Yesterday rounded out to be a very good day in the farmacia verde. I got my official work table and it is beautiful! Very strong, very nice and so big! I love making all the medicine on my new table. Thanks so much to Rogelio.
Today was also a very good day. I made several tasty things and one pure success: I experimented with jarabe (syrup) de ajo (garlic) y limon (lemon) for asthma and it came out VERY tasty. I think if you used it to marinate shrimp it would be a great dish. I am not even kidding. THe pure success came from my first attempt to make a medicinal soap. The achiote-sabila flavored soap (for quemaduras (burns) and heridas (injuries)) came out amazing! It has completed the curing process and it wonderfully hard for storage but suds up nicely. There is enough achiote to get the benefit of the vitamins without turning the skin red. I am very pleased.
I have also had the pleasure of driving to the clinic by myself this week. Even though itt is only about 2 miles away and down a single road - you seriously make two turns - the hard part is the condition of the truck and the condition of the roads. it seriously feels like i am playing a video game.
first of all the truck is just a piece of crap. no glass in the windows. none of the dials on the dash work. no locks. the seat is falling apart so you have to sit on old pillows. it is a disel engine (so they can fuel it using their biodisel) so you have to do this elaborate song and dance to get it to start. push in the clutch, turn the key to that mark, pump the peddle twice, take a deep breath, hold in this button for 12 seconds, pump the gas again and give it a go. okay, so once you get the truck going the steering is way off. like how i imagine driving a school bus would be. you get hang out if pretty fast, but the road throws your for a loop. the dirt road with huge potholes lined with trash. on the way, when there isnt man made speed bumps (for what reason i ask) or car made 3feet deep holes there are people and horses and oxen and carts and dogs and buses all coming at you. it is crazy. seriously like a video game. i get a kick out of it because it is so stimulating to be constantly checking something/avoiding obstacles. Sometimes when I clear an obstacle I can't help but to say "100 points!" or when I hit a bump way hard and the rear view mirror falls off (whoops) I say "-25 points!" The little things in life get better in Nicaragua. when i finally make it to the clinic i celebrate. i didn't hit anyone/thing/animal. yay! At end I feel like I should check my life points or something...

Tengo unos pacientes!

Big huge day for me, and it is only 1p. Today I dispensed my first herbal remedies! For this to happen means that one of the doctors had a patient, the patient had a condition that could be treated by herbal remedies, the doctor RECOGNIZED that it could be treated with an herbal remedy that I told them about and then the doctor prescribed an herbal remedy! Excitement. The doctor was Dr. Avila. He is very nice. He came into my room and asked about sábila and skin conditions. He said he had a patient with skin ulcers and could I help? of course of course! So I quickly ran to the graden, plucked a huge stalk of aloe and made a quick treatment. I bumbled through spanish as I told Daniella how it should be taken. I was sooo nervous!But everything went fine. Dr. Avila came back in and asked about sabila in treating acne. Sure! I had a second order of aloe and this time I threw in a little ajo (garlic) which is very good for acne. I am so excited!

Also, in other big news. Sarah and I move into family homesteads this Friday. One of goes with Doña Yeny in the purple house, one goes with Doña Mirta and Don Paulo in the pink house. That is really all I know about it right now, but again, I AM EXCITED.

I think I will go to Rancho de Pancho for a celebratory beer tonight. :)

Chocoyero y El Brujo

Well this weekend really lived up to it's awesome potential. It all started out bright and early Saturday morning,..I will spare you the mundane details of our trip down because, quite honestly, I was half asleep and just following Emily and her roommate Leslie. Short story of Saturday is we got on a bus to go to a van to go to the side of the highway to catch a moto taxi to hike in the forest to see some waterfalls that had pretty birds. We did all that by noon on Saturday. Sarah and I packed hammocks (love! hammocks!) so we strung them up (with our newfound rope tying skills) and lazed about true Nica style. We spent Saturday afternoon in the wilderness enjoying our books, the fresh quiet air and beans and cheese from a bag. Emily and Leslie were going to head back to Managua at around 4p. They had arranged with the moto taxi man to come pick them up at that time, and Sarah and I had arranged with the rangers that we would be sleeping in our hammocks over there in the camping area. At around 330p we head to the entrance of the park and Emily arranged for Sarah and I to get a home cooked meal by the park rangers. We set a date of 6p when Sarah and I regresarámos (will return) to the rangers center for dinner. Pasta o pollo? Pasta is fine with us. We walked back to the camp site (10 minute hike) and then decided to continue on to the falls to see the parrot commute home (15 minute hike). We sat by the waterfall enjoying the setting sun and some water as the famous parrots (chocoyos) squawked over head, returning home (cliff side) from whereever it is parrots go during the day. 520 sharp. Spectacular show of bright green flashes shrieking Hi Honey, Im home!
Our time really kicked off at dinner. Sarah and I returned as promised at 6p. We were timid, frightened. Emily and Leslie (resident of Nica for 1.4-2 years) had done all the speaking for us before. They used Nica words. With Nica accents. To Nica rangers. We arrive at the entrance/ranger center and were greeted by two people. Manuel introduced himself as such and held a pineapple out to us. Our two amigas had purchased two pineapples from him on there way down the road about 2 hours ago. They wanted us to have this one. Muchisimo gracias Manuel. La piña es bonita y ahora tenemos desayunar. Bien, bien muchachas. Kiss kiss, goodbye. The woman whom we agreed to pay c$35 for dinner came up to us next. Listas para la cena? Si si. gracias. Out come hot plates of gallopinto, spaghetti and a platano. Fresh squeezed piña refresco. Yum. We snarf snarf in silence, sitting on the front porch of the entrance with the rangers eagerly looking at our expression. Oh yes, very yum. Have you tried the... oh yes, it is excellent.
Once our snarfing was over we got up to go - No no! Please sit with us. Let your bellies digest, where are you going to in such a hurry. Silly us, there is no hurry. We will sit.
And there we sit, for 3 hours. Talking, laughing and drinking coffee with the rangers, Jose y Burnis. Burnis was younger, all though we never got an age (he looked... 25? 27?), and is studying english. We had fun showing him the guide book that brought us to the falls and he attempted to read in English. Aloud. Stopping on the words he didn't understand. En-cou-rage? Que es en-cou-RAGE? Jose sat giggling and laughing at our mispronunciations and my inability to say antropologia y presbyteriana/ Vos eres los dos! By the end of the night we had discussed medicinal plants in the area, looked to see if the snake we spotted really was a coral snake and made plans to see El Brujo por la manana.
See, when we hiked earlier, we found out that the sendero (path/trail) to El Brujo (the second cascade that goes strating into the ground without forming a river) was closed. It was far too dangerous. Pero, ahora tenemos la oportunidad que ir a la cascada con Burnis. Oh and did we know that Jose has a finca de pina? Oh of course we can see it. Tomorrow, tomorrow. After we play Marco! Polo! o Perro! Pedro! Bueno, bueno! Verámos a las siete. Bien, muchachas.
Our night of camping was interesting. It was completely hopeless dark by the time we returned to our hammocks. We sprayed our sheets down with deet and meticulously wrapped ourselves up. We were in the wild and I was suspended above a line of leaf cutter hormigas and an armadillo was snooping around to west of camp.
The howler monkeys started doing their thing at about 5a. Loud, distant grumbles and shrieks woke us to an otherwise completely still cold Nica morning. We slept okay but now couldn't move. Hammocks are delicate things, you see, and we have yet to master the art. We got up and down to the falls at about 6a. The birds were straightening their tails and taking off for yet another day in the life of... We sliced up our pineapple that was delivered to us by Manuel.
At around 645a we head back to camp (10 minutes this time) took down camp (3 minutes - hammocks are amazing!) and heading to the nature center. Burnis y Jose were waking up. Doing chores and making coffee. Diez minutoes muchachas. esta bien?
Our guided hike started after our small cup of coffee with lots of sugar. The Nica way of doing coffee. We hit up the familiar trails and got scientifc names of everything along the way. Our hike to El Brujo was fantastic. So much beauty! We were int eh heart of el bosque and there look! El Brujo. We hiked all the way up to the base of the falls. Felt the water, got an amazing overlook of park and took many pictures. Burnis posed with us and laughed with us and we hiked back down.
Our hike lasted about 2 hours, and then quieren arroz y frijoles? Jose quiere ir a la finca ahora. Esta bien? Bien! Bien! We kisskiss goodbye with Burnis, got the number of the park for when we decide we are ready to hike to Crucero and started off down the road with Jose.
Did you like El Brujo? Like Halloween, yes? Oh, that tree is medicinal. It sure is windy today, isnt it? Oh, that plants name is...We came across fields and field of coffee, banana and pineapple. A man and his family is sitting along side the road with huge piles of beaufitul pineapple. Jose inspects them and gets three. That man is the president of our coop. I am the vice president. There are 24 associates in our coop. We farm pina, bananas and cafe. We sell to local markets only.
Have you ever seen a pineapple growing? It is truly a ridiculous site. Google an image of pineapple flower right now. See it? Sarah and I are taken to another finca down the road. Another man a small boy are selling their pinas. Jose greets them and picks up the biggest juiciest pina he sees. Whack whack with the machete and we are presented with a chunk of sugar filled bright yellow heaven. Best pineapple I have ever eaten. Follow me, I will show you my plot. 200 ft and we are standing among fields and field of pineapples. To the North is a perfect view of Vulcan Masaya. Directly opposite is a fantastic view of El Brujo. The land connecting the two is filled with rows and rows of pineapple. Farmed organically and for local consumption.
Sarah and I leave Jose y Burnis with 4 pineapples, 300 pictures and a 7km hike ahead of us. The entire time all we can rave about is the generosity and openness of our hosts. And that pineapple! good lord!
We hike and hike and hike. Finally the highway. We package up our bags. Slip on our money belts and stand on the side of the road until a bus honks MANAGUA at us. The pull over and we shove ourselves on. 10 cords gets us back to the capital. Back to the sweltering heat, dirty streets and whistling. Chelllllllllllllllllla....

Tonight I learned how to tie up a hammock in one quick and easy knot. And from here on out, I plan to only sleep on hammocks. They are incredible and versatile and packable. Yes, whenever I travel, whenever I plan to sleep I will make sure to have a hammock nearby. I spent an embarassingly long time trying to figure out where I could possible string a hammock up in Chicago. Any ideas you guys?
Well I will test my love for hammocks tomorrow night. Sarah and I are traveling out to the two waterfalls at a nearby park reserve to hike and camp. The waterfalls are muy bonita and house thousands of parakeets. We are taking our hammocks, some rope and blanket and will hopefully spend the night under the stars. I've got my deet packed, no worries mom. On that note, I have been bitten MANY time by MANY insects and so far show no signs of malaria or dengue. Knock on wood. hopefully things will stay that way.
I will be back in with a blog on Sunday evening to tell you of our splendid travels. Check out sarah\s blog as well, she is, after all a writer by trade. I guess she is okay for a writer and all. For whatever reason she thinks we are going to rent horses. She clearly doesnt' remember the Costa Rican monster horses quite as vividly as I do.
Until then... hasta!
Ooh, and this is brought to you by the word of the day: PINCHE which means cheap, here at least it means cheap. :)

New month

Today was my first full day at teh clinic. It started with a nice chat with some security guys while I was working in the garden. "Hoolllllllllaaaaa Chela. Que tal? Que es eso?" He was pointing to the pile of lemongrass I was harvesting. "Zacate de limon." I smile and walk towards the fence all while thinking Please oh please oh please do not starting talking really fast. Please see my chela skin and bad accent and take it easy on me! "Si! Si! Yo lo creo. Zacate de limon. Me olvido el nombre. Es muy bueno para tos. Verdad?" Whew, it went well. Jose and Manuel were nice.My next big fright came when a abuelita came into my herbal room asking for an examination. I couldn't hear her very well because the power was out and Mario was running the loudest generator I have ever heard. She has a bag with her and she starts taken out the contents and setting them next to the achiote and drying lemongrass. She was a syringe and insulin. She starts pull up her shirt. Oh no, I rush her to Mario explaining that I am putting her materials back into her bag. Mario welcomes her at his door and she starts to laugh. I was afraid of Nicas taking me seriously with medicine, now I am concerning they will think I am a doctor. Gah.