An update on the past few days

On Wednesday, I really wanted to sleep all day long after the eventful birth night, but I’m so happy I went on the trip with Odilia and Santos. It took an hour or so to get to Sololá, a cute pueblo complete with a plaza de armas. Santos had a meeting there with the co-op he works for, so Odilia and I tagged along so she could show me the city. After eating breakfast and having Odilia try her first ever McDonalds-style hash brown (which she loved, of course), we took a bus to a pueblo called Panajachel, winding down a road with a view of this HUGE lake surrounded by mountains and three volcanoes. It was so beautiful! The lake is called lago do Panajachel. Odilia and I took a boat ride on it to get to a pueblo called San Marcos, one of many towns scattered in valleys around the lake. The first boat ran out of gas so we had to transfer to another one… Odilia is scared of water and doesn’t know how to swim so she was freaking out! I, lover of boats, water, and sun, was loving every minute of that boat ride! Once we got to San Marcos, I fell in love! It was touristy, but I can see why. There are little paths throughout the little shore town leading to all sorts of mind-body therapies. Massages, yoga classes, meditation centers, homeopathic medicine shops, everything. The town was so peaceful and sunny with tress, plants, and flowers EVERYWHERE. It smelled so good! Every once in a while I would get a glimpse of the huge lake and mountains and it became even more impressive. Odilia first came to this town to pick up a student form Australia who visited there first. The student had met a local there named David and introduced him to Odilia when she came. On that visit, Odilia bought MMS (miracle mineral supplement) a liquid homeopathic medicine for Santos’ diabetes and it worked incredibly – the MMS drops controlled his blood sugar without insulin or Metformin or anything! So, this is the reason we came to San Marcos – to find more of this medicine for Santos. David, the local that the student knew, met up with us when we got off the boat. All Odilia could remember about the place she got the remedy was that it was a round building with a massage place next door and the “doctor” was a white man named Mark or Max or Marcos or something like that. What an adventure it was to find that place! We walked all over this tiny pueblo with David and after talking and calling lots of people, we found the medicine – but never the original location. We bought three bottles of MMS and 3 bottles of “activator” from a nice Swedish man who had lived there for five years. Odilia took down his information so she wouldn’t have to search so blindly the next time!

David was really nice and a man of many hats – he works as a translator, writer, painter, as well as many other things. He was nice enough to invite us to his house so the three of us took a mototaxi up, up, up – all the way to my dream house. It was high up on a hill/cliff/mountain, triangular with tons of windows and a big porch with the most gorgeous view of the lake possible! Odilia and I had a beer on the porch swing (my first since I’ve been here and turned 22) and I was on such a happiness high it was wonderful. Odilia and I, celebrating my first birth, enjoying a Guatemalan cerveza and overlooking the most beautiful lake possible. 

Sololá

me and Lake Panajachel

Odilia and I on the boat ride

One of the meditation centers in San Marcos

"faith"

I love these little bell flowers!

Odilia and I on the balcony... What a view!

David invited us into his house and we got to see all of artwork. I remarked how much I liked one of the paintings and he gave it to me! Unfortunately we had to leave this paradise house after just a short visit because it was already late and Santos was done with his meeting. Plus, it was starting to get dark and thunder and Odilia was nervous about the boat ride back.

Once back in Panajachel, we met up with Alfredo, a Chilean photographer who is making a book about Odilia and midwifery/childbirth in Guatemala. He lives in Panajachel with his wife, who is American and Japanese, and their 4-year-old daughter, Sofia – renting a furnished apartment for $300 a month. Boy, do they live the life! Their daughter was born in Japan, and they’ve lived in Chile, Mexico, and now Guatemala. They speak Spanish, English, and French fluently and their daughter does, too. They just alternate which language they speak to her every few sentences – such a good idea to start teaching language at a young age. I got to see some pictures Alfredo has taken of Odilia working for his book – really cool! He wants to take more so he is coming to her house in a week or so. Odilia, Santos, Alfredo, and I went to a restaurant called “Circus Bar” In Panajachel for pizza – just what I had been craving. Then we left for home. Upon arriving at the house, I went in the temascal (since it was Wednesday and temascal days are Wednesdays and Saturdays), and then was sound asleep by 8 pm, exhausted from getting less than 3 hours of sleep the night before. It was the first time I slept through the night without waking up from barking animals!

On Thursday Odilia and I went back to Petronila’s house to check on her and the baby. Petronila went in the temascal and almost passed out – she is still so weak from the birth. The baby also went in the temascal for a short time to get his frist bath! Afterwards, Odilia dressed the baby (they still haven’t picked a name), checked Petronila for healing progress, and we left. Odilia gets 500 quetzales per birth – less than $80.

Petronila's baby boy :)

Odilia had a doctor’s appointment in Tecpan at 8 am but we were late so she missed it. We did, however, go to the Ministry of Health for a big comadrona (midwife) meeting. There were about 50 midwives there and were presented about a vitamin powder for kids. Afterwards, Odilia and I spent the whole day in Tecpan, buying lots of things at the market (Thursdays are the biggest market days) and running errands. Afterwards, we went to a woman’s house that is not yet pregnant but trying to become pregnant. Odilia went in the temascal with her for the same massage she gives to her pregnant clients and told me it helps with ovulation and conception. Afterwards, we visited one more woman who is pregnant and I did her prenatal check-up. Pretty good day!

Market in Tecpan

Blouses that all the women here wear - at the market

Yesterday we went to Guatemala City because Santos had some business to do there. The city is big, busy, and polluted – not my favorite part of Guatemala, but it was still interesting to see. Also, Odilia and I had nothing to do all day but go with Santos in the car and chat. She told me about how she became a midwife, which is a very long and beautiful story that I will write about some other day. After Guatemala City we stopped in Tecpan for some more errands and Odilia bought me cream for all of my nasty bug bites. They are of all shapes and sizes and I’m really not sure what they are from! Mosquitoes, flies, spiders, bed bugs… probably all of them. Oh, and ants! Today Odilia and I were laying in some grass while Santos did business with the vegetable company he works for (Fruitesa) and I got attacked by ants on my lower back. It actually hurt a lot! I taught Odilia the phrase “ants in my pants” because quite literally I did have ants in my pants, and she loves it. After the day trip we visited one woman for a prenatal visit, then came home for dinner and rest. I recognized the mother-in-law of the pregnant woman so we chatted for a while. It is nice that people are starting to know who I am and are interested in what I’m doing here. They always ask me three questions: where I’m from, if I’m married or single, and how many siblings I have. I always say I’m from the US since nobody knows where Wisconsin is. Everyone is always shocked to find out I only have one sister – here people usually have 6, 8, 10 kids or more. Odilia has 12! 

Today I slept in until 8:15 and it felt soo good. Odilia, Santos, and Meme, their 15-year-old son, went to church for a meeting about Meme's confirmation, but I got to sleep in. I was supposed to meet them in Tecpan at 9 am, but after breakfast of spaghetti and hot dogs she called and said to stay home because it was raining so hard. I finally figured out the internet situation hence the many blog posts and photo uploads all of a sudden! I am a bit sad I'm missing Brat Fest the second year in a row but oh well, always next year! Someone have a brat for me, will you? 

When Odilia got home we went to Petronila's for another check-up and to help her breastfeed. She looks so much better today! When she and Odilia went into the temascal, 3 little girls (sisters of Petronila's husband) sat on the bed watching my write in my journal without saying a word. Finally they started talking and asked me how to say all of these words in English, laughing at everything I said. One of them, an 11-year-old, told me her aunt said the new baby came from an airplane and I had to play along! Odilia told me later it was good that I did - most kids are sheltered about sexual education and reproduction here. She was surprised when I told her about Human Growth and Development classes starting in 4th grade at my school. I was surprised that she, as a midwife, hasn't told her youngest children where babies come from! After Petronila's we went to a woman nammed Rebecca's house, due on June 15th. Hopefully I'll get to see her labor and birth before I leave, since I'm now hooked :)