Reflection

Most of my blogs up to this point have been about how wonderful this place is...probably because I spent the first few days here getting to know the town, finding where people hang out and trying to look "not so white"...plus, in the states we drink at bars to meet people we don't know and we don't care if our Spanish skills suck when we drink~

I stopped taking my Malaria medicine after a long dileberation with myself. Malaria meds make you very sensitive to the sunlight( and it's summer here)...and I was sick everyday...sunburn and having horrible dreams every night...I decided that if I get Malaria, it's the same medicine that they use to prevent it...I will begin the pills if I start to get sick....I figured Malaria is better than skin cancer and roja (red) isn't my color....

I began my interviews yesterday with the help of Patty...we visited families that were "well off" by Ayampe standards and the poorest family in the whole village. The experience was heartbreaking, even at the "well off" family's home. Simple things that we take for granted are not availabe here in Ayampe...things like band-aids, neosporin or even any type of medicine. The nearest famacia (pharmacy) is at least ten minutes by car...and most people don't have a car or the money to pay for the bus (40 cents).

I met a family with a husband that has had a "cold" for a month. He saved up his money last week to go to the doctor...when he got there, they stole his money and he never was treated...he said "maybe tomorrow I will have money". He is a daily wage worker with no work...and he is old. Coming from a health backround I know the scenerio all too well...he will continue to be sick and work all day in the hot sun...the simple cold may progress into something else...and there is a chance this might be his last sickness...his cough was terrible and his wife said he had had a fever the entire time....I could only think of Sepsis....

A few weeks ago in Temple, the Rabbi said something that has stuck with me through this entire trip..."If you save one life, it's as if you saved a million"....unfortunatly, I want to save everyone...the answer to the man above may be fixed by a simple antibiotic that he probably needed a month ago....I have enough antibiotics to save the village but a part of me is scared...what if he is allergic to the medicine and has a reaction...I couldn't get an epi-pen fast enough and I'm allergic to Benedryll so I don't have any to give him should something happen.

I've already decided which villager will get my mega first aid kit when I leave...I met her during one of my interviews. She will hopefully be key when David's students come back in July for their health day. She is a retired Red Cross worker who said she "would do anything to help improve the health here" she just needed a refresher course....

I've been to houses where there are 12 people living in a one room house with no inside bano and everyone sleeps in the same bed...dirt floors and houses made of Cane....and even the nicest houses in the village would be poor by american standards...However, the people here are happy...happier than most people that live in the states...Most say they stay here because they have family and they have friends...they don't worry when they don't have money as much as we do...of course, when they say they don't have money, they don't have a dime...broke has a whole different meaning in this country......

To me the cost of living is cheap...less than 2 dollars for a beer, 1 dollar for a gallon of water but for the villagers, this is a lot of money....the laborers in this town make only 3-10 dollars a day and I met someone who only makes 25 dollars a week and her rent is 150 dollars...

This has been an eye opening experience for me thus far and I wonder if I will be able to assimilate back into American society...will I actually enjoy a hot shower, remember than bug spray isn't necessary every 4 hours and to run in the house at dusk to run from the bugs....will 4.50 for a beer seem outrageous and will my Land Rover still be a wonderful as I've thought it was since the day I got it....

I might have to agree with David when he said I would love it here and not want to come home...so what if my cellphone doesn't work and the electricity works when it wants to...a small wind can take out the internet for a whole afternoon...but this place is so peaceful....

As I'm writting this, I'm watching the sunset on the beach and it is so beautiful...I would be out there but I had a fight with the crabs on the beach earlier as I was listening to my tapes...they sure looked tasty....but they have those claws...and I"m allregic to shellfish

I bought a bike yesterday and I"m going to post the picture on here after this blog...I feel mobile and I've learned to appreciate it's rusted stem and rusty basket....it gets me from point A to point B...even after being here a week, that Pinarello Prince (road bike) that I wanted seems pointless to me.....

I've always loved my family, lovers and friends but this trip has shown me to really appreciate them...I've actually been known here to get up at 5am just to chat through email or call on Skype....

Most importantly, I'm at peace and grateful to be here....When I went to David's office last year and said, "I want to go to Ecuador", he could have said no....maybe he should of when I told him I didn't know what the hell I was doing...but I'm figuring it out....my Spanish is getting better...people actually understand what the hell I'm saying....and I have a nickname "La Flacka" which means "skinny" in Spanish.....