Cold Boiling Water?!?
7/28/23
Final day at CRIT today was so much fun! We got the opportunity to volunteer in art therapy, where kids come to work on motor skills and escape for just a little bit. They were so eco-friendly in there! The canvases were all recycled cardboard and paper pieces. We learned today that CRIT is actually of really low cost for a lot of families because it is part of a private program, where parents get reimbursed by the foundation. However, there are only 3 facilities like CRIT in all of Mexico, so we heard that lots of patients will travel hours and days just to get treatment. When I think of physical therapy places in my hometown or in the US in general, I don't think of anything the size of CRIT, but I also can't imagine being referred by a doctor to go farther than 50 minutes for therapy.
This afternoon, we only have 1 hour of Spanish class (not really sure how we finessed that). Tonight, our program director is taking us out to dinner and then we're planning on going out for some fun, but I unfortunately cannot have TOO much fun if you know what I mean because of the nausea medicine I'm taking. Pero no se preocupe because I will have fun anyways ;)
7/29/23
Today we went to SO many places. We had a packed schedule from 8am to 6pm and I was so here for it, even though we all went to bed last night at 1am. Our first stop was El Tule, which is one of the biggest trees in the world. The cool thing about El Tule is that it has so many rings and bulges coming off of it that they kind of look like faces and animals. We then went to a smaller village that specialized in zapotec rugs to see the whole process of how the rugs are made. I bought a smaller version of the rug from the market last week, and I'm excited to bring it home! We also stopped at a candle making place, where we learned about the uses of candles in traditional weddings. We then stopped at Mitla, which is an archeological site similar to Monte Alban, but while Monte Alban has been reconstructed a lot, Mitla has a lot of original structure. Our final stop was Hierve el Agua, 1 of 2 mineral water pools in the world, which absolutely DESTROYED my calves. The steps were SO STEEP and went on for so long. But it was worth it because the views were incredible. You would think that if it's called "Hierve el Agua," the water would be warm, but the water was freezing cold. Like goosebumps immediately, cold. They call it "boil the water" because the bubbles that come up in the pools make it look like it's boiling. How deceiving.
7/30/23
We're taking it slow today because yesterday was insane. We also had some work to get done, so we decided to head out to try a new cafe and the views were insane! One thing I know I'll miss are the terraces. There are so many restaurants and cafes with them, and I cannot explain the feeling of being able to eat food with music in the background, wind blowing my napkins away, speaking in English thinking nobody will understand with a killer view that looks like something straight out of Moana. Let's petition to have more terrace places in Clemson, shall we? I tried hot horchata and chilaquiles, which were both SO GOOD. We knocked out our work, then our host mom ordered pizza for la comida since she was going to be busy. Did you know they have Little Ceaser's here? And when you get their pizza, it comes with ketchup and dried peppers.
This afternoon, our group is going to visit a former Clemson faculty member that lives here in Oaxaca, where we'll have the chance to talk to a couple of health professionals that are also visiting right now.
Today marks the start of our last week here in Oaxaca! I'm feeling bittersweet.
7/31/23
Today was...interesting. Our last rotation is a place called Medica Rojas, where they do all different kinds of surgery. It's not exactly a hospital because it seemed mainly outpatient, but it's still a place to do surgery. We sat there waiting for 4 hours and did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Let me preface by saying that we were kind of expecting this to happen. Other people in our group have already rotated through Medica Rojas and had very similar experiences. It just made me question whether I wasn't understanding the nurse right? Or if we weren't where we were supposed to be? The nurse kind of left us there in a random hallway and didn't come back. We'll probably end up asking for a new rotation tonight when we see the program coordinator, but WOW what a beginning to the week HAHA. I think this is the first time I've seriously doubted my communication skills like this. But I have hope for more experiences to come!
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