Center of the Americas

Here in Cuilapa, we are lucky enough to walk past the precise geographical center of North, South, and Central Americas at least twice a day. It makes you feel like you are a part of something important. Really, we are probably keeping the entire Western hemisphere from spinning out of control towards Africa.

This week we had no running water for three days. When I say running water, I mean water that runs for an hour in the morning that you use to fill up the sink and 55 gallon barrel so you can wash dishes and take a bucket shower. Luckily the family that we live with has six 55 gallon barrels that they keep filled up for just such emergencies. It sure makes you appreciate water for bathing, flushing the toilet, washing dishes and preparing meals. It kind of feels like camping. On Saturday Ryan filled up all the barrels with water while the Perez’s were at the temple. He had a great time and here are the fruits of his work.

Another exciting part of life in Guatemala is Valentines Day. They start the celebration the night before with a throw-down party downtown with live Durango music (which to the untrained ear might sound like Banda music). The next day everyone gives each other gifts like Christmas. If that weren’t enough the day after Valentine’s Day we celebrated again, by beating a heart piñata with a stick at the institute. It’s like the holiday that keeps giving.Cooking American food in Guatemala has proved to be a fun challenge. I have been doing a lot of recipe adjusting and ingredient replacement. Probably the most traumatizing experience was when I bought a pound of chicken and brought it home to take the skin off and there were also feather stubs for me to take off as well. That’s when I go to my happy place. Ryan says that we live too far removed from our food sources and the real world; I told him that he could pluck the chicken next time

The Circus comes to Cuilapa

Michelle: We had a serious cultural experience this week- we attended our first Latin American circus. We bought bleacher seats which turned out to be 2x6 inch boards lashed together. I thought that was a little sketchy but there were only 40 of us in attendance as opposed to 300. When I saw that the more expensive seats were right under the net I decided that I would rather be in the bleachers. While we waited for the performance to start Ryan reviewed with me the “emergency exits” we would use if the tent started on fire. I thought that he was being ridiculous and just making conversation until giant sparks started flying from one of the sound system wires and all the circus workers ran to throw dirt from the dirt floor on hot wires. The other exciting part of the circus was when they asked for a volunteer to help hold the giant anaconda; Ryan volunteered me. I guess that he had decided the snake was drugged enough to be harmless. I was afraid I was going to have to do something else while in the center ring but I just had to hold it long enough for Ryan to take a picture.

Ryan: Last week I started my rotation at the Santa Rosa Regional Hospital, which serves the entire state of Santa Rosa and two smaller bordering states as well. It’s the only hospital around for miles and miles with a full team of surgeons, CT scanner, and MRI. They are still pretty limited as though as far as lab work and newer medications. I worked with the internal medicine team the first week and now I’m in the emergency room where there’s a lot more going on. There’re aren’t very many nurses and that means I get to draw blood for labs, put in IV’s and run my own EKG’s – good practice that’s hard to get as a medical student in the US. My medical Spanish has improved a ton, and I can usually get through a patient interview without asking them to repeat themselves more than once or twice.

Temples, ancient and modern

This week I decided that participating in the Amazing Race would not be nearly as fun or glamorous as they make it out to be on TV. On Thursday we left Xela at 4am and didn’t reach Copan Ruinas in Honduras until 12 hours later, after taking 5 separate buses. The most exciting of which was the 15 passenger van like Natalie and Josh had in Costa Rica that was actually filled with 28 people- two of which were hanging outside the open sliding door. There is nothing quite like watching the ground race past you and thinking, “If I fall there is nothing to stop me from flying right outside the van to a certain death (we were in the mountains)”. But, it was worth it.

The following day we went to the Copan Ruins which were impressive. They weren’t as tall as other ruins that we have been to, but they had a great museum with a life-size replica of a temple they found underneath two other temples. Ryan has gotten really good at discovering “undiscovered” ruins from what might seem to be big piles of rocks. I think that he found enough covered ruins to keep a whole herd of archeologists busy for years. He even started preparing his speech for when National Geographic contacts him for a press conference. Another fun part of Copan is that they keep a flock of scarlet macaws near the entrance, much to the delight of tourists like us.

That afternoon we got back into a bus for Guatemala City and stayed overnight in the hotel for temple patrons by the Guatemala Temple. We were warned to go to the temple early because it fills up. I have to admit that I was doubtful that there would be people at the temple before we got there at 4:40, but the waiting room was packed with people overflowing to the outside. We managed to get into the second session at 5:30, but I think that they filled at least four the sessions with the people that were waiting with us. Incredible.

After the session we walked ourselves and our luggage up the hill to the bus stop to catch a ride to Cuilapa, where we would spend the next month. I went ahead and wore my brightest shirt because I knew that people would be looking at crazy Americans walking their luggage along a busy street anyway. We caught the suped-up school bus when it was already full, so Ryan got to sit on the transmission by the driver facing all the passengers. He assured me that everyone was looking at him, and I thought that it would be a great time to preach the gospel. Nothing like a captive audience. I got a “seat” between the two benches. I was actually what you might call the “keystone” that doesn’t need to be supported beneath by anything to stay mid-air because there is enough pressure from both sides. We were six people across and I basically floated for 1.5 hours.

More Volcanoes

Our big excitement this week was the weaving class that I took. While I was weaving Ryan would work on homework and play with the kids that live at the cooperative. They all loved it. In fact, Kevin (age 6?) has adopted Ryan as his compañero and insists that they do their homework en serio. As if that were not fun enough, Ryan got to create a music video of all the weaving steps for your enjoyment. (Ryan: Yes - be sure to check out the video at the bottom of the post here. It should give you an idea what it’s like to make a scarf here. Enjoy!)

This Saturday we got up nice and early to go to the Laguna Chicabal . It was a hike up to the top of an old volcano that has since been filled by the lagoon. From the top we could see 5 different volcanoes. We had breakfast up there in hopes that Volcano Santiaguito would erupt for us. Ryan told everyone that if they would just think hard enough that it would happen. He was rewarded for his efforts with three eruptions and became known as el hombre del pensamiento poderoso- the man with the powerful thought. After the eruptions we descended over 600 stairs to the Laguna to find Hannah and Craig had come in to visit us.

We tried some street food this week! For only 5 Quetzales ($0.75) you can enjoy a hotdog with ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise and green hot sauce. If that weren’t enough, you get a free 3 ounce cup of orange soda to go with it. I have to admit that they aren’t nearly as exciting as Brazilian hot dogs, (or that nasty pani puri in India) but I think the fact that they’re street food adds an edge.

We went to the movies this week. We considered it a part of our Spanish training as it was the movie “Game Plan” dubbed into Spanish. We arrived 3 minutes before it started and we were the only people there. By the end it was half full, and it was the back half. I think they fill up the seats from the back. The theatre was really nice and everything was going fine, until halfway through when all the lights suddenly came on and the movie slowed to a stop. Ryan and I looked around to see if there was some kind of emergency and we needed to evacuate, but only a few people were leaving quickly with wads of money. That was when we realized it was intermission and time to buy nachos.

Keeping warm

Michelle: This weekend headed for some sun at the beach by way of some Mayan and Olmec ruins. These ruins (Abaj Tikalik) had the best kept grounds that I have ever seen around ruins. A guide took us around for free and explained what we were looking at, which turned out to be essential because a lot of the ruins are still under excavation. I have decided that being an anthropologist is for people who like 3D puzzles. First they have to uncover all the rocks, then they number them and then they put them in the correct place. I don't have enough patience at all for that kind of thing. There was also a little zoo at the ruins full of fun animals. There was one naughty spider monkey that tried to steal my camera case. Lucky for me it was wrapped around my neck and I was outside the cage so I could back up.

After the seeing the ruins we caught anther bus down to the beach (Camperico) on Guatemala's Pacific coast and enjoyed lunch with a great view. My favorite part of the beach was looking for seashells; there were all sorts of different types to enjoy. We also learned an important lesson while we were in Camparico: don't leave any food out in your hotel room that can be sniffed out by ants (we had an invasion). By chance our randomly chosen hotel was run by a member of the church so we had really good directions on how to get to the chapel on Sunday. Everyone in the little branch was so friendly, they had some lovely fans in the to keep us cool, and a nice member even gave us a ride half way back to Xela.

For a good time, here is a picture of the dog that we have to walk past everyday to get out of the house. It's a crazy dog. I think that it sniffed glue as a puppy. Be sure and click on the pictures to see more in this week's album, including a few sights here in Guaemala that have made us miss of India.

Lago de Atitlan

Michelle: Imagine that you could go on a 15 minute roller coaster ride for only 30 cents with 70 of your closest friends while listening to ¨Staying Alive¨and you will begin to understand what fun we had this weekend. This thrill ride is really only the drive up and down the mountain between Panajachel and Solola that we took this weekend in a local bus (aka Chicken Bus). It's not a trip for the faint of heart. There is a huge drop off of one side from which no one would survive a fall and the bus drivers take the curves with what appears to be reckless abandon. It was one of the most exciting rides of my life. I had to keep reminding myself that these drivers take this route 10 times a day and they were still alive.

Ryan: My favorite part was flying down the mountain, feeling the pull side to side as the driver raced through the curves, and then hearing him step on the gas instead of the brakes to give us even more speed for the next curve - incredible!

Michelle: We were in Panajachel this weekend with a group from school to visit Lago de Atitlan, what some consider to be the most beautiful lake/place on earth. You can decide, we maxed out our camera trying to capture the views. We took a ferry from town to town comparing the tourist traps with towns based on fishing or other resources. In Santa Catarina a woman volunteered to dress me up Mayan style- I felt like Rigoberta Menchu. We stayed in Panacachel Saturday night and the next day we seperated from the group to go to church. I'm so happy that we can go to church no matter where we are and they teach the same things. In this case the only thing that changed were the clothes the women wore. I would say that 90% of the women were in traditional Mayan clothing as opposed to the ward we went to last week in Xela where everyone wore Western clothes.

Ryan: Earlier this week I visited a home-based chocolate factory one afternoon while Michelle was taking her spanish class. An old Mayan woman who learned chocolate making from her parents and grandparents showed us all the steps in the process from drying the cocoa beans to forming the finished chocolate bars. I felt bad that Michelle missed it, so I bought her a whole pound of the homemade chocolate. Funny thing though, she doesn't seem to like Guatemalan chocolate so much and now I'm stuck eating it all myself.

Michelle: Very suspicious, Ryan. In case anyone wondered, it's still incredibly cold here. We have invested in more clothing and I have developed all sorts of coping mechanisms to deal with the cold classrooms and cold houses. I just have to accept that I am going to have frozen feet for six hours a day. You can be sure we have also lost all fashion sense and pile on all the cloths we can. You do what you have to.

Welcome to Guatemala

Michelle: On Thursday our great Guatemala Adventure began in Guatemala City. We stayed downtown overnight because we had missed all the buses to Xela for the day.

Ryan: Hold on – let me show a map to those who missed their Guatemalan geography class. There you see the capital, Guatemala City, in the middle of the country and up in the mountains that run right through Guatemala from Mexico in the west to Honduras in the east. You can also see Quetzaltenango up In the mountains, west of Guatemala City. The Mayan name for Quetzaltenango is Xela (Shay-la), and that’s what everybody calls it here. We heard that Antigua has a richer history and more Spanish schools than Xela, but we decided to come here because we also head Xela is not yet completely overrun by visiting college students.

Michelle: To keep ourselves warm that night in Guatemala City we went to The Bee Movie. On Friday we left bright and early for Xela on the first class bus, which would be a little bit lower than the Greyhound. The main drawback being no bathroom in the back and no stops for bathroom breaks. They were all business and we made it up the mountains in 5 hours. The scenery was magnificent. I think that we had a view of at least one volcano at all times, which reminds me, on Friday night we felt a tremor. I thought that it was just Ryan shaking the bed, but when he admitted that he wasn’t doing anything, we ran for the doorframe just like in the movies. Luckily it wasn’t very big and we are alive and well.

Ryan: We felt another shorter tremor during Sunday School, no sleeping during that class! If someone wants to do a cool little project for me, you could go into your Google Earth program and find out what those tremors registered on the Richter Scale. I never tried it myself, but I think Google Earth has “Seismic Activity” as one of the fun options you can choose and play with. If it helps, the coordinates for Xela (Quetzaltenango) are Latitude: 14° 49' 60 N, Longitude: 91° 31' 0 W. We felt the tremors at about 8pm Central US time on Jan 4, and about 11am on Jan 6. The two volcanoes just to the south of Xela are called Santa Maria and Santiaguito. Thanks.

Michelle: Xela is a cute little town, even though it is the second largest in Guatemala. After we checked into the hotel we went Spanish School shopping. We walked around the city to our favorite schools to check them out. We decided on I.C.A. which has a website if you want to check it out. We did some wheeling and dealing so that I could only take two hours of lessons, but still have access to a desk to write my dissertation while Ryan is in class for five hours. Yesterday we had a class trip to San Andres Xecul which sports the most psychedelic Catholic Church that I have ever seen. We got to see a Mayan couple just married come out and enjoy the very loud firecrackers they set off. We also got to see some Mayan ceremonial grounds that are still in use right next to a small Catholic church. This makes it very convenient for people to hit both gods at one time when they are in need. Then we learned how they dye the string for their weaving. It was a really great time and Ryan was talking Spanish like no one’s business to our fellow classmates who are from Holland, Russia, France and the US. In the afternoon we went to the “old, dirty market” by the bus stop. What a treasure! It was kind of like the market in Masaya, Nicaragua, but not as big. There was a part that the US Health Department would close down in a heartbeat, something about every other table of cooked food for eating and then butchers with their raw goods out for sale. That has gastrointestinal problems written all over it.

Snakes, Christmas and Delhi

We made it back to Ohio this week, but we still have some fun pictures and stories to share from India before the trip feels complete. On one of my days off, Michelle and I visited the Pune Snake Park and saw lots of exotic snakes, a white tiger, and some gharials. The most popular attraction was the cobra pit where the cobras constantly provoked fights with each other for the sunny spots in the pit. They would arch their heads up high, flared their hoods, hiss and then try and strike one another - what a show! That same day we also visited a restored palace where Gandhi was held as a prisoner during the years he was fighting for an independent India. The palace and gardens were very peaceful and calm, in stark contrast from everything else in busy Pune. Click on the picture of Michelle enforcing the rules to see pictures of all the snakes and click on Gandhi to see more of the palace.

On Chrismas day we celebrated with a nearly-typical American dinner complete with pumpkin pie and sugar cookies. The next day we flew up to India's capital, New Delhi, where we toured tombs, forts, temples, and survived a long drive to Agra where we saw one of the seven wonders of the world: the Taj Mahal. It really is a magnificent sight to see, but keep your nose as far away as possible - 40,000 visitors, mostly young indian boy scouts, all with their shoes off makes quite an aroma.

The most exciting week yet...

Michelle: This week Ryan and I found out that we will be going to Omaha, NE for Ryan's residency. Ryan was so excited he walked around the house singing the Air Force song all night. We are really excited. Then if that were not enough, Saturday was Ryan's birthday and we were treated to a camel ride ($6.25). To top that off Ryan got a chocolate cake with a giant singing lotus blossom candle/fireworks display that he had to blow out without singeing his eyebrows off.

On Thursday I had a nervous moment in the market. Mom and I are looking for a sari to go around the base of the Christmas tree and we had asked one of the store owners if he had any. He said no and then he said "Follow me, madame." He took us through a row of motorbikes, a deserted restaurant and then up a skinny wooden staircase. I thought to myself, "This is how people disappear." (By the way, I wouldn't recommend doing this in Colombia.) Luckily the owner just wanted to show us the sari shop on the second floor. This was my first sari shop experience. You have to take your shoes off outside and then you sit on mattresses while the vendor pulls sari after sari off his shelf. Sometimes he listens to the specifications you give him, sometimes he takes a little creative license. Luckily he didn't have what we are looking for so we will get to explore more sari shops this week.

Ryan: I have two exciting video clips to share that I hope will make India come alive for you. In the first clip, I take you inside a moving rickshaw as I take my morning ride to the hospital. These little golf-cart-sized vehicles are the taxies of India, and they’re small enough to squeeze between all the cars, bicycles, motorcycles, and trucks swarming the streets. In the second video you’ll see Michelle & I riding on a camel down the streets of Pune. I felt just like Lawrence of Arabia! For novice camel riders, the most important advice is to hold on tight when the camel either stands up from its kneeling position or kneels to let you off. The camel straightens its back legs first when standing up, putting its back at a steep angle. If you’re not holding on when this happens, you’ll definitely tumble head-first onto the ground in front of the camel – a very embarrassing and painful way to start journey across the Sahara.

Week two in India

This week I was busted. Before we came to India, Ryan had me look over all the parasites that a person could possibly get. His take home message was that I was not to eat street food, which, if I am being totally honest, I have been known to do in the past. Last night I went for a walk with Dad and we came across a man grilling corn on the cob. Dad couldn't resist it so he got some with lemon and some sort of chili powder. I was being really strong and not eating any, but then my curiousity and hunger got the best of me and I tried a bite. Just then we saw Ryan and the driver pulled over 15 feet in front of us. I quickly gave the corn back to Dad but it was too late. What are the chances that Ryan would be driving by in my moment of weakness? The good news is that I am still okay, I think that grilled corn is pretty benign.

Ryan has had an exciting week at the hospital. He lucked out and saw leprosy and a viper bite (actually just the results of said viper bite) all in one day. Really could life get better than that?He also got to go see a sad government hospital and meet the with students working over there. Lunch has proved to be equally exciting for him. None of the Indian menus have any descriptions of what the food actually is so Ryan armed himself with a list of food words that he carries around in his medical notebook. Usually everything is almost like he expects, but one day he ordered a kashmere rice and it turned out to be a tropical fruit salad type of rice. He said that it didn't go so well with his curried vegetables.

<== Michelle & a stone crocodillian; Ryan sees his sizzling brownie. Click to see more.

Namaste (Hello) from India

Hello from the other side of the Earth! A week into our visit to Pune, we’re still healthy and having fun. We had only a few snags on our arrival: a delayed flight left us in Newark, NJ, for Thanksgiving, and one of our suitcases took an extra day to make it to India.

Pune is on India’s western coast, about a 4 hour drive on a winding mountain highway from India’s largest city, Mumbai (i.e. Bombay). The monsoon season is over now and the cool season has begun, meaning the sun is always up and the temperature in the 70’s. Pune used to be a quiet town for vacationers and retirees from Mumbai, but a boom in manufacturing and the tech industry over the last decade has made the population swell to 4 million. John Deere built a plant here recently, and Michelle’s dad is here to work on a transmission for a new India-specific tractor. The Johnsons have been in Pune since February and in addition to giving us a room and meals, have been excellent tour guides and culture advisors.

If you ask me, I think all of Pune’s 4 million citizens like to drive on the street at once. I’m fascinated by the traffic here, and I’ll try and post a video clip soon so you can see what it’s like. My first fascination is with the sheer variety of things all sharing the road: bicycles, cars, countless motorcycles, innumerable rickshaws, stray horses, wandering cows, oxen pulling carts, men pushing carts, camels, and even herds of goats. My second fascination is how they all share the narrow roads with so little injury day after day. I think their key to success is liberal use of the horn and 100% defensive driving. Lucky for us, the Johnson’s Indian driver, Feroz, knows the unwritten rules of the road here and gets us safely where we need to go.

Michelle has adjusted to the new time zone and established a good schedule of a mandatory morning hour for dissertation writing, a full day of shopping with her mom, and an evening of teasing Hannah. I’d better let her tell you her favorite parts about her market trips herself: “Hmmm, well Ryan, one of my favorite parts of the markets has been the clothing shops. I really appreciate their love of all things bright and shiny. All of my favorite colors are still in style here and frequently worn together- hot orange, lime green, bright magenta. I also like the food market, and lucky for me we get to go once a week. I have taken it upon myself to reintroduce everyone to the vegetables in season here. So far the asparagus got one star and the parsnips got two. Next week I think that we are going to try kohlrabi and eggplant. The ratings can’t really go down so we might as well keep trying new things. Dad is convinced that we need to try some of the seafood from the market, but I am not so sure that is the best idea. Something about the vultures frequenting that area of the market makes me nervous. Back to you Ryan.”

I get to spend my day seeing patients with Dr. R.S. Wadia, a neurologist at Ruby Hall Clinic just down the road. Ruby Hall is the best hospital in Pune with excellent facilities and a reputation that attracts the wealthy in town. It also has a large general ward for the underserved. The result is that I get to learn from excellent physicians and see the diseases affecting all levels of society. Dr. Wadia is a kind soft-spoken man who takes every opportunity to explain and educate me on the patients we see. He’s taught me more about stroke, seizure, and movement disorders this first week than I learned in my month of neurology at OSU, all on account of his passion for teaching. With him I’ve also seen some rarer diseases: Dangue encephalitis – a tropical viral disease of the brain, SSPE – a rare late-effect of measles that makes your body jerk every 10 seconds, and Tuberculosis of the spine.

Click on the photos to see more, and you can read more stories from this week on the Johnson’s blog: http://lucindajohnson.blogspot.com/. The only place with all the details though is Hannah’s journal and that is strictly confidential. We miss you all, though we don’t miss the cold weather and snow. Please enjoy the Christmas music on the radio and in the stores there for us, and we’ll be in touch.

Don't mess with Texas

This week I went to Texas to visit Emily and her family. I have to admit that being the mom helper can be an exhausting job. It was imperative that I take a nap every day just to keep up. Zach is doing great getting potty trained and is a good little talker. In fact, Zach would be a great asset to any first date because he never runs out of things to talk about. He has a great collection of cars and trains that he is happy to share with others. Quinn has been working on resisting daylight saving time. Poor little guy, it's him versus the rest of the world, but he's giving it a solid fight.

While I was in Texas we got to go to the trunk-or-treat with the ward. Zach and Quinn were both very nice to share their candy with us. Really, we were obligated to protect their teeth from cavities.

We also went to the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory. It was fun to see all the ice cream getting squeezed into the containers, but the best part was the free scoop of ice cream at the end. This trip has inspired Ryan to review alchol flavors with me so that I don't make any more mistakes. I tried a birthday cake flavor with amaretto cream cheese frosting. I couldn't remember if amaretto was a nut or a liquor, so I decided on the first and took a bite. Clearly I was wrong. It reminds me of an incident with a rum ball... Live and learn.