A Beach Weekend then Thrown into the Fire...

School has ended and for the first time in my life, I am missing it. Who knew it could be possible? And what better way to end 6 weeks in classes than going to the beach....

Last weekend, 14 of us headed south - me, Austrian painter Kathi, three girls from Holland - Emma, Kat, and Alex, crazy Rene from Switzerland, Birgit from Sweden, two Californians living half the year in Mexico, and the rest were the family from the school. Sad to say, there are no photos to post here because we went to such a remote area that my cell phone did not work. Dummy me left it turned on and it went dead really quick trying to find service. And of course, I did not bring the charger...therefore, I could not take photos. So you will have to imagine riding in a van south through desolate villages where children run barefoot in the dirt roads with their dogs running along beside them. Imagine restaurants lining the road and people staring out their windows and sitting on their porches watching the few cars that travel along.

We went to a beach called Playa Ventura which is a town 4 hours south of Acapulco. No tourists here...in fact, we were the ONLY tourists in the town. Half of us checked into a really cute hotel owned by a Mexican woman and her German husband while the other adventurous half camped on the beach. My fear was scorpions and other desert creatures that might find their way into my tent. We arrived around 4pm and sat down to a meal together. I ate a boring quesadilla with the hottest hot sauce while the others had these gigantic plates of whole fish, rice, vegetables, and beans with tortillas, of course. This is when I wished that I liked fish...After dinner, we went for a swim - the water was so warm and inviting and this particular beach where we swam was bordered by huge rock formations. Just beautiful...We watched an amazing sunset followed by a rich red sky and the planet venus shining bright. But the night was not over...we walked back to our hotel, showered and then walked into town for a little dinner. Well, every restaurant but one was closed on this Friday night because everyone in the town was at a fiesta - a birthday party for a 3 year old that was taking place in the street - yes, IN the street. As we walked through the party to go to dinner, all eyes were on us. We were 5 gringo girls - very out of place and noticed as we walked along the street. Literally every head turned to look at us. It felt strange until we joined in the festivities after our dinner. That crazy Swede we were traveling with bought a case of cornonas and had a table all to himself. So as the bands were playing and the people were drinking and dancing, we too took part. It's really funny because the next day, every person we spoke to from the town said they saw us there....how could you not?

So the next day was just a lazy day on the beach - playing in the waves, walks on the beach, eating seafood...That night was low key. After another amazing sunset, we had a beach bonfire and went to bed exhausted from a long day in the sun.

The next morning, we got up early, went to the beach for a few hours then headed back to Cuernavaca - which was a really long ride home. It took 9 hours, and by the time we got back we were all running to get out of the car and into our beds.

The next day, I packed up my room and came to live with Angelina the midwife. As soon as I arrived, I literally dropped my luggage without being shown anything except two laboring women. On Mondays, Angelina has two midwives from another town in Mexico helping her. At her home, Angelina has a building separate from here house where women deliver their children. She even has one room in her home for overflow - which got used last night. I will get to that....so I was thrown into helping these women. The Mexican midwife from Tepoztlan did the first delivery and I did the second. A 20 year old girl having her first baby....the father of the baby was about 40 (not uncommon among poor Mexican women). She did great without any drugs. Pushed only 5 minutes for her first baby (love that). After the delivery I ate my first meal of the day at 4pm - tofu, vegetable soup, mashed potatoes and refried beans, with tortillas, of course. Crashed at 8pm in my room that I am sharing with two bohemian spanish women who are midwives in a rural area in south Spain. They also make jewelry and other crafts and are into natural remedies and healing (and speak no English).

10 minutes after I laid down, one of my roomates alerted me that there was another woman in labor. She would go assist this one and they would call me for the next. I got woken up at 4am. Apparently while I was sleeping, there were two deliveries and this third one was mine. When I walked into the room though, one of the spanish midwives was catching the baby and I got to do the repair - gee thanks. All in all, 5 deliveries yesterday - busy!!!

Today, knock on wood has been more tranquilo....I observed Angelina as she saw about 6 women, two gyn problems and the others for pregnancy. She spends about 45 minutes with each patient. I observed her do some cool massage and body rocking for round ligament pain and I observed her use a technique that I've never witnessed for leg pain. She lit a cotton ball on fire, placed the cotton ball flame in a small glass then quickly removed it and placed the glass on the woman's leg where she was having pain. The skin under the glass rose like a bubble and then she removed it and repeated this all over the area in her leg where she was hurting. She told me that she uses this technique to move energy. She also accompanied this fire stuff with some massage of arnica ointment. Amazing...the woman's pain was relieved and she left without limping. Don't think I could use this in the hospital though...plus I think my gringa patients would think I was nuts...

Angelina is VERY vegetarian friendly - I'm eating so healthy here and it's great. She has 4 sons at the house plus a husband and a maid, plus all of us living here. SHe cooks not only for her family and students but also for the women in labor. She feeds them after they deliver.
Angelina is very into healthy diet and thinks this is the way to heal most ailments. She prescribes juices of vegetables and fruits, herbs and homeopathics.

One day here and I feel very overwhelmed though. She is so busy and speaks hardly any English. Actually no one here speaks English. I feel almost like I'm living in a world by myself sometimes. It takes so much work and concentration to listen intently and translate in my head. I am exhausted. But, I believe that despite the exhaustion and my brain feeling like mashed potatoes, I will learn a lot and have a great experience.