It is so hard to capture this trip in words and to express the feelings and thoughts the run through my head as I experience the things that I have so far. So far, this trip has been an emotional roller coaster and sometimes I have moments where I am overwhelmed with happiness and there are others where I question my existence and the life I have been blessed with. I love that I am able to take something from every country that I visit and I can only hope these lessons will stay with me and shape me into a better, more resilient person. Since I already wrote about my Guatemalan experience, I am going to try to play catch up with some special moments that I had in other countries.
In Belize, we sailed for three days straight, without shelter under the bright sun, only with the occasional rain storm to relieve us from the fear of heat stroke, in which case I was then really cold and really wet. During the day, there were hours where I could feel the cancer beginning to form under my skin, despite the thick barrior of SPF 65 that I applied religiously (and as a former tanning salon employee, applying any kind of SPF is a bold move to make). At night, we would pitch tents on little islands where it would usually start raining really hard, making me wish I could be at home, where I could take a hot shower, and tuck myself into bed. What I learned, though, is that it takes a certain deprivation of even the most basic of necessities in order to really appreciate the luxuries that I am blessed with in my day to day life. A couple weeks ago, Rachel and I checked into a hotel with air conditioning and the smell and feel of it was just remarkable beyond words. Even just walking into an air conditioned store and browsing around is a treat...why buy something when you can enjoy the air conditioning for free, right? These are the kinds of simple pleasures that I hope stay with me as I come back into the comfortable western way of life.
In Honduras, I had the same kind of experience, but instead of learning the importance of valuing the simple pleasures in life, I have learned to value the people I have been blessed with throughout my life time, especially my amazing family. Rachel and I spent a week volunteering with a medical team where we traveled around various poor towns up in the mountains and set up little medical clinics for the day. As I sat there, and watched teen mom after teen mom come in with all their children, I could not help but wonder if any of these women were ever told that they had potential to do whatever they wanted, that having kids and being subjected to one man was not the only option. I thought back to the times growing up, where I was told that I could be anything I wanted to be in the world and the sky was the limit. I thought about my family and how I could afford to make a plunge and take a chance and achieving any dream I had, because they would support me no matter what. And then I realized that the majority of these women do not have that kind of freedom and resources to break free from the cycle of poverty . In fact, to me it seemed like these young women were not really living, but more like surviving. We would give them whatever medicine we could and if it was bad, we would refer them to a hospital for further free treatment, but the reality is that most of them could not even afford the bus ride down to the city. The one week I spent there was such a wake up call to how amazing my life is and how valuable the people are that have come in and out of it. Anways, this blog is a little longer than I anticipated, so I going to continue with Nicaragua next time. Meanwhile, I am going to be happy and appreciate those who love me and the things I am blessed with
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
DEET= DUMB
To the makers of all products containing Deet,
You should all be ashamed of yourselves. Not only have you given me a false sense of security that I cannot afford to have at this point of my life, but you have ruined my watch, and even tainted what was supposed to be a very special moment in my life. I wish I could show you how ¨effective¨ your product is, but all that I have to show for the layers and layers of your product that i have applied, are a body full of bites and an empty wallet. At first, I thought that I was to blame, as I had been trying to conserve the small tube of what was promised to be a miracle repellent. As time passed, I began to get more and more liberal about the layers and frequency of application. What happened, however, was not that the scary amount of bites decreased, but more obscure things, like the paint off my watch began melt away, and labels on my water bottles would disintegrate. I also developed this extreme paranoia that if I did not have deet on at all times, on all parts of my body, I was doomed to be viewed by all insects as a walking delicious Salsbury steak. There were times that I would apply and then break into cold sweats, so minutes later, I would have to apply again.
One dreadful night, I decided to take a break from all the worrying and get a beer at the bar. That was the night, where I was to choose whether I would join team Imperial, or team Salvavida. These are the two most prominent Honduran beers, and the decision of which one I would chose as my preference is something that is to be taken seriously, as it determines how people think of you. After putting the beer up to my lips, I suddenly felt my lips go numb and swallowed what I thought was a mouthful of Raid. Little did I know, I had touched my deet ridden hands to the bottle of the beer and what I thought was an innocent move of touching the bottle to my lips, turned into an hour of not being able to feel my lips and a hatred of Imperial Beer. Luck for you, makers of deet, I was able to get over it.
You, scientists who got together and determined that 34.6753% deet was the most ideal concentration and you salesmen, who conspired with the makers of these products to make innocent people like me, feel safe about leaving the confines of my room and then make me feel guilty for not putting enough on so I have to buy a new bottle every other day, are 100% to blame and this is why I do not like you.
Loveless and Bug Bitten,
Natasha
You should all be ashamed of yourselves. Not only have you given me a false sense of security that I cannot afford to have at this point of my life, but you have ruined my watch, and even tainted what was supposed to be a very special moment in my life. I wish I could show you how ¨effective¨ your product is, but all that I have to show for the layers and layers of your product that i have applied, are a body full of bites and an empty wallet. At first, I thought that I was to blame, as I had been trying to conserve the small tube of what was promised to be a miracle repellent. As time passed, I began to get more and more liberal about the layers and frequency of application. What happened, however, was not that the scary amount of bites decreased, but more obscure things, like the paint off my watch began melt away, and labels on my water bottles would disintegrate. I also developed this extreme paranoia that if I did not have deet on at all times, on all parts of my body, I was doomed to be viewed by all insects as a walking delicious Salsbury steak. There were times that I would apply and then break into cold sweats, so minutes later, I would have to apply again.
One dreadful night, I decided to take a break from all the worrying and get a beer at the bar. That was the night, where I was to choose whether I would join team Imperial, or team Salvavida. These are the two most prominent Honduran beers, and the decision of which one I would chose as my preference is something that is to be taken seriously, as it determines how people think of you. After putting the beer up to my lips, I suddenly felt my lips go numb and swallowed what I thought was a mouthful of Raid. Little did I know, I had touched my deet ridden hands to the bottle of the beer and what I thought was an innocent move of touching the bottle to my lips, turned into an hour of not being able to feel my lips and a hatred of Imperial Beer. Luck for you, makers of deet, I was able to get over it.
You, scientists who got together and determined that 34.6753% deet was the most ideal concentration and you salesmen, who conspired with the makers of these products to make innocent people like me, feel safe about leaving the confines of my room and then make me feel guilty for not putting enough on so I have to buy a new bottle every other day, are 100% to blame and this is why I do not like you.
Loveless and Bug Bitten,
Natasha
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