Incidentally Politically Incorrect

It has been an interesting two days. We got our first taste of Mexican politics on Thursday and a surprise long weekend today. Firstly, about the politics: the entire time we have been here, every available surface in the city AND the rural communities has been painted or plastered with a poster of some Mexican politician or political party. Cristobal, Pri, Pan, Josefina, Miguel Marquez Marquez, Mauricio Triejo, Verde, etc. The elections are this Sunday, July 1st. We have not paid too much attention to the political campaigns and signs, except for the occasional input from Rafa, who at the young age of 23 already seems fairly disenchanted by politics and assures us that it does not matter who wins the election, nothing will change. When we went out to visit the community on Thursday, however, we found that no one would come to our health fair… At first, we thought there had been some miscommunication with the DIF and the community did not know we were here. The real reason, however, was explained to us by one of the ladies in the community. Apparently the woman who runs the Centro de Salud (Health Center) in town was a strong supporter of the Pan political party, and she had started rumors that the American doctors coming in the next day were actually associated with the Pri political party (the rival party, and currently ahead of Pan in the polls). This town was a Pan town, so no one would come to our health fair since they thought we were working with Pri, according to the lady. Of course this was not true – the keywords being we are AMERICAN doctors (well, medical students, but somehow everyone always thinks we are doctors – actually one guy showed up to a health fair expecting us to perform surgery on him… so clearly there is some confusion about the limits of our abilities and services, but I digress…). I tend to take very little interest in American politics, let alone Mexican politics, and could not tell you anything about Pan or Pri except that they are Mexican political parties. But the damage had been done, no one in the town would be coming to see us, so we headed instead to visit the general hospital in San Miguel. However, the general hospital was swamped and so touring the facilities wasn’t really an option. We next went over to tour Dr. Quiroz’s hospital, a private hospital. The facility had a lot of resources, and we even ran into Doc Quiroz himself and he gave us the tour, which was fun.

Today we got ready, per usual: scrubs, sunscreen, DEET bugspray, French toast, etc. Around 8:45, however, we got a call from Rafa saying that the community had canceled on us. We are not sure if this was politically related again, or not. Maybe this community was a Pri community and they had heard that the American doctors had come to put on health fairs in support of Pan this time. No idea. So we had today off, and set out to see a few different sites in SMA. We toured Ignacio de Allende’s house, right off of the main plaza next to the Parroquia. For those of you who are not familiar with Mexican history (I myself am woefully ignorant in this department, too, so don’t fret), Ignacio de Allende was the bff of Miguel Hidalgo, the guy who is credited with the battle cry that started the Mexican War of Independence in 1810. Historians now think that Allende may have been the real brains behind the planned uprising, not Hidalgo himself, but regardless, Allende was a pivotal figure in the revolution and is the source of the “Allende” in “San Miguel de Allende” (formerly just San Miguel el Grande). SMA is just a few kilometers down the road from Dolores Hidalgo, where Hidalgo made his famous cry and started the war, and had been an important city throughout colonial times in New Spain and afterwards.

After a nice morning of history, we walked back by the Parroquia and saw Jaquim, one of the grandsons that lives in the house with us. His school was putting on a Math Fair of sorts, filled with fun math games and prizes. Not that med students are competitive, but we did participate in a few math games – and got to hang out with Jaquim.

We branched out and did NOT go to Media Naranja for lunch. We tried Via Organica, a great little organic market and restaurant. I finally made it to the post office after trying to get there for ages and ages. We did a bit of shopping around, including a large order of personalized keychains from Don Jose, Michael’s best friend. Don Jose is this really awesome, extremely nice man who is always set up in the artesian market, hand-sawing out various names and initials in brass to make key chains. We have only been to the market like a thousand times by now, and every time Michael and Don Jose have had a nice long chat. Today was the day to make our purchases, though – we had all promised Michael that we would buy key chains from this wonderful guy. All in all, a relaxing day off from health fairs for unknown (possibly political) reasons. Tomorrow our plan is to visit Guanajuato for the day, which we have heard is just a really beautiful, very historical town.

Friends, Family Medicine Docs, Food, and Fairs

Phew – where has the week gone? We have been busy, busy, busy here in SMA and have had two record-setting days in terms of attendance at our health fairs. On Monday and Tuesday, we had the pleasure of Dr. Ashkin’s company and all of his great medical knowledge and doctoring skills. The people in the communities that came to the health fairs had many of their questions answered and concerns addressed, and we learned a lot from him, too. We went on a whirlwind shopping trip with him and Dr. Clark on Monday afternoon – and these two were experienced SMA shoppers, so we hit a lot of nice stores. They are both so much fun to be around, and are great teachers and wonderful doctors. The theme of fun with great doctors continued when we (the four med students, plus Alex and Kelly, all squished in Alex’s little car) met up with Dr. Ashkin and Dr. Quiroz for dinner. The restaurant (“Hecho en México”) was fabulous, and the conversation – a mix of Spanish, English, and medical jargon in both languages – even better. Since everyone was all dolled up already, we went ahead and took a “family photo” of our group to add to the table sporting the picture of the SMA group from UNC last year. We have had to improvise a lot on this trip, and these perfected skills came into play when we cleverly wrapped our framed picture in newspaper and “ribbon” from a colorful department store bag – but Kelly and Alex loved it.

On Tuesday, we returned to the middle school (la secundaria) in one of the towns we had visited last week. We ended up screening and counseling over 60 kids. Out of all those kids, only two were identified as needing glasses, which was pretty incredible. Dr. Ashkin was even kind enough to check out a few of the hypochondriac and miscellaneous medical complaints and concerns that first year medical students are bound to have - a few external ear infections, and Jason's longstanding concern about his inability to pop his ears.



Today was busy as well. Dr. Newman joined us and was a real help in providing counseling and addressing questions out in the community. We got through over 50 people for general screening, as well as a bajillion kids (okay, so not quite that many, but it felt like a lot) for the vision screenings. We collected data for our studies, too. It was nonstop action, with all hands on deck (including Rafa, of course) but we got a lot accomplished and Dr. Newman had a lot of great advice for counseling the people in the communities. While we feel like we have gotten our health fairs down pat now, having the insight of the doctors who have come to help us has been important in continuing to improve our work.

SMA to JR: Come in, JR! JR, do you read me?



Out on the town in SMA

A busy weekend here in Guanajuato! On Saturday our friends in JR came to visit and to explore our city. We went to a restaurant/bar called Mamma Mia (very popular with the local expatriate/retiree community for its pizza) and watched the Spain vs. France soccer game. Spain pulled out the victory, which pleased the crowd assembled to watch the game. We then explored the market, visited a chocolate store, and made our way down to Parque Juarez – represented as a large green polygon on our map that had always intrigued me. We found a basketball league playing their games here in the park, which was fun to watch. The park itself was in a very nice and affluent area of SMA. We parted ways for dinner because we had already planned to eat with Alex and his family (and Kelly’s dinners never disappoint). We ended up going to La Galleria – the fancy bar where the karaoke competition had been – for a while with Kelly, Alex, and their neighbors. We had hoped to see their son and his wife again, but had to leave before they arrived so that we could meet up again with the folks from JR back in el centro. We had a few miscommunications getting back to the group, but we ended up having a lot of fun in el centro, enjoying a live band that is apparently pretty famous throughout Mexico, but they insist on giving free performances in SMA because it is where they got their start. 


This morning arrived too quickly for our liking, but we scrambled to get out of the door and to the bus station… only to realize that the bus to JR had already left (again, due to more miscommunications: I think one loses the ability to communicate clearly in their native language while trying to get a handle on speaking a second language. I really do not believe we are this bad at communicating in general, seeing as doctors have to be able to communicate and we all probably listed various extracurricular activities and leadership positions that supposedly showed our abilities to communicate when we applied to medical school – but I digress. We sucked at communicating this weekend, to say the least). We took the bus to Celaya that made frequent stops, successfully transferred in Celaya at the CostCo (yes, you heard me – the CostCo) to the bus that went out to Juventino Rosas and eventually did met up with the JR group again on their home turf! We got to check out their house, meet Mari, the wonderful lady taking care of our classmates, and walk around town. There was some sort of political campaign rally going on, so the jardin was packed and it was difficult to get a good sense of what it was like, but we ate delicious crepes at Rinconcito’s. We then met Dr. Narvaez and took a tour of his sanatorium. Dr. Narvaez is one of the members of the delegation in JR that has helped host and organize PPS in JR over the past 7 (or is it 8?) years. He was incredibly nice, very welcoming of us SMA-ers, and just an all-around great guy. He told us a few stories about things that have happened in the clinic and some of its history, which was fascinating. He explained that there is always one person in each group of students that comes down that reminds him of a famous “artista” (or actor/actress). Nellie apparently reminds him of Cameron Diaz – which I can see, when Nellie is smiling. He declared that I reminded him of Jodie Foster – which I will take as a compliment and an improvement from the last time I was compared to a celebrity. Some woman at a wedding told me when I was like 10 that I looked like “a young Barbra Streisand.” Oh gee, thanks.

Welcome to Celaya! Home of the CostCo!

To cap off our time in JR, we caught the overtime period and penalty kicks of the England vs. Italy soccer match in the Eurocup. Alex had pointed out to us the day before that it really didn’t matter who won, as both team names began with “I” and ended with “A” (Inglaterra and Italia, in Spanish). We watched the game in a little bar where a large group of men (and some fellows who looked to be around 15 years old) were drinking beers and tequilas while jamming to the jukebox (I kid you not, a Spanish version of my favorite Bee Gees song was played). Once the Italians claimed the win through penalty kicks, we headed back to the bus station and caught our return ride to the CostCo of Celaya. In Celaya we were caught in a rainstorm and had to run through the rain to catch our connecting bus to San Miguel. Once back in San Miguel, the cab driver wayyy overcharged us. We had become wise to the ways in which some cab drivers would charge us more by virtue of our American-ness after a few days in San Miguel, and had begun handing them the correct amount rather than asking for the charge or letting them decide the charge. However, this guy tried to charge us 60 pesos when we knew that it should only cost 30 pesos (40 at the most). Even after we explained that our ride down to the bus station that morning had only been 30, he told us that the reverse direction was 60 (so not true). But alas, unsure of what to do, we begrudgingly paid him his 60 pesos, reminding ourselves that 20 pesos really wasn’t too much of an issue. Still, we did not like being taken advantage of purely because we were Americans and might not know better.

Kelly’s delicious dinner of chilaquiles (fried tortilla strips in this amazing sauce, with beef and beans and topped with cheese) soon erased any bitter tastes from our mouths due to our taxi experience, though!



Arm Wrestling, Churches, and THE CUTEST DOG EVER

Today and yesterday were spent visiting the same community – general health checks for adults on Thursday, vision screenings for the kids at school on Friday. Thursday we had our biggest turn-out yet, I think – over 50 people were screened and Lauren, Jason, and I managed to do it all sans Michael, who was helping out at CASA. Granted, we still had Rafa to help us a lot, but out of us four gringos, Michael’s Spanish is undeniably the best. Thus, the three of us were pretty proud of ourselves for managing to stay afloat without Michael, despite the high demand for our services. When we pulled up to the health building, the whole premises was flooded with hazy brownish-gray smoke… from the trash the town was burning in the yard. That was just how the town disposed of their wastes. Two children were playing in the smoke-filled yard while a few women looked on, like this was no big deal. Meanwhile our eyes were watering and our noses stinging as soon as we stepped out of our car. Rafa explained that there is a trash service that comes through the town so they really don’t need to burn the trash, but he didn’t know how often the trash collectors came. So we performed health screenings amidst rather unhealthy conditions (and with the stereo blasting as the DIF lead another exercise class – an extra challenge for Jason the blood-pressure guru, but he was able to distinguish the lub-dub from the techno electronica dum-dum-dum thumps). When we returned home that afternoon and were exchanging stories with Michael as to how the day went, we mentioned the fires and he said that we all did smell like we had come from a bonfire rather than a health fair, but at least there was a good explanation.

Jason, Lauren, and I returned to Banda today to screen the children (Michael was out helping with Dr. Clark at CASA again). We actually only had a few kids whose parents’ wanted them to be screened, so it was a pretty relaxing Friday out in the community for us. This gave us time to challenge Rafa to a few arm-wrestling matches – all of which he dominated. The combined strength of Lauren and me, using all of our arms, was barely an obstacle to Rafa. We swung by the house to pick up Michael and then we took Rafa out for lunch at (where else?) Media Naranja. We did a bit of Mercado perusing while we were in el centro, and decided to stop in one of the other churches in the area we hadn’t seen yet. I’m glad we did, because this one was my favorite one I’ve visited so far – yes, even better than the inside of the Parroquia, in my opinion. It is named after Saint Francis (San Francisco, of course!) and the floor had a beautiful tiled pattern in shades of blue. Things of interest included:

1)      Giant CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulbs dangling from the bottom of the ornate crystal chandeliers – I mean, they’re not LEDs, but good for the Church for being energy-conscious. While a funny sight, surely there must be a better way to disguise the more modern-looking bulbs – like even just a little bit. We also saw this phenomenon in La Parroquia – so Dad, maybe you could start working on some churches to convert their lighting into LEDs…

2)      While statues and replicas of the Baby Jesus are fairly common in Churches (especially around Christmas), I do not think I have ever seen a statue/replica of Baby Mary – yes Mary, Mother of God, represented when she was a baby. Here we found “Maria Niña” depicted as a blue-eyed, brunette baby – I guess since we celebrate her Immaculate Conception, the baby that followed this event would be special and statue-worthy, but I had no idea that Maria Niña was even a thing. So I thought that was really fascinating.

3)      The statue of St. Anthony of Padua that we had seen in the parade of los locos this past weekend actually resides in this church while not on the parade route, so we said hello to him again.

Giant CFL bulb!







Maria Nina



Kelly cooked one of my favorite dinners tonight – Enchiladas con Salsa Verde – followed by my favorite dessert – Mango Champan. We also got to meet Alex and Kelly’s son and his wife, as they came in to visit from Aguas Calientes. They brought along their little three month old bulldog puppy, “Tanque” (“Tank”) - and it was SO SO SO unbelievably adorable. So chubby, so much excess skin, such sad eyes, and such a funny ungainly wiggle-run.

I think we will try to attend Mass in this church at some point before we leave – as we stepped back outside into the square, Michael and I both immediately commented on how much we liked that Church and its atmosphere.

Ooh, we're halfway there - ooh! Putting on our health fairs!

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been in SMA for 2.5 weeks – and that we only have 2.5 weeks left! The time has really been flying by. On Monday we joined the DIF at one of their mobile health clinics… which was very different from what we had expected. The clinic took place in Alonso Yanes, a town we had already visited twice. The mobile clinic itself was actually a doctor’s office on wheels, with one room for check-ins, and one examination room. There weren’t any doctors, but the nurses that accompanied the mobile clinic performed pap smears on the women in the community. We were told that we could shadow the nurses, and that “we” really meant just the girls – so Lauren and I got to see some ob/gyn in action. It turns out that the mobile clinic, while equipped with stirrups and speculums and swabs, was NOT equipped to measure weight, height, and blood pressure… so that’s where we were able to be of use. However, since this was the third time we had visited Alonso Yanes, a lot of our checks were on the same health-conscious folks who had attended our health fairs in the past, so it felt like a lot of déjà vu. Still, we had fun joining in with the ladies of the town as the DIF aerobics/dance instructor led everyone in a zumba/salsa-like session.

That afternoon, we met with Dr. Quiroz, who is responsible for bringing PPS to San Miguel from JR three years ago and getting the program up and running here. He was a fun and amiable guy, insisting that we try his tequila while discussing how our trip was going so far and what we had in mind for the remainder of our time in Mexico. It was great to finally get to know him after weeks (and months, really) of hearing about the great doctor who had been instrumental in providing us with this amazing summer experience. Hopefully we will get to see more of him in the next few weeks!

Today we visited a new town, Guanajuatito. We set up shop in the primary school and did a lot of vision screenings, followed by general health checks once the kindergarteners had vacated the premises for the day. We have come to notice that every time we think the day is winding down and we have checked all those that want to be checked – someone else will show up. This usually happens after we have taken down the eye chart – but sometimes it happens after we have literally packed up every single item into Jason’s gigantic backpack that only he knows how to arrange so that all of the elements of our “mobile lab” will fit. It is very hard to turn people away, and we usually end up unpacking again. The way someone always seems to arrive every time after others are long gone is pretty funny though. It is a little bit of an indicator of what our futures as doctors may hold – that line between when we can stow the stethoscopes and go home to friends, family, and situations that do not involve the “M.D.” after our names, and that desire to do our jobs well and be there for our patients, even if they might need us outside of normal office hours. Right now it is only a slight inconvenience (again, mostly for Jason, as he alone can repack the bag, although he is always a great sport about it) and we are only being detained from our typical afternoon activities of reading, yoga, studying, and siestas for a few minutes – but I hear that something of a difficult balancing act occurs later on (and something about inconveniences to having families?), so I guess I’ll keep you posted on how that pans out.

Dia de los Locos, indeed!

Well, la fiesta de los locos did NOT disappoint. We headed into town early, per the advice of our host family. The parade was supposed to start at 12, so we got there around 11:20… and stood around, watching the streets become lined with other spectators. But 12 came and went, with no indication that the parade would begin in the foreseeable future. Our friend Kip from the Lion’s Club called us while we waited and invited us to stop by his place, grab some ladders, and watch the parade from his street. So we did just that. We placed a small ladder, a larger ladder, and a good-sized step-stool behind the crowd and had an optimal view of the parade – as well as prime positioning for candy to be chucked at us.

It was also as entertaining to watch the people watching the parade – some had umbrellas tipped upside down:  the better to catch candy with, of course.  While we watched the diverse array of costumed people dance their way down the street and collected Mexican dulces, we came to the conclusion that it was sort of a reverse Halloween. We were stationary, while those in costumes came around giving the candy to US. You may know that my hand-eye coordination is limited at best – well, it is MUCH more limited while I am on a ladder, so I myself did not catch too many candies. However, we used my sun hat as a catcher’s mitt and my classmates were much more adept at catching than I was. Lauren even managed to catch a candy that landed up her sleeve.

The types of costumes could best be described as, “Anything goes!” but there were a few groups of people associated with floats that had themes. The Simpsons are wildly popular here in Mexico, so there was a whole slew of Barts, Lisas, Homers, and Marges boogieing by. An Avatar group was pretty impressive with their blue costumes and foliage-covered float. Looney tunes, Disney, Wizard of Oz were all represented. Interestingly, there was a whole group of people dressed like Jim Carey in “The Mask” – yes, while it was a popular film in the states circa 1994, it is apparently still a popular topic of discussion in Mexico.

Our original plan was to have dinner with Kip and his wife, Marge Ann, that evening. But once we had had enough of the locos, we returned our ladders to them and just began our evening with them earlier than anticipated, to everyone’s delight. They have been so warm, welcoming, and helpful during our time here in SMA, and we enjoyed homemade guacamole, Kip’s very strong margaritas, lots of conversation, delicious spaghetti and salad, and the warm SMA evening air. We are not sure how we have been so fortunate to meet so many kind and wonderful people during our time here engaged in various activities in SMA, but they have made our trip that much better.

Today was back to reality, however – we ventured out to Cerranitos, a town much larger than we were accustomed to visiting, and one that was literally right off of the main road. Their need for health services was not as great as it had been in other communities, due to their relatively close proximity to San Miguel, but we did have plenty to do there, all the same. Tonight we enjoyed the sounds, smells, and lights of a thunderstorm outside that brought a significant amount of rain – good news for the region as they are currently two years deep into a severe drought. We also enjoyed the thunderstorm and the rain it brought INSIDE – there just so happens to be a small hole in our roof, so that was pretty fun to discover. Tomorrow we are planning on helping out with the DIF’s big health fair – still pretty unsure about what that will entail, but excited to see the different branches of the DIF in full force in the community.

UNC, Mariachi, and the Giant Tree

The weekend has been a busy one thus far. Friday was filled with another health fair – we returned to Alonso Yanyes again, with Dr. Clark in tow. Together she and I gave a women’s health charla, and with some last minute inspiration Jason’s baseball cap was commandeered to be used as the demonstration tool for the self-breast exam. The ladies of the community were all very amused by that. The Mexican paparazzi were out in full force again, hoping to catch Michael’s dental charla and witness how salt, baking soda, and water can come together to make homemade toothpaste. Apparently this film crew that keeps following us out to the communities is actually working on a documentary. We are hoping they will send us links to the videos once they’ve aired, we are all really curious to see the interviews and footage from our fairs (as well as the other things that might be included in this documentary).

As we had already visited this town before, we finished a bit earlier than usual and so Rafa took us on a side trip to see this gigantic tree a few towns over. It was indeed a very large tree, tucked up in a small rural village in the hills. The network of roots was extensive – and actually several of the smaller trees nearby were really just offshoots from the roots of this one huge tree. The tree also produces water, apparently – there is a spigot coming out from the network of roots, and we even saw some of the local women come by to fill their buckets with the water. Dr. Clark rinsed her hands off in the water, too.  The giant tree was also the perfect time for a PPS SMA photo-shoot that mostly consisted of silly shots – but several serious yoga poses were also captured.



Look! We can spell "PPS!" with our bodies!


Friday evening was our first real night out on the town – our fellow med students in JR had taken the bus into town, and we met up with them. We wandered around el centro, swapped health fair stories, played a pick-up game of soccer in the middle of a crowded market, hired a mariachi band to serenade Nellie for her birthday, then ate dinner at a snazzy restaurant that Rafa had recommended. Rafa and Dr. Clark also joined us, so we were quite the large party. After dinner we hung out in the jardin in front of La Parroquia for a bit, where festivities for the big weekend were beginning (some sort of zumbathon, followed by a salsa concert, lots of people, that sort of thing). Rafa then took us to a bar nearby and we enjoyed drinks out on the rooftop terrace, with La Parroquia all lit up behind us.
 

The birthday girl, surrounded by her mariachi serenaders!


This morning we went out to see Casa Esperanza. During one of our mornings at the DIF before heading out to the communities, we had met this really nice man who runs this organization. We got to talking and he invited us to check out their place. The organization is kind of like a school and afterschool program for kids in San Miguel that have really tough home lives. Casa Esperanza provides food for them, tutoring and homework help, additional lectures and workshops to teach valuable skills, and psychologist support as well as support for their parents. We were all really amazed by the organization and all it has been doing to help these kids. Our new friend Farhad was pretty amazing and so excited to show us everything. We talked a lot about ways to get involved with the group in the future and are hopeful that we can find ways to help!

We met up with our friends from JR for lunch today at our favorite SMA lunch spot – Media Naranja. We hope to visit our fellow classmates on their home turf in Juventino Rosas next weekend. Tonight featured another stellar meal from Kelly – cabbage tacos, or tacos de col (col as an in “cole” – like cole-slaw, get it??) They were really flavorful, especially once the olive oil/garlic/onion/pepper mixture was drizzled on top. Dinner was followed by my favorite dessert – champan de fresa.

Tomorrow will be an interesting day in SMA: it is la fiesta de los locos (literally, the party of the crazies), and the whole town will be swamped by a giant parade (un desfile) where people will be dressed in costume. The few details/advice/warnings we have received about the event are as follows:

1. Wear a lot of sunscreen.
2. Be prepared to be pelted with candy that the “locos” are throwing – they apparently really like to throw the candy at the Americans.
3. Plan ahead for limited bathroom options.

We are also slated to have dinner with our buddy Kip from the Lion’s Club at his incredible home in the heart of SMA, which we have been eagerly anticipating. If going to Mass can be squeezed in there at some point, tomorrow should be an excellent Sunday – and of course a skype date with Dad first thing in the morning to celebrate Father’s Day from afar!



The case of the missing eye charts, and the never ending story (of wire transfers)

Another action-packed day in SMA and the surrounding communities! We returned to San Francisco, the very first town we had visited. We had been warned that there would be a lot of people today, and since we hadn’t done glucose checks and vision screenings there yet, those were our main goals for the day… until we started unpacking and realized that the eye charts (“Snellen charts,” if you will) were missing. No one could remember packing them up from our last community, and for a few minutes we were uncertain if we would be able to perform vision screenings at all. The school in the community had already excused kids from class for the vision screenings, and their parents were there. Luckily, Rafa saved the day – he went down the road (which was quite a ways, down a dirt/gravel road) to a local doctor and fortunately was able to borrow his Snellen chart. From then on out, it was a lot of vision screenings and parental consent forms and child assent forms and dietary nutrition surveys as part of our research project. The day ended up being very successful despite the rocky start, and we now have a repacking procedure to make sure all of our supplies come and go with us!

Jason, providing vision screenings to the kids in San Francisco

We spent another afternoon (this makes the fourth or fifth, at least) trying to coordinate banking and wire transfers over skype and email in order to be able to pay our host family. All parties involved (us, the banks, our contacts and UNC going to the banks for us, and our host family) are getting a bit frustrated with the saga that has involved two separate identities, two corrections to the wire transfer that were actually incorrect, and three separate banks (I think – but I’ve sort of lost track). Alas, we hope to sort it all out soon.

With one more health fair tomorrow, we have a lot to look forward to this weekend: the JR crew called us up and told us of their plans to come visit this weekend, which should be fun; meeting up with Dr. Quiroz at some point, who helped get the SMA branch of PPS up and running; some sort of parade thing in the city on Sunday; dinner at Kip’s house on Sunday. A fathers’ day BBQ in the back yard and teaming up with an organization that helps kids in SMA with difficult home lives for some breakfast/charlas/hang ing out are also possibilities for the weekend.

Hitting our stride, with help from Dr. Clark

Our trip out to La Cuadrilla was more successful than yesterday – the town knew we were coming this time, and many people showed up to have their blood pressure, glucose, and vision checked! We only got a little lost on our way out there this morning – it is amazing how many little towns are out there once you turn off the main road – but after that everything went well. Dr. Clark was a huge help talking with everyone, giving medical advice, filling out surveys, and even meeting one of the women that she recognized in a documentary about immigration – “Letters from the Other Side.” The TV crew again showed up – luckily Michael brought his Mexican TV personality and wowed the media again. We saw over 40 people, which was a lot of finger-prickin’, glucose-checkin’, blood-pressurin’, waist-measurin’, eye-screenin’, survey-takin’ action for one day. Apparently the town we’re going to tomorrow will have an even bigger turnout, so hopefully we’re prepared for that!

This evening we got our hopes up for rain – which, according to some people, hasn’t happened in SMA in like 2 years – however, dusty conditions prevailed. Descriptions of nasal mucus ensued (hey, we’re all med students here) and from the combination of the dusty conditions out in the communities and the pollution in the city, we’re talking about some pretty interesting nasal mucus. And you know it’s pretty late for me to keep blogging and I just wrote a whole blurb about nasal mucus, so that’s probably a sign that this entry should come to an end.

The Unexpected Health Fair

Well, even though today went differently than planned (you may be beginning to sense a pattern…), it was still a good day, nonetheless. We were very excited that Dr. Clark would be joining us out in the community, and equally excited when we found that we would be traveling by suburban again. However, when we got to the community we discovered that no one had informed them that we would be coming. We waited around for a while and joked with Dr. Clark that she had cursed us by coming to visit the SMA group after we had heard about some of the difficulties that she and the group in JR had encountered with the new padre (apparently the new priest would not let the charlas commence without attendance to Mass in the communities, first). Eventually we were able to talk with some of the community leaders and discuss the situation. The directora of the school was very friendly and asked us to let us know when we would be returning because she thought that the people in the town would really be able to benefit from the health fair. So our new plan is to return to this community tomorrow, although we’re still not exactly sure where the communication broke down between the DIF and the community.



Following Dr. Clark through SMA, her little "doc"-lings!



So instead of putting on our health fair, we instead hung out with Dr. Clark in SMA – we saw the lovely house she is renting in el centro and were a bit envious of the convenience of the location, we took her to our favorite SMA lunch spot (yep, that’s right: Media Naranja), and we walked through the artesian market to peruse the souvenirs, postcards, paintings, and jewelry. In our typical fashion, we stuck out just a little bit – not only did we look like a group of Americans, but we were all still wearing scrubs from the aborted health fair attempt.  We did, however, change before we made our trip to Office Depot this time (it had been a few days since we had been there, after all – I think we’ve only had to go there 5 times so far, but it’s a good thing –we’re using up all of our screening sheets and recommendation forms because we have been able to see so many people out in the communities). Hopefully we’ll be able to have our health fair tomorrow and get Dr. Clark in on the action – we know she will be a great resource and help to us, and it has been nice to be around someone who knows the ropes in SMA!

A little bit off of the beaten track, and a little beaten up by the bumpy track

A few changes in plan today – we were all set to go to the big health fair being put on by the DIF, but instead the DIF decided it would be better to spread out resources and so we instead went out into another community. Today’s community was called “Artesano de la Luz” and it definitely seemed like the most economically strained of the towns we have visited so far. Lots of people showed up for health checks though, which was great. We were screening machines, and were able to get a lot done. We did not do our charlas today, as Rafa had explained that this town in particular had very little access to any sort of health care, and so the checks would be more valuable. The people in this community were, as ever, extremely kind and very gracious.

Another change in our plan today – the chevy suburban we have been ferried about in by the DIF was being used for the health fair, so… we got to ride in one of the trucks. It was a much bumpier ride than we had grown accustomed to, especially once the bumps were no longer caused by speed bumps in the city but instead by unpaved roads as we moved farther out into the countryside. But all things considered, it was a good day with a lot of screenings and surveys collected.

Another knock-out dessert tonight – fresa champan. Like the mango champan, but strawberry flavored.

The Patron Saint of Air Conditioning, and other topics

We have spent a pretty tranquil Sunday in SMA. Our one major activity for the day was to go into el centro and attend Mass at La Parroquia – which we did. It was a very lovely service, with lots of incense and a more traditional chorus than the mariachi band of last week. We thought we had our neighborhood down, but the cab driver took us to a different Calle Paloma in our neighborhood, and was a bit miffed when we told him that this wasn’t where we wanted to go, even though that is where we had told him to go. We had an assortment of our snacks to count as our lunch for the afternoon – my lunch consisted mainly of oreos and peanut butter, along with a nutri-grain bar and handfuls of multigrain cheerios. We compiled some of the data we collected from our surveys this past week, and worked a bit on stuff for next week, including the report on the various communities that the DIF has wanted us to compile. This coming week will be a little different, as the DIF is putting on health fairs, featuring REAL doctors of various specialties, so we’ll be tagging along, continuing with our glucose checks and vision screenings. We’re not really sure what else will be expected of us at these events, but we're intrigued to see how it goes and excited to meet the doctors working with the DIF.

We have tried various strategies to keep cool in our warm little domed room. It is heated by the Mexican sun streaming through the windows, the four hard-working non-energy efficient Lenovo laptops, and the various activities of four high-energy people in the same space. Our rotating fan, fondly rechristened “MasterCrap,” (as it was the least expensive fan in the store yet was grandly titled “MasterCraft”) does manage to cool the room down by the time 4 am rolls around… but we all take turns throughout the day, shuffling in front of it as it oscillates, redistributing warm air, wishing wistfully that it was cool air. In true Latin American Catholic fashion, we looked into which saint could reasonably be attributed as the Patron Saint of Air Conditioning, and Sister Mary Martha (who has a very entertaining and informative blog, by the way, called “Ask Sister Mary Martha”) had declared Saint Nicholas to be the Patron Saint in question. Apparently others have asked her this in the past, so our query was not that unusual, really. Her logic was as follows:  he moved from somewhere hot to the North Pole, so clearly he knew what was up. We also caught much of the Spain vs. Italy soccer game, which got me to reminiscing about my time in Spain, watching my host family watch Real Madrid games… which got me to reminiscing about other tv programs in Spanish, namely the telenovela for children loosely based on High School Musical called “Patito Feo.” So tonight Lauren and I watched an episode of the Mexican version of this Argentinian show(so that does make it a Mexican show based on an Argentinian show based on an American show) on NetFlix – oh yes, it is on NetFlix. It was very entertaining, and I worry that I am a bad influence on Lauren.

"Guys! I found Jesus!"

We were really able to enjoy this Saturday in San Miguel – the dogs and musical gas-tank delivery trucks allowed us to sleep in til around 8, we had a leisurely breakfast with unhurried coffee time, and then we set out to explore more of the city. We made it down to the plaza principal and finally got to see the Parroquia up close. It is a beautiful, beautiful church, inside and out. The full title of the church is La Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel. There has been a church on this site since 1555, but it’s been destroyed a few times, and the turrets and a new façade were added between 1880 and 1890 to give it the form seen today. Inside there were many beautiful wall murals in some of the side chapels and near the ceiling, including a lovely illustration of the story of Juan Diego and the Virgin of Guadalupe. While still looking around, singing began and in processed several families with infants clad in white… we took the beginning of the baptismal Mass as our cue to exit respectfully, but we may try to attend Mass there tomorrow.

Next we called up our friends of the Lion’s Club, whom Jason and I still had yet to meet due to our side trips on Wednesday. Our plan was to take Kip, the incoming president, out to lunch, but instead he invited us over to visit his house in el centro…. His home was only the most gorgeous dwelling-space I have ever seen. From the calle, we walked into a little covered foyer that then opened up into an open-air sort of square filled with flowers and plants and fountains and statues. Off of this square came an office, the kitchen, and stairs leading up to higher floors and various covered and uncovered patios. As we ascended to the rooftop, we had a wonderful view of several of the turrets and domes of San Miguel’s various churches. It was one of the most striking skylines I have ever seen.  We enjoyed freshly squeezed orange juice with Kip and his wife, and discussed everything from art to eyeglasses to autism. They’re such kind people, and getting to know them better and being able to see their house was a real treat. There are some 12,000 foreigners (mostly American and Canadian) that live in SMA, many of whom have retired here. It is quite an interesting dynamic, and now we can really say that we’ve seen many different aspects of Mexico.

We had lunch at Media Naranja, which was delicious. Lauren, Jason, and I had chicken burritos with a mango salsa – so fabulous, and so filling. Michael’s tortilla soup was rich, creamy, and delicious, too. We roamed the streets, perusing the souvenirs and the artesian crafts of the area. Our next plan was to climb our way out of el centro to return home. I mean, we knew it was hilly, and yes the streets and sidewalks were paved with cobblestones, but we were determined. No taxis - unless Montezuma came a-calling – then we would hail a taxi. We did manage to climb up one really steep street, and then climb up a steep staircase/neighborhood, only to find a large crucifix and the face of Jesus overlooking the city. If you ever have to guess what might be at the top of a very steep hill in Mexico, a crucifix is a pretty safe answer. Sure, we could have gone on through the cacti, the broken glass, the rocky terrain, and other various obstacles to eventually reach the main road, but since we were wearing sandals… we instead opted to descend once again and just grab a cab. Still, it was quite an adventure, and we got to see a lot of SMA today.

Teaching, Learning, and Enjoying Nutrition, among other things!

We ventured out to the pueblo of Colorado today. I think we’re really starting to get the hang of things now. The charlas went smoothly with the ladies of the town, and I learned a lot about the local food availability in their community from our interactive nutrition charla. I had never heard of nopales or quelitas, but have since learned that napales are a type of cactus, and that quelitas are “galletas de los Incas,” or Incan cookies. We had a good system for achieving all of the screenings with better flow between the stations today, which made everything less chaotic and much more efficient.  The women were so sweet in this town, and they even had prepared lunch for us. We were then faced with that careful balancing act as presented to us by one of the UNC pre-departure safety modules: the desire to be culturally sensitive and grateful for the food, paired with the concern of water safety and preparation methods our American immune systems are unfamiliar with… but since all of the food was cooked, we were able to satisfy both. The women had prepared some sort of spicy potatoes in a sauce, and when eaten with tortillas, it was a very nice lunch after a busy morning.

We're becoming pretty well known at that Office Depot by now - another excursion was made there today to print out more health summary sheets (I guess because we've been able to see so many people out in the communities so far!) as wel as to purchase some speakers. Our plan is to incorporate more interactive activities in the charlas, since many of the people have been hearing the same general health information for awhile now from various health organizations and health fairs. The speakers would be utilized during an exercise or Zumba-esque class as a way to teach the people some simple movements to do that can get their heartrates up. We're still in the planning stages, but we're pretty excited about some of our ideas.



Another view of SMA from the mirada



Kelly prepared another knock-out dinner tonight, featuring tacos con papas – potato tacos – then piled high with lettuce, sour cream, and special salsa. Coincidentally, we also had nopales with our tacos! We spent a long time chatting with Alex and Kelly after dinner – again with more philosophical advice from Alex on how to begin writing one’s marriage vows, and several alarming stories about the wild dogs that roam Mexico, eating babies and the elderly. For tomorrow, we are excited to be able to sleep in a little later, and are planning on going out to explore the main part of SMA (“el centro”), including the main churches and the organic market.

Health Fairs and TV Stars

Phew, what a day. We ventured out to Alonso Yanes, a little community that is known for the woven baskets made of grass that are crafted there. Rafa again accompanied us – he is, in a word, awesome. Not only did he help us out with a few translations and crowd control, he also moonlights as a DJ and is going to school to study design. Jason gave his First Aid charla, which was a big hit. One woman bravely volunteered to demonstrate how to tie a sling after Jason’s instruction, and despite an ENORMOUS height difference, she successfully put Michael’s arm in a sling. Today we got our studies going in full swing, which meant obtaining consent from the people who showed up to the health fair and explaining what all we were collecting the data for. Considering that we had different consent forms and procedures for our two different studies, and this was the first time we were doing vision screenings and glucose checks, we managed to get everything accomplished pretty well. Our efforts were captured on film when Canal Tres (Channel Three) showed up with a camera crew to document the health fair. We’re on the lookout for Michael’s Mexican television debut now after his interview today. The crew also recorded a lot of action shots of the rest of us – Jason, performing a cardiac exam like a real doctor, Lauren, checking glucose like a pro, and me, wrapping a tape measure around waists and hips while measuring height and weight, or basically giving the appearance that at our health fairs, we also give free hugs! It was a lot of fun though, and we saw and screened over 50 people. From 10 until 3 we were scrambling, putting on our charlas, trying to screen everyone and collect all of the data properly, while also addressing the Pandora’s box unleashed by, “Do you have any questions?” We performed vision screenings as well, and handed out lots of recommendations to go to the Lion’s Club clinic for glasses. We are hoping that many will follow through with the clinic to receive their free glasses, and that our intervention will then directly result in some good!

I think we all have been struck by how nice and welcoming everyone in the SMA region has been so far. While out in the communities, the people are so kind, even though they are often a bit shy around us Americans at first. In our house, all of the inhabitants, whether part of Alex and Kelly's family or just other guests renting a room, have all been very inclusive and friendly. We feel very much like part of their family (and it is often hard to keep track of who is family living here, guests living here, family visiting here, others visiting here). The people we have met in the different organizations we are trying to work with as well have been great people, and we are very fortunate to be able to work with them here.

We’re off to another community tomorrow, and planned on getting a full night’s rest… however, it seems that there is another celebration of sorts (still unclear whether religious in origin at this time), and the fireworks have begun, with eruptions every 45 minutes or so. The dogs have also been especially active this evening, so we can only imagine that the two will join forces in their nighttime melody-making!

Lions and Midwives and Karaoke, Oh My!

Today was a bit of an adventure. While we did not go out into the communities, we nevertheless had a lot going on. The plan was to meet with the Lion’s Club at 10 am to discuss plans for vision screenings and getting glasses to kids in the community that needed them. We had been emailing them back and forth, and the plan was to meet at 10 am at the one and only Starbucks in SMA. Due to some miscommunication, we were still waiting outside of the Starbucks at 11 am. I had taken one for the team and bought a coffee so that we could have internet access (a true martyr, I know) and so we managed to find some sort of address for the Lion’s Club. Lauren and Michael caught a cab to go see if they could find it, taking the cell phone with them.  Jason and I remained on the street corner just in case our ride came to pick us up there after all this time. After a while, we got an email that Lauren and Michael had made it to the club, so Jason and I tried to make our way there. Our cab driver wasn’t sure where to go at first, but he eventually managed to take us to the Club de Leones. We ran upstairs and found a pretty much empty building. A very nice, older lady asked how she could help us, but it was pretty clear that we were in the wrong place. It turns out that there is a Club de Leones Internacional and a Club de Leones de Mexico in SMA. We had arrived at the Mexican Lion’s Club, and needed to get to the International Branch. We tried to call our cell phone in the possession of Lauren and Michael from the phone in her office, but the number we had copied down in a hurry did not work. The lady gave us the address for the International branch – which, to our dismay, was on the complete opposite side of the city. We walked a few streets, caught another cab, and told him the address. When we had reached the outskirts of town, the cab driver took us down la Avenida Revolución, the street that the lady said the building was on. There were many run-down, abandoned buildings, but no Lion’s Club to be found. We had, however, caught sight of a children’s clinic on the next street over through the smattering of buildings on Avenida Revolución, so our cab driver backtracked to that building. We asked him to wait for us while we went inside. The receptionist informed us that, yes, the vision clinic for the Lion’s Club was in this building on the upper floor, but the clinic was only open on Thursday mornings… So I went upstairs to check, and everything was locked up. I asked to borrow her phone and again was unsuccessful in getting my call through to our little Mexican cell phone. So Jason and I decided at this point since we couldn’t find Lauren and Michael or the Lions, and since we had another appointment at 1, it would be better to just go back to our house to wait. Luckily our neighborhood was actually really close to the Lion’s Club, so we were soon home.

The next problem: Lauren had our key with her, and no one was home. It was also around 12:30 at this point, with the hot sun directly overhead. Jason and I stood up against the door to take advantage of the small sliver of shade provided by the balcony. As we were both former cheerleaders, we did consider somehow scaling the wall to get onto the balcony and entering the house from there… but we decided that would be a little sketchy. Soon enough, however, Alex and Kelly returned from the store and let us into the house. We were able to call Lauren and Michael from the house phone (turns out we had written down the wrong number for our own cell phone number…) and were glad to hear that they at least had managed to have a meeting with the Lion’s Club, and were a bit envious when they told us they were having lunch on the Lion’s Club right now at a restaurant three blocks down from the Starbucks. Of course. So I really can’t tell you too much about the involvement of the Lion’s Club, save that they are excited to help us out, and that we will start our vision screenings out in the communities tomorrow.

Our next meeting at least had all four SMA-ers present: we went to CASA, an organization that provides a lot of educational and supportive services to women in rural communities. We were trying to establish a relationship with their organization and hope to work closely with them in the future. They have a very prestigious school of midwifery, and are about to open another this August in the region with the highest infant and maternal mortality in all of Mexico. It was a beautiful building and the organization shares many of the same goals as PPS, so we hope to be able to arrange more collaboration with them during our time here. This is a wall mural in progress in one of the hallways of CASA – the colors are fabulous.

Tonight we went to the finals of a very extravagant karaoke competition. The family was supporting a young fellow named “Alex” – so we all went, toting “Alex” signs (I felt very special). The bar was really cool inside, with lots of star-shaped glass lanterns. We arrived around 10, thinking that it might be over around 12… when actually the proceedings started around 11. So, needless to say, it was fun, could have been a lot more fun if we didn’t have to get up so early tomorrow to visit our next community!

Other exciting things of note:

We stocked up on toilet paper and christened the toilet after Montezuma – you should watch Michael’s explanatory video on Facebook about the Game of Thrones he and Montezuma are currently involved in down here in SMA. We also purchased an oscillating fan – which was a surprisingly long process considering we are medical students and not completely unintelligent.  It is working now, but I had my doubts throughout the construction process. It is still very, very, very warm in our room, but it might be taking the edge off, just a bit, and the air movement might help deter some of the mosquitos.

We had, quite simply, one of the most delicious desserts of all time tonight. Mango champan, or something like that. Made from fresh mangos, it was chilled and very refreshing.

If you're going to San Francisco - San Francisco, Guanajuato, that is!

Today was a taste of the weeks to come – we went out to our first community today, a little town called San Francisco. Alex dropped us off at the DIF at 9 am, and we hopped into the Suburban with our very nice and extremely knowledgeable and helpful DIF representatives, Rafa and Victor. They drove us down the paved highway and then out onto the unpaved roads – just a little bit of a bumpy ride! We arrived in the town and they showed us to the local school. We set up shop and began performing blood pressure checks and measuring height and weight on people in the community who came to the health fair. We ran into a few difficulties when asking if they had any questions about their health – this would often open a whole plethora of symptoms in rapid, rural Spanish. As we’re not ACTUALLY doctors yet (and no, four med students that have each completed one year of medical school do not equal one doctor), and we are not really supposed to give medical advice or recommend medications, it was hard to think of what to say next. Luckily we will be helping out with a health fair put on by the DIF for a lot of these communities next week where there will be doctors present, and so they will be able to get more satisfactory information then. We were, however, able to give counseling on diet and exercise, and Lauren and Michael performed their charlas to great effect. I think everyone enjoyed playing the game, “Saludable o No” (“Healthy or Not”), and I also learned something new - how to make your own toothbrush and toothpaste using every day things in your house and outside.  We definitely have a lot of room to improve, but this was a good first effort, and we’re very excited to continue to work with the people at the DIF. They have a lot of really great programs already in place and have really been instrumental in helping us get set up with our programs so far.

Highlights from today include yet another fantastic meal prepared by Kelly. We had “tortitas de papas con pollo” tonight (like little round patties of potatoes and chicken that were sort of fried/sautéed) – and with some sour cream and spicy salsa, they were fabulous. We also learned many lessons about love and relationships from Alex during our dinner conversation – the top three items a man should do to please a woman are:

1. Have clean shoes. This is a no-brainer.
2. Pay attention to the little details.
3. Kisses. Muchos, muchos, muchos besos.

But alas, good night for now - we Americans have quieted down in our room for the night – which means that now all of the neighborhood dogs have begun barking in earnest…

Let's Get Down to Business (to defeat... diabetes and hypertension!)


Today was an eventful and busy day:  Alex drove us to the DIF (the Mexican equivalent of the YMCA as far as we can tell) for an appointment he had made a year ago. Alex recommended that we wear our scrubs. We met with a man who is, according to his title of contador, an accountant but is also in charge of a lot of the programs, and before we knew it Alex and the contador had arranged for us to go out to our first community tomorrow morning. This was very exciting news but it also meant that all of the things we had to get done this week, we had to get done TODAY. We found out that we also needed to take out money to pay for our room and board ASAP, but found that the customer service associated with our bank account set up for the trip was a little less than helpful. After an hour or so of skyping with the customer service line, sending various emails to our very helpful UNC support system in the Office of International Affairs, and trying to think of other ways to access our money while in Mexico, we sorted out a temporary solution.

Next, we spent the afternoon in Office Depot (still wearing scrubs) printing out all sorts of consent forms and surveys for our studies during our health fairs. Everyone, including the Office Depot girl helping us transfer our files to print, got a kick out of the titles of some of Jason’s files on his flashdrive. 14,000 printed pages later (incidentally, this medical volunteer work does NOT coincide with environmental volunteer work), we stopped by the grocery store to pick up some ingredients to make homemade toothpaste, bought some towels since the instruction of “BYOT” was not conveyed to us until we got down here, and learned some new words in the fabric store (cintamétricos = tape measure, and chiquira = bead). Lauren and I also splurged on fancy coffee drinks to take the edge off of the warm day, and found, to our dismay, the pesos my father has been saving since he was last in Mexico (maybe 20 years ago?) are no longer valid. BUT the old pesos are very cool, and the guys at the coffee shop were pretty amused by the two American girls that came by and tried to by coffee with obsolete currency.

Tomorrow is our first day in the trenches, as they say. It’s been a lot to throw together in one day in terms of preparing our “charlas” (our talks on various health topics), but it will definitely be a matter of learning on the job.

Other highlights from today: Kelly made delicious enchiladas with salsa verde. I think this has been my favorite meal in Mexico so far. Alex took us to the “Mirada” or lookout point where we could see the entire city. It was a great view of San Miguel, and we spotted a few of the places we’re planning on visiting (namely, the hospital and la parroquia – or the really big, pretty, main church in the city).

The Music of the Night... SMA style

4:30 am is the perfect time to resume fireworks to celebrate a religious feast, in case you were wondering. We thought we had seen the grand finale last night, but celebratory pyrotechnics began again early this morning. Fortunately they spaced out the blasts so that there was just enough time to fall asleep between each one – only to be awoken again. It was a noisy night, to say the least.

Example of the equipment used for the fireworks display

We attended la misa at the local iglesia in the neighborhood this morning. The church itself was beautiful, with simple white-washed walls, bright stained glass windows, cool tile floors, dark wooden pews, and blue and white cloth draped from the ceiling for a lovely effect with all of the light coming in from the high windows. It was very fitting decoration for a feast day celebrating Nuestra Senora de la Luz (Our Lady of the Light). The most outstanding portion of the Mass was the traditional Mariachi band that played fantastic music throughout the service, followed by a powerful rendition of “Time to Say Goodbye,” in Spanish (one of my all-time favorite songs).  Following the service, a procession of people clad in traditional feathered headdresses and costumes came out and danced in front of the church, toting a banner of Jesus, burning incense, and playing drums and guitars. It was quite an interesting mix of a few familiar Catholic elements, and the traditions of the area.  We also noted that they had the next firework display set up in the square – which looks like it will be featuring a fiery outline of the Virgin Mary at some point… well, when in Mexico…!

I tried to highlight Mary's outline in this picture of the fireworks for tonight using the technology of Microsoft Paint - now imagine this on fire, sputtering sparks into the crowd - looks like it's sure to be quite the display?