SMA: The Farewell Tour

I write to you today from the comfort of my living room in Raleigh, NC – the whirlwind adventures in SMA have officially come to an end. We had a great trip and were sad to go, but very excited to get back to friends and family in the states.

The Fourth of July Shindig with Don and Marcella was, in four words, out of this world. Their home was of course, beautiful – right next to the lovely Parque Juarez and the Culture Building. We met lots of fascinating Americans that had relocated to SMA over the years, including the American Consulate. They were very welcoming and inclusive, and I think everyone had a really enjoyable evening. The food included delicious marinated shrimp, little hamburgers, baked beans, grilled chicken, corn bread, potato salad, couscous, and more – all were very tasty. The real treat was the dessert buffet, including an incredible fruit pizza (red raspberries and blueberries on top, of course), lemon bars, brownies, and red velvet cupcakes. I must also mention that the peach sangria was outstanding.

On Thursday, we had a final, farewell lunch with Kip and some of the other members of the Lion’s Club at an Italian restaurant (yes, one of our last meals in Mexico was Italian) which was nice. We spent the afternoon hopping around El Centro, picking up those last souvenirs and gifts, sending off final postcards, and saying farewells to Don Jose (Michael’s friend from the Market, who handcrafts keychains). Of note, we went to Café Etcetera… a little café where the etcetera refers to pirated movies! A little tip from our American friends had told us about Juan the Bootlegger and his services, so that was an interesting stop, to say the least.

Michael and his buddy, Don Jose, Keychain Maker

Even though we had eaten Italian for lunch, our final dinner with the family included our Mexican favorites: enchiladas con salsa verde (actually, TWO different kinds, both of which were phenomenal), and fresas con crema. We were all very full and a bit nostalgic about the final dinner, but the mood was lightened by the squeals and antics of Roderigo on his 10^th month birthday. We finished up our packing and tried to get to bed at a reasonable time in preparation for the marathon day of traveling that awaited us.

Look! Lauren can fit into Jason's duffle bag!

So, highlights and low points from our 16 hours (17, if you include the time change) of traveling:

1.       Low point – 4:30 am wake up. Never fun.

2.       Low point – that moment when we saw that the cab company had only sent a regular cab, and not a larger truck cab like we had asked for to accommodate the luggage.

3.       Highlight – managing to squeeze all four of us and ALL of our luggage into the too-small cab. We knew the trip was going to bring us closer, and I don’t think we had yet been as close as we were in that cab.

4.       Low point – the first movie to be shown on the bus ride to Mexico City was a documentary on INSECTS. Insects are not exactly my favorite things, and these were the most exotic (and therefore some of the most disgusting) insects that were featured in this film. Needless to say, I was displeased when I awoke from my nap to see giant bugs on the screen in front of me.

5.       Highlight – the impeccable timing of the SMA and JR groups when it came to coordinating our airport arrivals. We lug our stuff into the airport from our cabs and who is checking in at the kiosks in front of us but our four good friends from JR.

6.       Low point – the security guy checking IDs before the X-ray machines asking me, “Estás enojada?” (translation: are you angry?) I mean, I’m sure I was looking rough from the early start, the cramped cab, the long bus ride, and the perilous cab ride through Mexico City, but did he really need to point it out to me??

7.       Low point – all of the officials screening the baggage on the X-ray machines laughing at my stuff and pulling me aside to do an additional search. Apparently the giant pewter platter in the shape of a crab that I had purchased for my mother appeared strange on the screen. I then had to spend a few minutes repacking everything because the official had left my belongings in such a jumble in his efforts to investigate the mysterious crab-shaped weapon.

8.       Low point – longest wait EVER in the airport.

9.       Highlight – arrival in Dallas = USA! USA! USA!

10.   Low point – the short amount of time we had to get from our arrival gate through customs to our next flight. We booked, and I mean BOOKED it – there was some running, yes, and Nellie even approached those in front of her with the very persuasive, “Hi! My flight is already boarding – would you mind if I hopped in front of you?” which was very successful. We figured that as long as some of our group made it to the next gate in time, they would be able to hold the plane for us all. We had even agreed beforehand on a sort of, “Every man for himself” approach just to make the best time… which became problematic when this happened:

11.   Low point – Border control detaining Jason. Apparently Jason’s name was on the list of common names and so they took him aside and held him in a room for an extended period of time. Due to the chaos and split up in the customs lines, no one was sure if Jason was ahead of or behind us, and there was a lot of anxiety of where he might be, if his luggage had made it, etc. We were going to ask them to hold the plane right as boarding was about to begin, when Jason ran up to the gate, covered in sweat and looking very harassed.  It was not quite the welcome home to the States that we had imagined, but we were relieved that Jason made it in time.

12.   Low point – as if things couldn’t any worse for Jason, we approach the counter to board and the ticket counter lady goes on a power trip. Jason’s mobile lab/giant backpack was deemed “too large” by this woman, even though it had been cleared to fly on all other legs of our trip. Jason tried to explain what he had just been through, but the lady insisted that he would have to check his bag. Fortunately, Michael and I hadn’t gone through the line yet and managed to redistribute some of Jason’s stuff into our bags so that his backpack would “squish” to fit (even though it had already been fitting just fine). So crisis averted.

13.   Highlight – arrival in Raleigh = UNC! UNC! UNC! (well, close enough)

Long day, a few bumps along the way, but an amazing and rewarding 5-week experience overall. I can't believe we have already gone and returned. Thank you for reading my often rambling posts about our trip!

El Cuatro de Julio, and how to spend free time

Happy Fourth of July from Mexico! This last week has not gone according to plan (but what else is new??) and somehow our Friday departure date is almost here. I’ll do a quick recap of our last few days before we venture out to our Independence Day celebrations this evening.

Monday rolled around, and we started our usual pre-health fair preparation rituals: French toast, coffee, reading Game of Thrones (in my case), scrubs, sunscreen, bug spray, dental hygiene after the sugary breakfast, French braid (in my case), redistribution of medical supplies and personal supplies into The Mobile Lab (our fond name for Jason’s giant backpack), peanut butter sandwich assembly… However, this series of events was interrupted by a phone call from Rafa, informing us that we would not be able to go out to communities on that day, or on Tuesday. It sounds like the DIF had other projects going on and did not have the resources to spread out on those days, but I am not exactly sure what happened. So all of a sudden we had two free days we had not budgeted for, and… we were done with our health fairs for the trip.

Kind of anti-climactic: We were done, but we hadn’t really realized we would be done after last Wednesday. All of our worries from last week were suddenly abolished – we weren’t going to run out of supplies after all, and there would be more than enough free time to enjoy San Miguel de Allende at the end of our trip. Unfortunately, another doctor from our university had flown down to help us out with our health fairs… so we called her up, explained the change, and luckily she was able to hop over to JR to help them out with their health fairs.

We went to el centro, ate at Media Naranja (which was still serving breakfast, to Jason’s dismay - he had his heart set on Chicken Burritos, and there were none to be had), tried to go to the Toy Museum but found that it was only open from Wednesdays to Saturdays… so we did a few other errand-y things before heading back. Oh, and I accosted a nice man wearing a Notre Dame shirt. This is not the first guy I’ve seen with Fightin’ Irish garb on, but I have been hesitant to yell, “Go Irish!” because I am not sure if it would be understood. The translation of “Vamos Irlandeses!” also sounds a bit strange, so I have withheld. This guy looked like he might speak English, though, so I gave him a hearty, “Go Irish!” and startled him into a brief conversation typical of ND alums. He studied English and graduated in ’68, I believe. Having successfully embarrassed him and my fellow companions, we parted ways, but I retained that afterglow of having talked about ND with someone who understands for a while after the encounter.

Having dinner with friends we have made during our time in SMA

We were able to sleep in for a change on Tuesday, and Alex made us his special and fancy cappuccinos to go with breakfast. We did some yoga, lounged about, and had a really relaxing day. We met up with Kip and Marjann for a pre-fourth of July dinner. The plan was to go to Harry’s for the Tuesday Tacos and drink specials – after lots of delicious homemade guacamole at their lovely house, of course. We always end up having too much fun with them – they are really great – and we met up with their friends at Harry’s for dinner. This other couple was equally friendly and fun, and they even extended the invitation to celebrate the Fourth of July with them at their cookout tonight. We are all very excited about this get-together. There is a very interesting quality to celebrating this holiday while abroad – the majority of people around you are going about a very typical day, while you are carrying a little piece of National Pride that makes you feel an added kinship with others there from the US on that day. Last year I spent the Fourth of July in London with some wonderful family friends, and now I am in Mexico with some wonderful med students and relocated Americans. It’s actually a similar sort of kinship compared with the Notre Dame alum I accosted – seeing a Notre Dame shirt in San Miguel was so much more exciting. Celebrating with other Americans here in SMA on the Fourth of July is a very special thing to do, too.

This morning we met with the president of the DIF and our friend Farhad from Casa Esperanza for breakfast. It was good to talk with them about our time here and our hopes for the future of our program in San Miguel. The TV crews were there again and Michael had another interview. We were all filmed at the end (fortunately NOT speaking!) and hopefully someone will email us with the footage airs.
I hope you all have a very fun-filled Fourth of July! All this talk of America is getting me excited about being home with friends and family again soon – even though I will be sad to say goodbye to SMA.

Spotted: Mexican TV Star Michael Garner, giving a rare interview

Adventures in Guanajuato and the kitchen!

 A busy, busy weekend here in SMA and the larger state of Guanajuato. On Saturday we actually ventured out to Guanajuato, the capital city of the aforementioned state of Guanajuato. It was a short (but very nausea-inducing) hour and fifteen minute bus ride from SMA. Jon and Aaron from the JR group met up with us and showed us around, since they had visited the city their first weekend here in Mexico. The teatro (theater) in town was pretty much incredible. From the outside it was impressive (columns, statues, that sort of thing) but inside was the real treat. The interior architecture and decoration was Moorish in style, with green, gold, and red coloring and intricate details. Lots of six-pointed stars, that classic keyhole shape to form the opening around the stage (like a giant door in the Moorish style), with no surface left unadorned. Apparently the theater is still in use, so I imagine that seeing a show there would be quite an experience. I’ll have to redirect you to facebook and Lauren’s pictures because none of mine turned out, but it was one of the most different and exquisitely detailed theater interiors I have ever seen.

We also checked out the Museo Iconográfico del Quijote. I know what you’re thinking  – Don Quijote is a Spanish book, why the heck is there a museum about Don Quijote in Mexico? Well, a famous Spanish expatriate donated his collection of paintings depicting Don Quijote to the city to create the museum and to celebrate the Spanish expats in the area. Guanajuato has even achieved the title of “Ciudad Cervantina,” second only to Alcala de Henares in Spain (where Cervantes was actually born). Anyways, this museum was so cool because all of the artwork portrayed Don Quijote – different interpretations, different media, different styles, all from different artists around the world throughout history. After studying in Toledo, Spain, where every story and all of Spanish history was compared to the journey and the character of Don Quijote, I really enjoyed seeing the different works. It’s fascinating that the figure of Don Quijote continues to capture imaginations and that readers continue to identify with him and his struggles. Anyways, I took pictures of my favorite paintings (which means I took pictures of 70% of the museum), but this is one that I really liked.



Just waiting for my Media Naranja to come and kiss me!



Other highlights from Guanajuato: lots of fabulous churches, lots of colorful buildings wedged onto the hillsides, great views of the city after a steep climb through narrow city streets, the University of Guanajuato with a ridiculous amount of stairs to reach the entrance (that’s one way to weed out your applicant pool), and the famous and fabled Callejon del Beso. Apparently this little “kissing alley” or “alley of the kiss” (sounds a lot less romantic in English) is where you and your true love should share a kiss. Lovers have come to kiss here (and have their photograph taken) for many years – and while there may be other streets of similar dimensions and descriptions in other cities throughout the world, this is the original one. One thing that the med school curriculum at UNC has emphasized is “integration,” or, putting it all together on your own (sounds nice, but often means students are piecing together the big picture from a whole bunch of disjointed syllabi the weekend before a test). Anyways, to integrate Callejon del Beso with another cultural tidbit from our time in Mexico: Our favorite lunch spot is called “Media Naranja.” In Spanish, this is a phrase used to describe your soulmate (or, the other half of your orange, since “media naranja” means “orange half”). Thus, if you kiss your lover in Callejon del Beso, that person is your media naranja. Integration! Boom!



Still feeling inspired from the Quijote Museum, apparently! Michael Quijote and Jason Panza

Enough about that – suffice to say, we had a great day in the lovely city of Guanajuato. Way too many pictures to post here - everything was just so colorful. Today we caught Mass at la Parroquia, made a final purchase from Don Jose in the market (yes, more keychains – you can never really have too many), and headed back home in time to watch Spain DECIMATE Italy in the Eurocup finals. One unfortunate aspect of the elections here in Mexico (aside from propaganda interfering with our health fairs) has been the law that no alcohol can be sold or served on the day before nor on the day of the election. I mean, I guess it is good to prevent people from voting while intoxicated, but if you are an American trying to order a beer with dinner after a long day in Guanajuato, or an American trying to watch a soccer game in a bar, OR an American trying to cook dinner for your host family and your recipe calls for red wine… it is mostly just frustrating. Anyways, we watched the soccer game at home sans beer, and went to the store to buy dinner ingredients sans wine. The groups from UNC that have stayed with Alex and Kelly in years before had started the tradition of cooking a meal for the family, and so this evening we carried on the tradition. Luckily for the family, we did not have to rely on my cooking skills but rather had the talents of Lauren, Michael, and Jason. We made a Bolognese sauce and pasta, along with salad (something I could help with, although washing lettuce required antibacterial drops for the water) and garlic bread. Alex came to the rescue with the red wine (take THAT, Mexican Election Day Law!), and a delicious dinner (we hope!) was enjoyed by all.

Tomorrow we’re headed back out to the communities – the elections are over so there shouldn’t be any more issues. Hard to believe this is our last week here, and that we only have two more days of health fairs. Where has the time gone?