July 7, 2017 Buga, Colombia

July 7, 2017

You can't say no to salsa.

I have been in Colombia for only a week, and I have already danced on two separate occasions, once in Bogota and once here in Buga.  It has been eons since I last partner danced, and no alcohol had been involved in those days.  But the Colombian people seem to feel it's just as natural to dance with a stranger as it is to talk with one over a drink or two--their warmth has melted my cold northern blood a bit, I must say.

The courtyard at Hotel EcoBoutique in Bogota.

                                   A singer and a few dancers (Bogota).

Or maybe it's the weather.  As of now it's about 83, with a 55% chance of rain (typical for the jungle).  One of the 15 Colombian teacher's we're training told us that the weather report here is always inaccurate, and so far I think she's right; it has not rained once in Buga (at least not during my waking hours), and the humidity is not as bad as in Micronesia, in spite of what I'd read online.  (I honestly don't think any place is more humid than Micronesia, although Mississippi in July comes close.)

We did have a rather strange rain two days ago, however.  Shreds of blackened sugar cane leaves (burned to prevent the workers' hands from being sliced up) slowly floated down around the compound, floating like feathers onto our shoulders and clothing.  The IMCA hotel, where we are staying, has an small open courtyard in the center, and the floor was sprinkled with the ashes here, too.

A typical day here begins at about 6 am if I'm going walking around "the farm"; or 7 am if I sleep in.  I shower and apply bug repellent before walking to the kitchen/dining room.  Zika, dengue fever, and malaria have all been reported in the area.  I've had three mosquito bites so far (not bad for me, but being reminded of the burn of tropical mosquito bites was not pleasant the first time) and so far I don't seem to be dying of anything.

Our breakfasts are usually eggs and an arepa, a sort of fry bread made of corn.  Sometimes there is cereal or yogurt.  There is almost always fruit and fruit juice (mango, passion fruit, guava, pineapple, or papaya).  Today we had little croissants with the local queso inside (sort of the consistency of feta cheese, but with a milder flavor).  We have also had a fruit almost exactly like a Kosraean tangerine, with a green rind that is easy to peel and is filled with small orange fruit that tastes like lime and tangerines had a love affair.

 At El Parque de las Iguanas in Buga

Our morning training session begins at 8:30 and breaks at 10:30 for a snack (more fruit and/or fruit juice, and sometimes something fried, like plantains), and we continue for another hour until lunch.  At this time, more bug repellent follows, because the dining room is completely open-air--which is lovely with breezes but involves a lot of flies and mosquitoes.  Lunch has been beef, chicken, or fish, with white rice, some kind of small vegetable or salad (the beets were fantastic!), and something fried.  After lunch we have kind of a siesta from 1:00 - 3:30.  Sometimes people take a taxi to town to go shopping or sightseeing (the basilica and the iguana park are the only sights, really), or else stay behind to sleep, swim, or catch up on work or e-mails. 

                                                                                Things that will not make it through U.S. Customs.

The afternoon wakes up a bit with a snack, usually more fruit and fruit juice, although we've had jello and yesterday we had brownies with ice cream!  Our participants usually present their book club activities or lesson plans in the afternoon, with dinner from 6-7 (more of the same), and evening session from 7 until 8:30 or so.  My co-teacher and I usually help groups prepare for their presentations until 9:30 or so. 

It is after sunset that the geckos really take off their chirping—catching mosquitoes and cheering each other on, it seems.  They remind me so much of the lamwher on Pohnpei!  Same size, color (a kind of peachy-pinkish-grey), and sound!

After dinner and evening session, it's more bug spray and beer (the popular brand is Club, pronounced cloob, which is basically Bud Light with an Inca drawing on the can) and/or sleep.

I am so much busier here than I ever was in Micronesia, and three or four of the students are quite fluent in English, so we are always laughing and talking.  I love being in the jungle again--for the most part the air is comfortably humid, and I hardly need lotion at all.  I love seeing all of the green plants—lime trees, banana trees, mango trees, papaya trees, sugar cane—and the brilliantly colored birds (yellow canarios and a few others I don’t know the names of yet) and flowers (birds of paradise and bromeliads that look like pink pineapples).  I love seeing how well the dogs and cats are treated (even though there are only a couple of each and they are quite shy, they don't seem to have fleas or ticks and have all of their limbs and no mange).  

Health care is not a political issue!

All men are created equal.

I keep coming back to the "all men are created equal" thing.

Intrinsically, from the minute we're born, the life of the king's son is equal to the life of the scullery maid's daughter.  The President's life is equal to mine, no matter how much money, power, or property either of us have.  To me, this means all Americans deserve affordable health care, period.  This is not a political issue.  Republicans and Democrats both get cancer.  They both are rich and they both are poor.  This is about the human body being susceptible to illness and old age, no matter who you are. 

Before I continue:  I am not a health care or legal expert, just a concerned citizen venting on her blog.  I tend to vote Democrat, but I am not averse to voting for a Republican if they can do a better job.  Please keep that in mind as you read.

Thomas Jefferson, the main author of the Declaration of Independence, supposedly believed "[w]e are all equal in the eyes of God, and we are all entitled to equal rights." (pbs.org.  2002.  Freedom:  A History of Us.  "The Declaration of Independence".  Picture History and Educational Broadcasting Corporation.)   Of course Jefferson and the other framers of our Constitution weren't perfect men.  Jefferson owned slaves, so his definition of equality is questionable, in my opinion.  Still, I wonder what Jefferson would think about the idea of millions of Americans going without healthcare--when providing that health care was just accomplished by the last administration.

Check out the 9th Amendment: 

"The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage 

others retained by the people."

I'm not a legal scholar, of course, but basically to me it reads:  "Just because we're not putting health care down here in writing doesn't mean people don't have a right to it."  I know a lot of folks have used the 9th as the "right to privacy" amendment.  Legally, privacy means:  "freedom from unauthorized intrusion".  As a woman, I consider anyone's restriction of my right to access women's health resources (including Planned Parenthood--cancer screens, birth control for my endometriosis, etc.) an unauthorized intrusion.  Gun rights activists get angry if their rights are threatened, but a gun is not a body part.  A gun is a possession separate from your body.  I believe people can own a gun if they want--that's a right we have in this country, although I personally abstain from gun ownership.  But if you are upset over restrictions on guns and ammo, imagine how I feel when someone tries to tell me what I can and cannot do with my body!

I honestly don't want to get into the whole debate about abortion or gun ownership.  That's not what this is about.  Again, these are my opinions, and you can agree or disagree because this is America.

I don't want this blog entry to be about politics.  I do want it to be about people having equal value as human beings, and having the same access to health care, regardless of income, religion, color, sexual orientation, etc., etc., etc.

And what about the pursuit of happiness?  How can one pursue happiness if they've got MS, or cancer, or some other painful and/or extremely expensive illness?  How can one pursue happiness if they are penniless due to paying for their treatments out of pocket--selling their house, their car, pawning family jewelry, etc.? 

There are those who say, "Suck it up.  Life is pain.  Learn from Job:  you can be happy and faithful to God even in the midst of your suffering."  And, yes, there are those incredible, inspiring people who have done just that.  Bethany Hamilton, one of my heroes, lost her arm in a shark attack but still surfs competitively.  Helen Keller, another hero, lost her sight and hearing to an illness but still went to college.  There is a time to complain and a time to get up and get on with your life.  But I wonder how many of us--including myself--would have a hard--if not impossible--road trying to follow their example without decent health care.  I'm pretty sure both of my heroes had access to good doctors and medicine when it mattered.

We have proven that affordable health care can be made more accessible to our nation's citizens.  If you care nothing for the value of lives you see as less than your own, surely you can still see that a healthy employee is more productive and therefore gains more profits for the company.  And if your company won't provide health insurance for its workers, then you should at least stand back when the federal government steps up to keep your workers healthy.