Think local. Act global. Learn more about the Peace Corps

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Waterfalls and feeding babies....

Greetings again from Honduras. It’s been a nutty time as usual.

The adventures and explorations here never stop. I’ve got two memorable stories from you from the past month….

A couple weeks ago some friends and I went to visit the only micro-brewery in the country, D&D Brewery. We were celebrating some birthdays and all in all it was a good time. The brewery is owned by an ex-pat and it’s a little bungalowy villiagy place out in the jungle. They serve their own beer and some delicious hamburgers, fries, and other choice platters.

Its always good to get together with friends and just hang. The best part about this trip is that one day a couple of us went on a trek to a waterfall. Well, it’s not really a trek but a bus ride and small walk in a park. We walked to a pretty big waterfall….maybe falling about 100 feet or so.

The waterfall itself is not so special. What we did after we just looked at it was. We ran into some Russians, Canadians, and Europeans we had met back at the brewery. We decided to all go on the “behind the waterfall tour”. What we thought was hiking to some caves turned out to be an all out plunge into the bottom of the pouring waterfall.

We set out climbing over rocks, then under rocks protecting us from the splashing of the falls. Then we trek out of the rocky cave area and into the flowing waterfall. This was no little waterfall. The girls decided to stay back because the pounding the water gave was too painful for them. So we head out and the massive force of the waterfall immediately pounds on us as we follow the person in front of us. I lose some people for a minute and think if I let go of some rocks I’m gonna get swept out and away. The tour goes on like this for about 15 minutes and then we end up standing behind the water pouring down from above.

I wish I had the photos of this but the Canuck who took all the pictures still hasn’t made contact.

It was a rush, and it felt awesome. I was soaking, adrenaline flowing, and feeling good. I was under that waterfall, just looking out, trekking along and thinking about the times down here. What if I would have never made it down here to Honduras? All the experiences of the past 19 months would be different, and I don’t know if I’d be living life to the extent I am now. I just sat with amusement and humility at the situations. Those are the moments I love the best.

And we all know the other moments I also find humorous include the public breastfeeding. Boobs…what can I say? They are great. But breastfeeding, as I know it, should maybe always be reserved for private areas or at least a little cover up… Although, we all did it at one time. I guess I have mixed emotions on it. Let me digress…

This past week I helped out a medical brigade. I would translate for the doctors as they saw patients. Every now and again a mother would sit down with the doctor and I with her baby locked in on that nipple…boob out, baby suckin’, and mom just going on with the consultation. Not that there is anything wrong with a mother breastfeeding her child, but right in my face as if its not happening is still a shocker for me after all this time. Even though my mom is a certified “lactation consultant,” it still gets me.

There was one particular mother who was young, and smiling at me the whole time with some giggles. I was maintaining the best eye contact and seriousness I could. It was all going great until the mother was explaining how she had slight pain in her chest. She pointed to the area; the Doc and I were asking her questions, and baby still feeding away and I had to look directly at the action. At that moment, I just realized that this is how it is. I’m helping out this doc, and we need to check out this mom even though that baby is sucking and sucking hard on that boob. This is what we got to do. We gotta help out some moms who don’t take breaks to supply little Esteban with an afternoon snack. Cultural sensitivity people.

After thinking, does it still shock and humor me? Yes. But hey, this is my experience and what I gotta do. This is what happens down here. Just roll with it…see some babies takin’ down some mother’s milk straight from the source in public…oh well. Wanna climb under and take the hit of pressure from a 100ft waterfall on the head? Sure, why not. It’s about livin’, seeing, and doing.

Waterfalls and boobs. Its just part it.

Until next time…

No comments:

Post a Comment