Last Assignment!

We finished up our research with a poster presentation to the Las Cruces community.  Other groups had studied medicinal plants or maternal health care in the indigenous territory (the Ngobe), so the traditional healers and the midwives were invited to come to our presentation, which was great. 

Apparently the Ngobe healers took a tour around the botannical garden afterwards, and were very interested in getting some of the plants for their gardens back at La Casona.  Since relations regarding medicinal plants are a little sensitive with the indigenous communities, since they've had their secrets taken without much regard for intellectual property rights in the past, it was nice to know that we had a positive relationship with the community.

My group didn't have much interaction with people, but we did see lots of interest when we collected water samples from houses.  The people we talked to were genuinely interested in the outcomes of our projects, and they were always very friendly and welcoming.

Yesterday we made some Costa Rican moonshine, i.e. chicha.  This is a take on the fermented corn beverage that the Ngobe and other indigenous groups make.  Ours consisted of pineapple, ginger, maize, cloves, and lots of raw brown sugar.  There's no distilling involved, just fermentation.  It's going to be quite the brave tasting adventure in a few days.

 Doesn't it look delicious?

Today some of us took a quick hike around the jungle -- flashback to our first weekend here.  This time, we went to a little waterfall!  The hike was very necessary to shake off the cabin fever that's the result of two and a half weeks in the same place.  Since when has that happened in this program?  We also haven't got our fair share of nature lately, aside from crawling around in pastures and digging up soil from forests and coffee farms.

Now we just have our papers to hand in tonight, and then we have a surprise trip this weekend!  Scheduled fun time strikes again.

In exactly four days, I will be ready to land in Miami International Airport and then to Logan.  I am definitely ready to come home, see my friends and family, and celebrate United States festivities again (July 4th will make up for missing Marathon Monday), but it's going to be hard to say goodbye to the great people here.  For a bunch of science students who signed up to experience the same schedule and classes day after day, our group is a lot more diverse than I would've expected.  This semester gave me so much insight into medicine through the lens of humanity and anthropology, instead of the biological perspective that I'm used to. As well as more information than I ever dreamed about regarding tropical plants and diseases.

Hasta luego!
Anya