Days 6 and 7: Las gringas de la selva

Sorry for the delay in posts, we have spent the past couple days in Tikal, Guatemala. Tikal is part of the Petén region, the largest region in Guatemala with 35,854 sq. km. It is an extremely rural region full of indigenous tribes, history and traces of the Mayan culture. Tikal itself is known as “La Puerta Grande de Los Mayas,” the “Corazon del mundo maya,” or as “La Ciudad Perdida.” It is the final refuge for species which need large expanses of jungle to survive such as: pumas, jaguars, red macaws, white-lipped peccary, and howler monkeys. You may recognize it in several Star Wars movies as well.

Toucan spotting at sunrise!

The view from one of at least 37 temples!

            We arrived to the Flores airport at 7:30PM on Friday and were picked up by a shuttle to drive about an hour and a half up to Tikal and the national park. The drive there was an experience within itself. It seemed as if there is one main road leading into the park and through the Flores/Peten region. Along this one road there were a bunch of little shops, a few open-air churches consisting of plastic chairs, an electric keyboard, and a full congregation  (even though it was a Friday night at 8:30 PM), a bunch of animals running around and Mayan villagers sitting around in one of the multiple “stores” watching the little traffic on this main street. We got to the Tikal Inn only stopping to purchase tickets into the park and to apply extra bug spray.

Up and at 'em at 4 AM.

            Then things started getting interesting. We made our plans to go to Tikal one of our first nights here then got completely engrossed in our work at Roosevelt, we really didn’t have time to consider exactly where we were going or what we would be encountering. So when the electricity (including the wifi, lights, outlets so we couldn’t charge phones, and warm water) was shut off for the entire hotel we were definitely caught off guard especially when we were planning to wake up at 3AM the next morning for a sunrise tour.

            But we survived with only 4 hours of electricity everyday and thoroughly enjoyed learning all about the Mayan culture, exploring ancient ruins, hiking through the jungle, bathing in mosquito spray, and seeing a variety of animals including spider and howler monkeys, red macaws, toucans, coatimunidis and more. Our tour guide, Enrique, who also went by Henry, not only led us through the jungle and ruins for eight hours but gave us a lot of insight into the Mayan culture and lifestyle of tribes outside of Guatemala City. We asked him particularly about medical practices in the Flores region. He told us that when anyone is sick they are sent to a garden where they grow a wide variety of medicinal herbs and plants used to treat anything from toothaches to deep wounds. During the tour, Enrique pointed out a medicinal tree whose leaves are used to numb toothaches. We were all given a leaf to chew on and it was incredible to experience the “magic” of natural medicine.  There are some patients from this region who travel all the way to Roosevelt but only when they are extremely ill, oftentimes when there is little that the doctors at Roosevelt can do.

Grand Plaza

            While there we ran into a few WashU medical students: Dan, Sangitha and Mike who have also been working in Guatemala City. It was great to spend some time with them, share stories and reconnect over our love of our university.

            We’ve returned exhausted, disgustingly dirty but so happy we got more insight into the history and culture of Guatemala and also the lives of many patients who come to Roosevelt from various villages around the country everyday. We can't wait to get back to work on Monday!

Climbing the Mayan temples