Witches Market

Well, i couldn't find my post about Peru, so I'll write a new one. I would tell you why I was in Peru but then I'd have to kill you. Actually it's not so exciting as that. I went there to look at child and maternal health in rural northern Peru. Now my background is in medical anthropology so this trip was right up my alley. We toured hosptials, met with government officials, and went to rural clinics. All of that was great. But the best part was a conversation I had with our translator on the way back from the clinic.

One of my areas of interest is folk illness and medicine. The translator and I got into a long conversation about folk illnesses which led her to telling me about the witches market. Now I have to say that that's not a great translation. A curandero(a) is a healer. But a lot of times it gets translated to witch.

The local market is a decent size. You can buy everything from laundry detergent to flowers there. And one whole corner is dedicated to herbs/curandero(a) supplies. There were herbs, and candles, and snake skins, and a monkey. Some was for good healing and some was for not so nice curandero(a)s. It was like years of research all within my reach. I could have spent a year just looking at the herbs and talking to the vendors. I'm pretty sure I could cure anything with the supplies there. Or at least empacho, susto, and mal ojo.

Oh, and just a warning, stay away from the corn juice from hell.

Anna

A year in review

I can't believe how long it's been since I've written. Three days after my last post, my aunt died. Shortly after that, my cat was diagnosed with diabetes, then I began a 6 month travel extravaganza. Understandably, my writting time has been curtailed. I realized though how much I miss writing. I don't often get creative outlets and this silly little blog was very therapeutic. So, here I am writing again.
There were high points to the last year. Some things that made me smile...
1) going back to the town in Spain that I studied in while in college. I could still find all of our favorite haunts after 12 years!
2) traveling. I have been to Peru, Savannah, Austin, Spain, Johnson City, Iowa City, Oklahoma City (I think that's all the 'cities'), Washington DC, Shreveport, Houston...I think that's all. I think my favorite was Peru. it was beautiful. My favorite part was the herbal market. I could have spent a year there learning about all the plants and remedies.
3) my nieces and nephew. I officially have two nieces and a nephew. I get to babysit for all of them. They are wonderful and make me happy.
So that's all for now. I do have a post from Peru that I'll post about the herbal market. It was so awesome.
Type soon!