Business as Unusual

This could end up being the most boring post yet, so be prepared. The first half of my Mexican experience is over. It probably should be time to reflect, but I'm not in that frame of mind yet, so I'll tell you what I've been up to instead.

I gave a couple of talks the last couple of weeks, one to a group of docs and enfermeras at the local hospital, the other at CREE, the clinic where I work. Both in Spanish of course. The first presentation addressed the role of exercise in the rehabilitation of patients with cancer. This is a topic I admittedly knew little about, and I was given 8 days to prepare for it. I suppose this is penance for having too much fun down here. Those of you that are in the medical fields know how hard it is to keep up with the current literature. The problem here is at least 90% of the research in science these days is done in English, and little of it makes its way down the translation pipeline, so the docs here that don't at least read English (I would guess the vast majority) have added problems keeping up. Enter gringo. Anyway, the talk went well, but I blanked on how to say 500 (quinientos) en espanol, but the audience seemed to forgive me for it. I think putting together these talks has helped me with the past tense, since a good deal of the talks are literature reviews.

The second talk was more up my alley, a comparison of acute tendinitis and chronic tendinosis with rehabilitation implications. As I mentioned in the last post, I actually used this as a vehicle to compare therapy in Mexico with that in the U.S.. I knew it would create some tension with the physiatrists here, they tend to treat the PT's as techs, but I felt it was my duty to speak up in their behalf. Exit gringo. The reaction was mixed, actually some of the PT's were more shaken up by it then the docs, probably because I contrasted the more modern, differential diagnosis, evidence based, active type therapy that is commonly practiced in the states (and by some of the younger therapists here) with the passive, modality driven type that is more common here, especially with the older therapists. Anyway, I had a couple of therapists tell me that I have been a positive influence on them, and that they are going to try to read more, ask more questions, think more before treating. It kinda made me all warm and fuzzy inside, but, after brushing the tears from my eyes, I went back to work.

I must admit that I have gotten a little lazy studying Spanish the last couple of weeks. I'm trying to pay closer attention to what people say, so my comprehension is somewhat better, but I haven't been looking things up as much, etc. It really has been quite mentally exhausting, this process. I still fear the out of context question, because it often takes me a bit of time to figure out what is being said. My speaking is better, I have been able to include more tenses, including the imperfect, preterit, conditional, future, a bit in the present perfect, imperative, and have even been dipping my toe into the subjunctive occasionally.

As far as traveling goes, Aldo and I went on a jaunt last weekend. We were originally going to go straight to Holbox, this island in the northeast corner of la península Yucatán. I said originally, because we missed the exit from the autopista north to the island and ended up almost in Cancun before we realized our error. It really wasn't an error, though, because there wasn't an exit there. In Mexico, to save money, they only have toll stations every so often, so they simply don't have exits were you would think they would. Anyway, it ended up being fun for me, because I hadn't been to Cancun in some 27 years. Boy has it changed. But one thing that hasn't changed are the incredible beaches. We were walking along the beach and I noticed this archeological site nested between two hotels. It is hard to see, but I really got a kick out of it so I decided to post it. Cancun is dfferent from Playa del Carmen in two ways, there are more Gringos and bigger waves in Cancun. The reason there are no waves in Playa del Carmen is because the island of Cozumel is just off the coast and blocks them, you can actually see Cozumel from the beach at Playa del Carmen. Anyway, I love to body surf, so I let the waves pile-drive me into the sand for a few hours, we then cruized the malls (you might as well be in Los Angeles when your there), spent the night, and made our way to Hobox the next day. Here is a picture of those pile-driving waves, of course with perfectly blue water, sugar sand, etc, etc.

Holbox is an island famous for los tiburones ballenas (whale sharks) that migrate very close to shore in great density. They have tours that take you out to swim with them. It must be quite an experience, since whale sharks (the largest fish in the world) can grow in excess of 40 feet long, and there are often dozens of them at a time. During the whale shark season, Holbox is evidently a bustling place. Unfortunately, the season for the whale sharks doesn't start until late May, so we had to be content splashing around in the ocean, which was more like a therapy pool in both placidity and temperature. I have enclosed a picture of the front of our hotel, which was right on the beach (you can sort of see it in the background). All told, it was very relaxing. We then headed back to Campeche, and, save an out of control truck coming right at us that might have squashed us like a bug, the ride back was uneventful. I am heading off to Tulum in a couple of weeks, so I hope to have more fun stuff to talk about and share with you, but for now, Adios!!