Has it really only been four days?

Entering Peru, I thought SWEET, FOREIGN COUNTRY. I was surprised to find that it does not actually seem so foreign to me - the parts of Lima that we saw were actually a lot like Bucharest (my home town in Ro), and maybe even slightly cleaner, and where we are now (Tarapoto, jungle town) reminds me of my grandma´s street - humid, kind of crumbling, but quaint. The biggest difference here (in Tarapoto) is the MOTOCICLETAS. There are SO MANY MOTOCICLETAS! (Pictures coming soon... if I ever figure out how to use the internet).

But maybe to begin at the beginning? My general impression of Lima was that it was covered in grey. I don´t want to say¨"blanketed" by grey because that sounds too... comfortable. More accurately, it was suffocated by grey clouds of pollution and humidity. The city is all mildew... a nice recipe of the city´s dead shedded skin and its skunky sweat.

But to be fair, we had a lot of fun in Lima. We enjoyed the Peruvian cuisine, checked out the catacombes, chilled in the Ayahuasca Bar (one of the world´s top 25 bars, but NOT a place with actual ayahuasca, just fyi), and went dancing in a salsa club. We couch surfed, so we got a full-force introduction to la vida limeña. Maybe it´s unfair to feel like we´ve gotten to know it in such a short time... but we feel that way regardless.

Yesterday we arrived in Tarapoto, a city of about 100,000 nestled in the trees under the shadow of the volcano San Martin. Oh wait, I lied. San Martin does not cast much shadow and it is really friggin sunny here! And hot! And humid! But beside that pesky little detail (and the peskier little mosquitos), we were instantly enchanted by this place. The house we are staying in, with the lovely couple Sylvia and Martin, is sort of half outdoors half indoors. Sylvia also provides us with food, and the two of them prefer to eat vegetarian. Que lecheras somos! (How lucky we are!) There is a 91 year old neighbor lady who told us she would pray for our future marriages (oh...kay...?) We visited a traditional medicine center that uses ayahuasca to treat drug addicts and also does some research. We will be returning there frequently these next two weeks to interview people for our research. They will also put us in touch with some local curanderos (healers) to speak to. I cannot stress how generous and welcoming everyone here is. We feel relatively safe, though we continue to be careful.

And I should note that, thus far, no stomach illnesses, yayyyy! Thank you, acidophilus.

Besos y abrazos,
Ana

Bonito Tarapoto

Hello beautiful people I love!

Ana and I survived the slick sidewalks of grey Lima (aka got a great tour of the city with our couchsurfing hosts) and are now sweating in Tarapoto, in the northern part of Peru. Even though we've moved closer to the rainforest, the mosquitos aren't too bad. Although I think I just got a bite on my throat. Damn it. Hopefully I won't collapse into Dengue fever.

Tarapoto is a really interesting city. Actually, it's hard for me to accept that it's a city because it's so directly based on the building blocks of small latin american towns like I saw 5 years ago in Honduras that I keep assuming I'm out in el campo. I think the core simliarity is that the spaces here are less hermetically sealed and defined. People have their homes that they keep free of animals and insects, but they aren't trying to be sterilized capsules. It's hard to distinguish sometimes what's inside and what's outside, you can peer through doorways and see trees, and the hallway to our room transitions from the front door to the backyard seamlessly. Although it departs from the european model, Tarapoto has the bustle of a city. There are tons of people here, in colorful squat adobe buildings or flying by on motorcycles and in carts pulled by said motos. It creates a fun pace on the streets, and I love seeing girls behind the handlebars.

For the two weeks that we're here in Tarapoto, we're boarding with a couple whose son is away studying in Lima. Their names are Martin and Sylvia and they are incredibly sweet. We share meals with them and Sylvia's mother Lydia and it's wonderful to chat with them over lentils, rice, and avocados. I feel strangely like I've gone home to something. El español, the smells of laundry, the roosters... My time is running out at the internet cafe, but I send love to all of you and will write more soon, especially about our budding research on traditional medicine use here.

Besos!

On the precipice

Final preparations for departure... I'm wearing a loaded backpack at the moment to see which bag I should take on this epic adventure. Other than the last little decisions (one mini-tube of toothpaste or two?), Ana and I are ready to go. We fly out tomorrow night!

Our trip is by nature flexible and responsive to opportunities we find along the way, but here's the proposed VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY that got us our funding:

The Bus-Ride Diaries: a medicinal exploration in Perú

In South America, the craft of adventure and exploration is not the sailboat on the rugged ocean but the public bus on the turbulent, even tempestuous dirt roads. It is on these avenues that we propose to explore our interests in ecology (Ana’s forté) and cultural photography (Justine’s), and our mutual passion for human health and wellbeing.

Environment is a key determinant of cultural adaptations. We chose Perú as our sea of exploration because, much like Darwin’s Galapagos islands, it provides a range of natural and cultural diversity. The country can be split into three main biogeographic regions: La Selva (the Amazonian rainforest), La Sierra (the Andean highlands and mountains), and La Costa (the coast). With Peru’s high environmental variability and the altering forces of land use and climate change in mind, we propose to study medicine use at a time when illness regimes are changing along with the climate. Particularly, we are interested in the interface between traditional and modern medicine, and people’s perspectives toward these two systems. This leads us to the following hypotheses:

Hyp 1: Peru’s biogeographic diversity results in adaptive variation in traditional medicinal ethnobotany. Hyp 2: The blend of modern and traditional medicinal practices varies across Peruvian communities in differing biogeographic regions. Hyp 2a: Perspectives toward modern versus traditional medicine are also regionally specific.

Through these hypotheses, we seek to characterize the underlying causes of the predicted diversity in medicine use, and how cultural diversity emerges as a response to differences in plant species richness and geographic space. For example, we expect that the plant biodiversity in tropical areas will lead to greater variety and reliance on traditional medicines than along the dry coast. Geographic space not only conditions biodiversity but also sophisticates cultural patterns of urbanization, land use, and mobility. Along the coast, for example, we expect to see stronger reliance on modern medicine because the coastal populations are less enclosed and largely disjunct from their historic ancestors. Further, we predict that choice of medicine will also depend on factors such as: availibility of alternatives, degree of contact with “Western” world, income and social class differentials, form of subsistence, and rural versus urban settings. We hope our experience will shed light on the interplay of these factors and uncover other factors as well.

We see this journey as a culmination of our respective academic backgrounds and a foray into our possible futures. Peruvian specialist Fernando Cabieses stated that traditional medicine is a “medical system, because it does not involve isolated knowledge about the healing properties of some elements, but forms part of a doctrine of health, illness, and the relationship between humans and nature.” Ana sees the systems approach to medicine as a parallel to that in her Earth Systems major, and believes that it is precisely the last part of Cabieses’ statement—the relationship between humans and nature—that is her niche in this proposed study.

Conversations about medicine create a portal into people’s lives and personal connections to their culture. Medicine links the individual with their societal context, and we will explore this nexus both from the perspective of health professionals and from within people’s homes. Justine sees her background as an Art Studio-Photography major as a lense for cultural investigation that can put into focus cultural aspects otherwise missed by science. By capturing the subject suspended in a moment of time, she can simulateneously pin down a reality and open a pandora’s box for interpretation.

Armed with Ana’s earth science background to understand the ecological context and Justine’s experience in holistic assessment to depict the cultural backdrop, we wish to explore our hypotheses in two ways: (1) observation and participation in medical centers, and (2) interviews with people in the medical field, local people in several key destinations, and anyone we meet along the way. We have arranged a three-week stay with the Takiwasi medical facility where we will work alongside medical staff at its drug rehabilitation center and learn how its researchers study the properties of traditional medicines. Our interviews will focus on what types of medicine people use, how they access them, and what their perspectives are toward traditional and modern medicines, but will also include demographic aspects of people’s backgrounds that may shed light on underlying causes of medicinal preferences. We have identified several organizations and curanderos (herbal healers) to interview, and will ask to see the local curanderos along the way[1]. We intend to approach a wide variety of people so as to decrease accidental bias that may result from the type of people that may be most predisposed or convenient to interview.

Our proposed 12-week journey will take us to four key locations (as detailed in the itinerary) spanning Perú’s different biogeographic regions. We will spend 2-3 weeks at each destination, and allow ourselves ample time to travel between them. We see our pre-set destinations as basecamps for the surrounding areas, which we plan to explore to the extent that it is possible. Rather than scheduling rest days, we give ourselves large time-buffers to accommodate rest as needed—although we specifically plan to indulge in restful discovery at Machu Picchu toward the end of the trip.

We wish to give back to the communities who host us by doing volunteer work within our capacities (we have already arranged to help with patient care and research at Takiwasi). Additionally, we see this cultural exchange as an opportunity to share our skills and education according to people’s interests—be it environmental education, artistic ventures, help with English language…or even circus.

Journal-keeping is somewhere between second-nature and obsessive habit for both of us, and we plan to use this to chronicle our findings, impressions, and adventures along the way. Justine will further document our journey through black and white film photography. Back in the U.S., Justine will display a collection of photographs and Ana will reframe the interviews and journal entries into a creative non-fiction narrative. These complementary visual and literary pieces will integrate our scientific findings with our personal experiences and ultimately, we hope to submit a joint book for publication.

We recognize that this journey has inherent dangers, but we believe that we are mitigating those in several ways: we speak Spanish; we have reliable contacts in each of our key destinations who will serve as allies in our safety net; we have chosen our routes and bus companies to maximize safety; we have considered the potential effects of the El Niño year[1]; and, we are both veteran travelers with highly-evolved instincts for identifying and evading dodgy people and precarious situations.

---

[1] Because shamanes (spiritual healers) may be involved in dangerous commercial rings, we will not seek them out.

[2] El Niño will most likely come to a close before our trip begins, especially because its onset came late, which typically means it will be relatively small and short. However, we are prepared to change our destinations to safer parts of Perú if the climate deems it necessary.

Thank you to Stanford Anthropology Department's Beagle II Award, both for the money and for the confidence in us and our project. Ditto for our families :)

Hasta pronto...