Letting Down My Guard – By Jeremy Carter – Guest blogger traveling in Merida, Mexico.
One of the best parts about my stay in Mexico has been the people I've met, and in particular the Yucatecans. The people in Mexico are famously nice, but the folks here on the peninsula bump it up a notch (or ten). In fact, this has also provided one of the biggest challenges for me: letting down my guard. In the US, we've become so cynical that we're often unnecessarily leery of others, automatically questioning their motives if they try to help us out, especially if we don't know them. Here in Merida, the people really are just that nice.
As I've blogged about before, customer service in most shops here is second to none. Convenience store clerks are relentlessly friendly and recognize your face even after only one visit, and taxi drivers will want to know your life story before telling you theirs. This afternoon I took my third trip in a week to Progreso, a port town 25 minutes north of Merida. The owner of the store where I bought my snacks a few days ago recognized me when I walked in, even though she likely sees hundreds of people every day. The waiter at the restaurant where we ate told us how he lives in Merida and commutes to Progreso everyday, and he was always right there whenever we needed something.
My friend left the beach early afternoon to head back to Merida for a siesta, but I decided to stick around. A few minutes later, the sky opened and let loose a torrential downpour (or aguacero, as it's called in Spanish…a word that strikes me as odd considering a downpour is anything but "zero water"). What few international tourists there were at the beach left, and I ended up being (seemingly) the only gringo left. Since I'm 6'1 and untanned with hair halfway down my back, I stood out in the crowd. But instead of feeling uncomfortable, I was welcomed as part of the gang.
A man with his two young daughters chatted me up about where I'm from and what I was doing in Mexico, and his oldest daughter wanted me to take a photo of them with my camera so I could take a memory of them back to the US. Then a dude named Enrique dragged me over to his group of friends, where I learned how a guy in Mexico dances if he's out alone (right hand over the heart).
A couple of hours later, when I finally went back to the bus station to catch the bus back to Merida, two young students saw my shock at the length of the line and brought me up to the front with them, and when we got back to Merida one of them showed me around downtown for an hour, and I thanked him by treating him to a paleta (popsicle) and my favorite heladeria.
I could go on for hours about other examples the kindness and generosity I've experienced over the past three weeks. It's definitely one of the best memories I'll take back with me to North Carolina when I leave this weekend, and it'll count as one of the greatest lessons I've learned: to slow down a bit, and give people the benefit of the doubt.

Horseback Riding around the Cotopaxi – By Robin Fillner – SALUD Program Guest blogger traveling in Quito.
The Amerispan SALUD program has had activities for us to attend on all the weekends. So far they have been incredibly well organized and mind-blowing! Our group was so impressed with our last weekend that we couldn't possibly imagine what was to be next. But last weekend definitely topped the weekend before.
This past weekend, I went with the SALUD group to a volcano called Cotopaxi. The mountain lies directly on the equator and is therefore symbolic with the indigenous people. The mountain always has snow on it and can be seen from Quito although it is several hours away by bus. I think the ride there took 3 hours, excluding the stops we made along the way. Our guide, Santiago spoke only a little English, but we preferred Spanish anyway. He was extremely knowledgeable about the geology, culture, natural history, etc. of the area and was eager to share all of this with us.
We arrived at Hacienda Provincial or Tierra de Volcanes (an other name for it?) which I highly, highly recommend if you're ever in the area. The wind was blowing 80 km/hour and so it was freezing. I was layered up and had my Andean gloves, hat, and scarf on. After unloading, we were served "canellaso" tea, a tea made with cinnamon and lemon. It hit the spot and warmed us up. We were encouraged to take aspirin and eat a lot of sugar, which I had no problem with, due to the altitude. I believe we were just at 4000 meters. We all had chocolate and candy!
Next, we dressed up in chaps and ponchos and saddled up for a 4-hour ride in the countryside adjacent Cotopaxi. The ride was incredible. Santiago guided us along the countryside; he said he has ridden horses for 18 years and used to be a bullfighter. We rode along empty farmland and through some fields with giant "toros"(bulls) in them. We had a little brave dog with us that rounded up the bulls and herded them to the other side of the field so we could ride through.
Eventually, Santiago let us gallop the horses if we felt comfortable. I was so excited to go fast. At first, it was hard to hang on but then it seemed just like surfing! I'm serious! I was surfing my horse! We ran up to a clearing on top of a valley. On one side, was a tall mountain resembling a profile of a face and on the other, in the distance, was the snow-capped Cotopaxi. If I didn't know better, I would have thought I was in Montana. It was beautiful, and cold. We stopped to eat lunch and drink a mint tea, known to help with effects of altitude.
After we returned, we ate a spectacular lunch. They even prepared eggplant for me, because I didn't want to eat chicken. Then, I fell asleep on a couch in front of a fireplace in the hacienda and didn't find out until later that the other students went out to milk cows. Oh well.
Afterwards, we went out for a hike to a waterfall. Along the way, Santiago pointed out which wildflowers made which tea and help with different illnesses. The waterfall was cool, but I didn't really get why it was significant. Back at the hacienda we had an incredible dinner and sat around the fireplace talking stories. Our beds were made with thick comforters that made for easy, warm sleeping.

Things You May Or May Not Have Wanted To Know About Egypt -
By Glenn Rigby
"Hey, isn't Egypt that place with the pyramid?" We've all heard questions like these a thousand times. But how do we answer them? "Yes," would suffice, but I am inclined to provide more information than needed when it is available.
Now you can, too! The next time one of your friends asks you a random question about Egypt, you can dazzle and amaze them by providing any or all of these interesting factoids.
- Egypt's capital, Cairo, is the largest city in Africa and in the Middle East.
- Egypt is the 16th most populous country in the world (76,000,000 people), and is ranked 30th in total area (386,560 square miles).
The seven wonders of the ancient world were known as:
1. The Great Pyramid of Giza
2. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
3. The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
4. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
5. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
6. The Colossus of Rhodes
7. The Lighthouse of Alexandria
- The pyramids of Egypt, the oldest of the seven wonders of the ancient world, are the only one of those wonders to survive to the present day.
- In order to deter flies from landing on him, Pepi II of Egypt always kept several naked slaves nearby whose bodies were smeared with honey.
- The boat found near the pyramid of Cheops is the oldest complete boat in the world – it is believed to be four and a half thousand years old and had been dismantled into over a thousand pieces before being buried.
- Cleopatra wasn't Egyptian, she was Greek.
- As well as preserving the bodies of their rulers, the ancient Egyptians also mummified birds and animals linked to their gods: cats, bulls, crocodiles and ibises have been found in their thousands, carefully mummified and wrapped.
- In the Middle Ages and for hundreds of years after, mummies were believed to be a powerful medicine and were ground up into powder and drunk in a potion.

Beijing vs. Shanghai – By Alexa Boyce
While Beijing and Shanghai have roughly the same population, the cities vary widely in nearly every other way. Beijing is the commercial and technological center of China, Shanghai is the cultural and historical center. The government filters quite a bit of funds into Beijing for the sole purpose of development, and the city is currently working overtime in preparation to host the 2008 Olympics.
If a foreign visitor sees only that which is located within the city limits of Beijing, they will come away with an impression of the country that is, quite frankly, completely inaccurate. Shanghai also is in a period of rapid development, but it is more a city of extremes. Next to the gleaming skyscrapers and elaborate department stores, you will see homeless children and prostitutes.
Beijingers are stereotypically held to be open, confident, humorous, majestic in manner, enthusiastic about politics, art, culture, or other "grand" matters, unconcerned with thrift or careful calculation, and happy to take center stage. People from Shanghai have long been categorized by other Chinese as materialistic, pretentious and disdainful of provincials.
Beijing, meaning "northern capital" is located at the northern tip of the North China Plain. It is also the name of the Municipality, or province, in which the city is located. Shanghai's name means literally on (shang) sea (hai). It is located on the East China Sea, which is part of the Pacific Ocean. In Beijing, most of the widely-recommended tourist spots are related to historical events, such as the Forbidden City and Tiannamen Square.
In Shanghai, the tourist spots are mainly art galleries and theaters. Shanghai was the birthplace of Chinese cinema and theater, though Beijing is the home of the Beijing Opera. This is widely considered to be one of the greatest accomplishments of Chinese Culture. It is performed through song, dialogue, acrobatics, fighting and gestures. It is often performed in an archaic "stage dialect" that is very different from modern Mandarin. It can be hard to understand even if one is familiar with Chinese, so many modern theaters utilize electronic subtitles.
Sources:
www.wikipedia.com
Lonely Planet Travel Guide- China

We've all seen it. You go to a wedding or the like, an event with a live band and far too much available alcohol and one of the guests whose possibly had too much to drink or is just the type who likes to act silly in public is, before you know it, out on the dance floor doing it, "the Russian dance." Arms folded, knees bent, trying and most likely failing to look strong and capable while getting their body down to the ground and then up again while kicking. Add vodka and it immediately improves its authenticity but sadly, not its execution.
Unlike the poor renditions seen at American weddings, Russian folk dances come from long tradition and show off the physical prowess of the participants as well as tell their origin folk stories.
The dance described earlier could be Drobushki, Peresek, Chechetka or Barynya, a favorite Russian step dance. Heel work is usually paired with khlapuski (slapping) and also prisyatki (squat work). Difficult moves used by dancers can express flirtation, challenge and competition. Drobushki is usually accompanied with acapella singing or with traditional Russian instruments including garmoshka, treshotki, lozhki (spoons) or the balalaika, a three-stringed instrument.
Barynya represents original Russian wild dancing with foot stomping and knee bending jumps. The dancers get so wound up they often break the heels from their boots.
Another dance with its history in Russia, awe inspiring and still flocked to today is, ballet (a lot less fun to imitate at weddings). Even though its origins are rooted in Italy and its beginnings in France the Russians took the form and both brought it to a wider audience as well as popularized it; they created stars like Pavlova and Nijinsky.
Dance is an integral part of Russian history, tradition, social costume and it's people.
I think the moral of the story is, you'd dance too if it were 14 degrees below zero.
Sources:

http://www.barynya.com/russian_folk.stm

http://it.stlawu.edu/~rkreuzer/pmcmanus/history.html

ER in Quito – By Robin Fillner – SALUD Program Guest blogger traveling in Quito.
…Please be aware that the following blog contains graphic descriptions of scenes witnessed in an operating room. Reader discretion is advices.
Yesterday was pretty interesting. First, I attended rounds with the students. The patients we studied were in an observation room adjacent to the ER. The patients go there for a couple of days before actually being admitted, if necessary. We talked about different clotting times when taking warfarin, a blood thinner and different medication interaction when taking warfarin. The students participated in writing orders… and me too; I added cardiac diets to the cardiac patients. Most of the patients had pyelonephritis, a kidney infection.
Today, I hung out in the ortho room. We examined about 100 x-rays and discussed fractures and dislocations, etc., in between patients with broken bones. The students are so quick; it was hard to find the fractures before them.
After rounds yesterday, (don't read this if you have a queasy stomach but definitely read the end!) I hung out in the trauma room and there was a patient that was driven from La Costa, the coast, about 5 or 6 or maybe more hours away… that had been in a fight with another man regarding a land dispute. The angry man attempted to cut his head off with a machete or a hatchet; I couldn't understand which. But the patient had two cuts from the middle right ear all the way around to below his left ear. By the time I got there the patient already had a central line ( a main IV,) and was bandaged up. He had an ET tube and was being ventialated and had a midazolam drip running for sedation.
There was no cardiac monitor in sight and I really don't think anyone had taken his vital signs. He was moving all his extremities which was impressive and we had to hold him down because there were no restraints, or side rails. I got to go up to surgery with him. When they removed the bandages, arteries instantaneously started pulsing with blood. I was so impressed that the patient was so stable! The doctors immediately clamped off maybe 10 or so sites to decrease the bleeding. Inside the wound, you could see that his cranium had been severed, and so you could see his brain. I had never ever seen anything like this before. Also, part of his cervical vertebrates were cut as well. My Spanish teacher said it is common for injuries like this (although more likely on extremities) to happen in the coast because machetes are the only source of weapons there. There was an anesthesiologist, a plastic surgeon, a vascular surgeon, neurosurgeon, and about 5 other people there to watch. I was so impressed with the nurses and the sterility of the room. However, I had to hold the patient for a while because he was on his side and the only method they had to keep his legs on the table was with tape. A little precarious, the doctors in the room took pictures of the wounds with their cell phones, which I thought was a little weird.
Sorry if I ruined any appetites. The whole experience is really eye opening. There are a lot of differences in medicine here vs. the US. I will discuss some of them in the next blog.

By Kayla Allen
The Amalfi Coast is known worldwide for it beauty. Famous for its views, its food, its walking tours and the diversity of its towns, it's got a little something for everyone.
Nature
Amalfi's oceanic views will turned even the most stalwart city dwellers into nature lovers with its bright blue water and villas built into the hillside, you simply can't help falling in love.
For the already seasoned nature lovers there is Ferriere Nature Reserve which hosts a variety of plants and wildlife including salamander, badger, fox and many birds like the kestrel and the red woodpecker. Due to the reserve's position in a valley it is protected by the cold winter wind and has a pretty consistent temperature of about 59F degrees with high humidity. These characteristics help the reserve to act as a nursery keeping plants that would find it very difficult or impossible to grow anywhere else on the coast.
Food
Italian food with some of the freshest fruits and vegetables, seafood, cheeses, and sumptuous pasta dishes how could you go wrong. Not to mention the wonderful world of Campania wines.
Lemons are always used in the local cuisine in the preparation of main courses, sweets, ice cream and simple refreshing drinks, such as lemonade. Lemon liqueur is one of the most famous foodstuffs on the coast, offered after meals and always served cold.
A mainstay of every lunch on the Amalfi coast and in Neapolotan cuisine in general is strong black coffee.
History
Amalfi has no shortage of museums owing to its long and interesting history.
Il Museo della Ceramica
A Museum dedicated to local ceramics with pieces dating back to XV century and votive ceramic of the XVII century.
Il Museo della Collegiata Chiesa di S.Maria a Mare
This church was built during the XII century and was turned into a museum a few years ago. It contains many objects thought to be holy, Spanish sculpture from the XVI century and its most treasured piece from that period, an ivory casket.
Sources:
www.amalficoast.com
www.amalfilife.com/tours_culinary_06.html

Vaqueria and the Pyramid Across the Street – By Jeremy Carter – Guest blogger traveling in Merida, Mexico.
Last night, I headed down to Merida's main square for the weekly performance of the vaqueria, a dance native to Yucatan. In this dance, couples dressed in traditional attire (white suits and white dresses, all with intricate embroidery) do a spirited dance where their torsos remain nearly motionless and their legs and feet move. (Think a Mexican version of Riverdance, only a lot more graceful.) To further demonstrate their skill, the performers dance with a glass of water balanced on their head…then they up the ante and dance while balancing a platter of five or more glasses of water. As if that weren't enough, they next dance with the platter on their heads while standing on a small box that's no more than a square foot in size.
Today, Armando – the archaeologist who doubles as our Mayan culture instructor – took our class to Izamal, a town about 45 minutes east of Merida. We were expecting an archaeological site with perhaps a few homes and small tiendas, so we were shocked to find a rather large and very beautiful colonial town where all of the buildings are painted yellow with white accents, and the streets are paved with cobblestone. The town square is lined with shops and vendors, and today was quite a busy day…although compared to the hustle and bustle of Mérida, Izamal seemed to be a sleepy town.
The focal point of the town square is the Franciscan convent, an enormous structure built in the 16 century on the site of a Mayan pyramid which the Spanish conquistadors dismantled. The convent still contains many of the original murals showing the Spanish settlers, while the cathedral contains elegantly dressed statues of various saints and the Virgin Mary.
Then of course there are the ruins of Izamal. What makes these ruins so different from the others we've visited is the fact that they're scattered throughout the town. So from a back staircase at the convent you have a view of a pyramid being restored, and a nearby residential street divides a row of houses from another pyramid. I can't imagine what it must be like to look out your front door and see a pyramid that's more than 1,400 years old, but the people living in Izamal likely don't think anything of it. We climbed one of the pyramids, which has been restored about halfway up, but the second half of the stairs leading up to the top were extremely rocky and even. However, the view from the top — with the convent and matching yellow stores and homes in the foreground and a 360-degree view of the flat, green Mexican countryside — made the climb up (and the even more harrowing descent) well worth it.