"Where the bloody hell have I been"

Que pasa Joshua?

Did I get the swine flu and fall of the face of the earth? Did the credit crisis cancel my credit cards and life? Did the central americans get tired of my hopeless excuse for Spanish and cut out my tongue? Did Obama fly me off to Cuba to negociate a truce? Well as good as those stories would have been, the truth is a little less extravigant.

I got salmonella in Guatemala!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I can tell you for a moment there I was in a bad way, all alone, hospitalized in a strange place with people I couldnt really understand. I felt along way from home and needless to say wish I had family there to help me, but as the saying goes, "what doesnt kill you, makes you stronger" and thats how I feel now. The doctor actually was quite amazed because from the blood test he could tell that my body had been fighting the bacteria for 2-4weeks before I finally surrcomed to it. Luckily I had my Guatemalan spanish teacher Pedro come and comfort me (poor guy, I cried like a baby when he arrived), and I must also say thanks to my fellow spanish student and friend Tamara for helping me get back on my feet. To be truthful, and thats what this blog is all about RIGHT, I seriously considered ending the my odysee there and then, but something inside pushed me on. I dont know if it was the shame of not finishing what I set out to do, or if it was the stubborn nature I can possess at times, but whatever it was I am only thankful now, as today I write to you from COLOMBIA.

Before I get into a rant about Colombia, I wanna back track a little and recall as best I can what Ive been doing since March 31st my last post.

So in late March I saw one of the highlights of my trip near San Critobal, Chiapas in Mexico. San Cristobal is deep in the heart land of the indigenous mayan communities of Mexico. On a day trip to a nearby mayan village I visited a church that truly took my breath away. This particular village is vigilant in protecting its cultural heritage and even now practises the healing and sacrificial ceremonies of its ancient ancestors. Unfortunately this vow to protect doesn´t allow picutes inside the church (as one stupid traveller found out, when he was promptly removed from the church by force), so I will describe it to you as best I can. From the outside it looks like just another place of worship, but once inside the true impact of the mayans is felt. Imagine a dimley lit church a wash with thousands of candles burning not only to provide light but also to cast out bad spirits that have entered many of the sick, imagine a constant hypnotic hum of shamen (mayan medicine healers) recalling ancient prayers to heal the sick, imagine the weathered faces of mayan elders starring back at you, deep in prayer for the wellbeing of their communities and families.
I pause here because you may not like the next part of the description, (please dont read on if you find cruelty to animals hard to stomach).

The sacrificial element involves taking a live chicken and gently waving it up and down over the sick persons body to extract the bad spirits, the healer continues with hypnotic prayers of the maya, then the chicken is killed swiflty by breaking of the neck (this was done right in front of me), after the ceremony is completed the chicken is buried to ensure the bad spirits dont return. This was very hard to witness but I do not pass any judgement on the morality of this practice, as this ceremony has its origins hundreds of years ago and the mayan people of today truly believe this is the best way to heal the sick.

Ok so I covered some pretty heavy ground in this blog and Im thinking I will leave it there and will continue when I next write, which I promise will be very soon. Just so you know where and what I am doing now, I am staying in Bogota with the family of a uni friend back home, they are awesome and Ive already had a good look around the city and surrounds, its very cool. Im hoping to go to the amazon on Friday but having trouble with flights, so fingers crossed.

Take care and don´t get salmonella.

Odysee out.