Concepcion...Life

Life in Conce is simple, leaving me with plenty of time to think or rest my mind without too many distractions.  The days were easy.  Wake up.  Eat two eggs sunny side up with rice and salt.  My morning walk into the hills and into the center of town.  Then get ready for prenatal consults, which occurred unpredictably.

Trash filled creek bank on the way to town

On days with Antonina, I was asked to cook lunch -- specifically typical food of the Philippines.  And so on my second week here, it was my turn to feed the midwives, with Beef Asado, Chicken Adobo, and Chicken Tinola.  The market in the center of town closes at 12pm, at which time the center is empty and fresh vegetables are hard to find, unless you want to make the 10 minute microbus ride to the next town, which I often did not.  More time away from the clinic meant less time with potential patients.

My modified Chicken Adobo

Ofelia watches me cook

Chicken Tinola made with Huisquiles (Sayotes)

On days when I didn't cook, we subsisted on corn in every shape and form:  atol,  a drink made from cooked corn grains for a morning and afternoon snack; as tamales, wrapped in corn leaves to give it more flavor; and as tortillas, hand shaped and pressed.  And if that were not enough for carbohydrates, potatoes and rice came on the side.  A fervent Atkin's Diet follower's nightmare.  Potatoes are in abundance here because it is the heartiest crop in this area of Guatemala.  Many times meals consisted of tamales, rice, and potatoes, with picante on the side.  Many of those times I just craved a big chunk of meat.

Santos cooks tortillas on the plancha

In the washroom of the birth center there is a cement structure that resembles a small closet, with a door 3 1/2 feet tall, which in order to enter forces you to nearly come to your knees.  It is a chuj, or temascal, a structure that is found at the homes of all the people of Concepcion Chiquirichapa; though normally it is constructed apart from the home.  According to what I've read, the chuj has been in existence for many thousands of years, since before Spanish colonization.  And now there are few areas in Meso America where they are still common, other than existing for the novelty enjoyed by many tourists.  In the Mam area near Xela though, they are commonly used for general hygiene and to insure good health.  In the state of Chiapas, Mexico temascals are used in a similar way to the Native American sweatlodge.

In the casa de comadronas, the chuj, is offered to prenatal, laboring, and postpartum patients.  Newborn babies enter the chuj as well.  It's use is said to relieve the discomfort of the first trimester, to provide strength to the woman in labor, and to rapidly heal the postpartum patient's uterus and help her to regain strength.  (The patient not the uterus.)  Azucena also noted that for women who have poor healing below or who suffered a placental or perineal complication during childbirth, the midwife would often blow steam onto the vagina, after tossing water onto the coals.  I, myself, never witnessed this.

The chuj is the small structure beside the house, dug into the ground

A small fire is prepared, after which a large tin of water is heated by the fire.  After all the smoke exits the chuj and the fire has heated up the porous rocks that hover above it, it is ready to be used.  Those who enter, enter naked and leave a large blanket and towel outside the door to prevent their body from experiencing shock from the two extremes of hot and cold.  Black soap is used to cleanse the body.  If someone has pains, the soap is used to massage.  (The midwives here often use gentle massage with the patients to rid of "belly" pains.)

Inside the chuj

Antonina invited me to enter the chuj, or bano as she calls it, with her one night.  Though not the one at the clinic but the one at her home just yards away.  While, the chuj at ACAM fits three people comfortably, Antonina's fits 5 or 6 comfortably.  Shy and awkward, I asked if we went in nude and she stated yes.  Skeptical that she understood me, "Not even in our underwear?"  "Dana, you have the same body parts I do.  Don't be scared."  And so we went and I left my insecurities behind.  We bathed ourselves with the "jabon negro" and a loofa and poured hot water from the tin to rinse our bodies.  Antonina told me to turn around and comfortably grabbed a loofa and began cleansing my back.  I felt like a child and was reminded of how nice it felt to be pampered by my own mother when I was young.  Then she threw water on the hot porous rocks to create steam and began to blow steam at my body.  Didn't quite understand it at the time, but I didn't question it.

Antonina prepares the chuj

When we exited, a gust of cold wind hit my side and I felt dizzy, drunk even.  Inside, in her bedroom, the bed was stacked with blankets which were folded open ready to receive.  And so, I layed there, with Antonina by my side, warmed by the wool, until we were ready.  Her husband and daughter-in-law catered to our needs, bringing water and tea then let us rest.  After what seemed to be 30 minutes, we headed back to the maternity house.  Oddly enough, the whole experience was a very intimate one with Antonina -- the invitation which communicated trust and comfort in my presence -- and the manner in which she cared for me which was unmistakeably maternal.  It quickly became natural to me to refer to her as my Mayan Mama.

The Lovely Comadrona Cristina

It was Antonina who decided to turn the camera lens on me.  After 2 weeks of photographing each midwife, she decided it was my turn.  And so she brought me her traje tipica, in the traditional Concepcion weaving style, and dressed me up like a doll.  And with the invitation to the chuj in her home...To a party at the home of her sister...To the wedding of her granddaughter, Antonina unknowingly initiated me into her Concepcion community.  Antonina had fully embraced me -- an unforgettably wonderful and warm gesture.

Concepcion's Traditional Huipil and Corte

Azucena's traje

My Concepcion community