Philippines III
(1/3/2008 - 1/13/2008)
I experienced some of the animal life, first when a rat jumped through an open window in the hotel, sprinted past me and ran up the stairs. The next day several of us were sitting on Carmela's patio when I noticed a greenish snake about the diameter of my wrist (it turned out to be a cobra) hanging over the rail about 3 feet from where she was sitting. I watched it for a minute and then realized that it was not just hanging there but moving over the rail on to the patio. I pointed and said, "I think that's a snake!" Carmela jumped up and ran into her bungalo, jumped op on her bed. With clenched fists and eyes squeezes shut she stomped on her bed and screamed over and over "Snake!". Malou ran towards the house and I could hear her and the other girls running around the yard screaming. I just stood there watching it and laughing at them all because all the snakes that I am used to are not really dangerous. But then Carmela's husband cam out of the bungalo saw the snake and then backed back inside so I decided maybe it would be wise to follow him. Finally Carmela's son and another neighborhood boy came with long bamboos and when they could not chase it off they beat it to death.
On one occasion I went with Malou to the hospital to visit her sister. This was a very strange experience. Hospitals there ae like you see in books on science history. Her sister was in a large room and the only medical equipment in the room was an oxygen tank. None of the devices and gadgets that you'd see in our hospitals were present. And if you needed a nurse you had to send someone down the hall looking for one.
Another difference apparently is their attitude toward visitors. On the evening we were there she had brothers, sisters, friends, their husbands and wives and children... probably 20 of us in the room. There were 2 chairs and a spare bed that some of us sat on. The children played on the floor. Finally someone cam in with a few bags of food that, I think,had been purchased from a street vendor and we all had a big picnic there in the room. A very different atitude toward healing.
I had some nasty mesquito bites and we stopped at the pharmacy on the way out and purchased some ointment. That stuff worked better than anything I have ever tried. Maybe they are not as primitive as they appear.