January 13, 2006

On Friday we traveled the winding road from Ocosingo toward Palenque for two Presbytery meetings where we were introduced to Presbyterian pastors and reconnected with the Synod leaders we met with on Monday. The church that hosted one of the Presbytery meetings also has a small clinic staffed by a “barefoot doctor.” These are local men that have basic health care training similar to a paramedic in the states. They are trained and supervised by a physician, but operate independently. They provide basic health care services, prevention and work evangelism into their conversation with their patients. They do not charge for their service, but sell medications at a small profit to support themselves. (Many medications are available without a prescription here, so selling medications without being a pharmacist is legal in Mexico.) They usually have another job that provides additional income for their families. We toured the clinic and met the supervising physician and two barefoot doctors.

One reason to build the medical clinic in Ocosingo is to provide an opportunity for training additional barefoot doctors to serve the remote villages in Chiapas. We would bring physicians and medical students from the US to the clinic to teach and learn from the barefoot doctors here.

Glenn was also able to experience the hospitality of village life as we were served two native meals (both only two hours apart and after a hearty breakfast in Ocosingo.) We had chicken stew at the first village breakfast and what we were told was beef at the second.

One thing about Chiapas cuisine is that the cuts of meet are unrecognizable to Americans. Maybe it is because they cut it with a machete, but one never knows exactly what part of the animal one is eating. The stew also contained yucca plant and native squash plus we had the ever present black beans and tortias. The meals were very good, but by our third breakfast we were running out of room to pack it away. I hope we did not offend the locals by not cleaning our plates.

We left the Presbytery meetings and drove to Agua Azul and Misholha, two beautiful waterfalls that are a must see for any tourist in Chiapas. Glenn and I then drove to Palenque where we found a room at the old favorite of Salem mission traveler the Mision Palenque Hotel. The cost was three times that of San Cristobal, but still reasonable by US standards. We were able to catch a bit of the UNC Miami basketball game on Saturday too, so it was worth the cost.