Skip to main content

A Day in the Life of a Global Health Intern in Mexico

Alarms start going off at 6:30. My alarm goes off at 7:30. I am ready by 8. Breakfast: 8:00-8:15. Elaine, Ashley, and I are out the door by 8:20. We walk about half a mile to get to a spot where the bus (ChiChi Suarez) will pick us up. We usually wait 5-15 minutes for the bus to come around. The ChiChi Suarez never fails to be packed with people making their way to work. We pay our 8 pesos to enter the bus, already a little sweaty. Because the bus is so full, we usually stand, gripping the metal railings towards the top of the bus. Merida’s streets are crazy – we swerve and come to abrupt stops all while dripping with sweat. We spend about 30 minutes on the bus, asking to be dropped off at the corner before the overpass. When we are dropped at this corner, we only have to walk down the highway for about a quarter of a mile to reach the food bank at around 9am.

We rejoice when we see the food bank. We drink some water and get ready to work. Today, we decide to work on some material for the future classes that the food bank is planning on implementing when they move into their new facility. We work on material regarding exercise, creating a PowerPoint that goes over topics such as BMI, heart rate, and various types of exercise. We use our nutrition textbook for most of the information, also utilizing the internet and our own knowledge. We all collaborate on the information discussing whether or not certain topics should be included in the lesson. After about an hour and half, we decide to make our way out to the warehouse to help out the collaborators (those who work at the food bank in exchange for discounted food). I work with a collaborator named Marina sorting limes, then we move on to sorting bread. I always ask the collaborators what they like to cook and eat which keeps the conversation going for quite some time – I have learned that the ladies love to talk about cooking traditional Yucatecan food. Elaine and Ashley work in different areas of the warehouse aiding different employees and collaborators. The clock strikes noon and it is our time to leave the food bank. We say goodbye to everyone and make our way to catch the bus home. 

Today, we are excited to get home because we are taking a day trip to Uxmal. We eat lunch made at the house and meet our driver Sergio to make the hour-long trip from Merida to Uxmal. Uxmal contains well preserved and reconstructed Mayan ruins that date back to 700 AD. We soon learn that these ruins are like no other – there are several temples and buildings that are great in condition and size. After exploring the ruins for a bit, we make our way to the Choco-Story Museum located less than a mile from the ruins. The Choco-Story Museum is one of the coolest things we have done here. It explains the history of chocolate leading up to the manufacturing of chocolate. I learned that chocolate consumption began in Mayan culture – royal people would drink processed cocoa bean. Following the museum, we return to the ruins in Uxmal to see the light show which follows a story about the Mayans praying to their rain god. Crazy because it actually started raining during the show!

After our full day, we make our way back to the guest house in Merida. We are always ready to turn on the fans and lay down. 

Word Count: 606









Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Week 3 Part 2

Tulum!! This weekend we decided to make the long trip to Tulum (about 3.5 hours). We made it a day trip, which we would not recommend because there is so much to do there. It is a much more touristy place than Merida and had the largest amount of white people I have seen yet. We went to the ruins, snorkeling near a reef, and to a freshwater lagoon. Tulum is definitely a great vacation spot and I hope to be able to go back. It is a cool place because you get to experience Mexican culture (ie. food, decor, atmosphere) as well as Mayan ruins with a Caribbean twist (ie. white sand beaches, clear blue water).

Week 6 Part 1

It is our final week at the food bank. We all have mixed feelings this week, but, we have been very productive because we need to get everything done before we leave the food bank. So, this week I have made classes regarding teen pregnancy and diabetes. We have pretty much finished it all up - we have 15 classes ready for the food bank to use. On Friday, our last day, we will give a presentation to everyone at the food bank about our experience over the last six weeks.  Today we went out to the new food bank (which will hopefully open within the next month). We went there to clean. It ended up being really fun - the three of us from BYU went along with the French volunteers and another volunteer from England. I was designated to wash all the windows because of my height. Apparently, the bank has been open to the forces of nature. I found several geckos and insects. When I saw the first gecko, I hurried to pick it up and show the other volunteers. It was hilarious because the Fre...

Week 2 Part 1

Happy Fourth of July! The food bank this week has been pretty uneventful until today. On Monday we worked with the collaborators and sorted bread, beans, and sugar. On Tuesday we worked on going through the deliveries from the stores. This included many gross things including busted containers of bleach and rotten juice. But, it was cool to talk to different people and learn more about how the food bank works here. Today however, we talked with one of the supervisors named Miguel. He explained that when the new food bank opens in around a month, they want to provide classes for those who are receiving the food. He wants the classes to be about health topics and is really open to ideas. He wants us to plan and provide the material for these classes! So, over the next couple of weeks we will be planning and thinking about topics that will be helpful to the people in Merida. We plan on creating powerpoints and other materials to help. Miguel says that these classes will be a requirement...