tremors

Fell off the wagon a little with the blogging, but I know you all will forgive me. The coursework got pretty intense the past couple weeks, we had a small earthquake (literally), and I was visited by an intense little bug who left before I could catch his name. But now I feel that I have passed several of my rites of initiation to solo traveling, and have been rewarded with the beautiful experience of people coming through for me in a pinch.

I did take one further precautionary measure, however, and asked my landlady if her mother could perform the "curacion de susto" for me - which is a sort of folk remedy involving breathing incense, getting rubbed with fresh herbs and an egg (still in its shell), having rubbing alcohol spit on you, and blowing three times on roses floating in a bowl of water. The susto (as far as I can understand it) is a condition that can happen when you have a fright. The fright can cause your spirit to leave your body, and the curacion helps to call it back. (My landlady and her mother also were calling me back to myself as this procedure was going on.) I felt that Mexican trials and tribulations might best be met by a Mexican remedy, and if nothing else, the rubbing alcohol was very invigorating.

The key to the curacion is that you have to believe it will be beneficial to you. I found that a little hard, since I'd never experienced it before. But I'm sure the faithful would contest that you needn't look for proof. And even if it's not directed at the curacion de susto, the past couple weeks have suggested that a little faith wouldn't be a bad thing to cultivate.