Globetrot Girl

Sea Grottos

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 00:30:00 +0000

At the border of Lebanon and Israel are the Sea Grottos of Rosh Hanikra. The cliffs are made of chalk with flint stones protruding from the sides. The flints were formed from sea creature sediments that built up over time and the sea caves formed from the underground shocks that created gaps in the rocks that expanded over time to build the sea caves.

In 1943, the British built a tunnel to connect the Middle East with Europe to support the British troops during the war obtain their supplies. The tunnel was completed within a year and it brought many Jewish refugees from concentration camps to Israel. However, in 1948, fighters of the Haganah blew up the bridge to the tunnel to prevent the passage of Lebanese weapons and soldiers in. Today, it remains a closed off tunnel. Just up the road is the border to Lebanon that doesn't seem functional.

Security is No Joke

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 12:57:00 +0000

Even before arriving in Israel, I knew that the security situation here is super tight, but I didn't realize just how tight until I had arrived. Because I wasn't sure how long I would need to go through customs and immigration at the airport, I did not book a flight down to Eilat. However, the last flight I could find online was at 4:20pm and my flight to Tel Aviv arrived at 2pm. I though I might be able to buy a ticket at the airport and if all else failed, I could go down to Eilat by bus.

Getting through immigration and customs proved not an issue, although a German told me he was stuck for 2 hours there. When I tried to buy a flight down to Eilat, I could not buy a ticket in time for the 4:20pm flight. But there was a later flight at 5:30pm with a different airline. I tried to buy a ticket, but the ticket agent refused to sell me a ticket until I passed security in case I didn't pass or in case the security check took too long. The first security man asked me questions about my intentions in Israel and after 10 min a second security man asked me the same questions and then asked about my previous trip to Egypt, who I knew in Egypt, if I had stayed with any locals, etc. He questioned why I had so few things in my backpack, wondered why I chose to start my vacation in Eilat and so on. After about another 10 min, I moved on to the bag screening. Two women removed everything from my backpack and wiped things down to check for explosive residues. All my possessions were laid out in the middle of the airport for all to see. I felt so exposed. Certain items in my backpack required questioning of their purpose including a waterproof money case. One of the women took my iPad for further inspection to a back room and I was later joined with it for the X-ray screening. I had to prove that my iPad made sounds and was functional. After passing that test, I returned back to my backpack, which was repacked in a haphazard way. Because I had formally passed their 40 min security screen (thank goodness I was the only tourist in line), one of the security women followed me around until I reached the boarding gate. She told me that if she left my side at any point, I would have to restart the security check, which I had no intention of doing. At least I passed and made it safely down to Eilat.

On the way home, I was told that all non-domestic flights are required to stay seated for 30 minutes, the time it takes for the plane to be out of Israeli air space. Even the airline staff is not walking around at this time due to the Israeli government regulations. I met an American who works in Israel and he goes back to the US to decompress from the high tensions in the country and all the security concerns.

Due to the high security risk throughout the country, every mall and large public gathering place has required metal scanners and bag checks just to get in. There are often lines to get into malls because of these checks. For some reason though, the Musluim Dome of the Rock and the Jewish Western Wall have major security checks, but the Christian Church of the Holy Sepulchre does not. I guess being Christian in Jerusalem is not as much of an issue.

In addition to the security checks, major walkways and all hostels have security cameras. It's very Big Brother here and rightfully so based on all the violence previously seen in the country.

Moreover, buses make mandatory stops at the end of their routes and ask all the passengers to get off the bus. They then perform a bomb check for any packages left on the us. I got on one bus and watched as a passenger brought an unidentified bag to the driver. She seemed pretty scared that someone had left it on the bus, and thankfully, the rightful owner came running back to the bus in time to retrieve it.

This is the way of life in Israel. The Israeli Defense Forces are often seen toting their large guns around as they get on and off public transportation. A local told me that I don't ever have to worry about walking around late at night in Tel Aviv because of all the security cameras and because no one wants to mess with another person for fear of getting shot since many people carry their own firearms and have been trained in the Israeli army. At least in Tel Aviv, I have felt quite safe here.

Kindness of Strangers

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 18:14:00 +0000

One of the best parts of traveling alone is the opportunity to interact with locals. I actually didn't think that I would have much success in Israel because I figured I would receive the same sort of response as in Western Europe, the "yet another tourist" response. However, I was mistaken. The tremendous hospitality and generosity that I have received here has exceeded any expectations I might have had.

In Masada, I met a whole school of kids on a field trip along with their school teachers and tour guides. I had dinner with them and they gave me such a wealth of information on the history of Israel. I mentioned that I was driving north to Rosh HaniQuira to see the sea caves and Sara immediately invited me to stay with her. I later decided to take her up on her offer, but I got lost getting there and ended up at a Dutch house at the kibbutz where she lived. Eventually, I made it to her house and was overwhelmed with the spectacular views from her guesthouse and the luxurious surroundings. Her guesthouse is nicer than my apartment and nicer than anywhere I've stayed while traveling. Sara even took me out to dinner against my strong protests. She refused to let me pay. We had Lebanese food as she confessed that she doesn't restrict herself to the kosher food rules. We had such a lovely conversation as I learned about her life. What an amazing, strong and kind woman. I'm so blessed to have met her and I hope she finds a way out to San Francisco so that I may repay the kindness.

While in Bethlehem, I had difficulty finding a spot to sit in a busy restaurant and a Palestinian grandmother let me sit at her table with her granddaughter. She gave me her leftover hummus and falafel, which I thought was so sweet. I sat with them and played charades with the grandmother and tried some English with the 12 year old granddaughter. This time though, I was able to pay for the food and we hung out for the day. She showed me around and introduced me to random people. She seemed to know everyone in the city. After a few hours of charades, I was exhausted and we parted our separate ways.

In the Golan region, I showed up at a hostel expecting it to be empty and sadly it was totally booked out for the night. Unfortunately, there were no other hostels in the area. I drove around a bit and found a hotel and they wanted $150 for the night and so I drove on. I found a kibbutz that the hotel and hostel suggested I check out. Unfortunately, the reception was not available, but in the process of finding a room there, I met Shir, a 22 year old student, who graciously offered me a place to sleep in her one room studio. I had nowhere else to go and had planned to sleep in my car, but decided that her futon would be more comfortable. She and her next door neighbor, Tom, were cooking dinner and invited me to join them. They cooked kosher and we ate a wonderful vegetarian meal of hummus soup, eggplant, mixed grains, cheese, and potatoes. Ou pr dinner conversation centered around Shabbat, the military, general life in Israel. Such a wonderful cultural learning experience. Again, I was overwhelmed by the level of kindness in this country. The next day, I took Tom out to sightsee.

In Tel Aviv, I tried to drive to my hostel in the Florentine area and as usual, got lost driving in the city. I drove around for an hour trying to find my way around and found a guy on a motorcycle who offered to help me find the place. He was my scout. I followed his motorcycle around the city until we arrived at my hostel. I could not believe how much effort he put into helping me find the place.

This entire trip has been one of pleasant surprises from random strangers. I'm so impressed with the people of Israel and Bethlehem and hope to keep in touch with the friends I have made here.

Christmas Eve in Bethlehem

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 20:33:00 +0000

Christmas Eve in Bethlehem must be the holiest place to spend Christmas, I originally thought when I first booked my trip. It is the birthplace of Jesus and where thousands of missionaries flock all year long to pay homage. Little did I realize that it would be something entirely different.

If there's such a thing as a West Bank Night Out, last night would have typified it. The entire West Bank showed up to party with all the Christians. Everyone seemed in good cheer regardless of religion. The presence of the Palestinian President somehow ruined that cheerful mood for me. For security, the entire Palestinian army arrived in waves and with their big guns in tow. I felt like I had entered a war zone. Snipers scoured the rooftops, red maroon beret guys manned the entry points, men in camouflage controlled the crowd, black beret men arranged the logistics and men in full commando gear arrived in jeeps with their guns ready. The president arrived in one of the 12 cars that sped through the entry way. The first car almost ran over pedestrians as it cleared the path for the other cars. I'm not really sure which car the president was actually in, but I'm sure he wasn't in one of the vans open with commando geared men fully armed watching the crowds. I guess it was too risky to actually let him get out of the car. When the cars arrived, the closest maroon beret guy took off his safety lock from his gun and I suddenly was a a little scared of what might happen. Maybe it's all those Middle East stories of suicide bombers, demonstrations ending violence, or my own imagination of the worst that could happen that overcame me with fear. Thankfully, nothing horrible happened and the Palestinian's display of might and power never came to full fruition.

Getting into Midnight Mass proved difficult mainly because of all the overly pushy and aggressive Christians who wanted a good seat. Not exactly the Christmas cheer. I thought I might get squashed going through the security line, which I had to do twice since the president was going to be present. Once inside, I enjoyed hearing the service in many different languages, but when the president arrived, all the camera clicked and distracted everyone from the service. The same occurred when he left.

Earlier in the day, I attended the afternoon prayer held by the Latin Patriarch, the guy in the purple hat.

During the day, a parade of bagpipers, a tradition the Palestinians picked up during the British occupation, and kids with Santa hats filled the streets.

Suicide Over Slavery?

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 05:06:00 +0000

Perched at the top of the hill in Masada is the Masada National Park, home to the ruins of the first fortress built by Jonathan, the High Priest, in about 100 BC. What makes this place famous is not the impressive views of the Dead Sea, but rather, the ultimate end of all the occupants during the Roman siege.

Masada was the last rebel stronghold by the Jews and in 73 AD, the Roman army tried to conquer it. Over a period of a few months, the Romans built a dirt road up to the main gate and brought a battering ram up the mountain to knock down the gates. The Jews inside constructed a wall of wood to support the gate. However, the Romans then set the wall on fire. With one last night inside their fortress, while the Romans slept expecting to take over in the morning, the Jews, led by Eleazar Ben Yair, convinced the 10 community leaders of the ~1000 person community to commit suicide rather than be taken as slaves by the Romans. In his speech, Eleazar said "Let our wives die before they are abused, and our children before they have tasted slavery; and after we have slain them, let us bestow that glorious benefit upon one another mutually and preserve ourselves in freedom as an excellent funeral monument for us.,,, we have preferred death before slavery" The defeat of Masada was the last conquest of Judea by the Romans. And the Romans were surprised to find only the dead left when they arrived in the morning.

Today, Masada is a pilgrimage for many Jews and there is much debate as to whether the group suicide was necessary and honorable. Regardless of public opinion on the matter, Masada provides a wealth of information of life during that time. What's most impressive is their development of water dams to lead floodwater to 12 cisterns in this desert region. The complex is filled with decorated bath houses and swimming pools that used the water from the cisterns.

For the tourist like me, I hiked up to Masada at 5:40AM to watch the sunrise at 6:40AM. It would have been a serene moment for me if there weren't several hundred kids at the top with me. After the sunrise, I spent the morning exploring the many ruins.The sunrise hike up to Masada is on the checklist of things to do in Israel.

Floating in the Dead Sea

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 18:50:00 +0000

Yes I succumbed to the usual tourist photo shot floating in the Dead Sea reading a book, my very own bible, the lonely planet version. Nothing compares to this type of floating or the sensation of being stung by fire ants while sitting in the salty water. At least I didn't shave before jumping in, but I did fall backwards at one point and the salt stung my eyes. Floating in the Dead Sea is not an experience I cared to carry on for more than about 5 minutes because of the harsh water.

The Dead Sea comes from the Jordan River water, but due to the lack of an outlet flow for the water and hot conditions, the water evaporates leaving the concentrations of minerals to build up over time resulting in a 30% salt concentration. The evaporation has increased in recent years due to the presence of dams that prevent the continued flow of water from the Jordan River. But the Dead Sea is now drying up and causing sink holes to emerge from the unstable grounds that have arisen from the lack of salt water covering the grounds. Tourism still flourishes despite the receding water lines and increasing number of sink holes.

To top off a trip to the Dead Sea, I slathered mud all over me to capture all the good nutrients in the mud. This reminded me of the times my family would go up to Calistoga Springs and do the same there.

Indiana Jonesing It

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 04:03:00 +0000

With Petra just a hop over from Israel, I couldn't resist and up and off I went to see the ruins made famous by Indiana Jones. I had no expectations of meeting Harrison Ford, but did hope to follow in his footsteps to the magnificent Treasury along the route of the Siq.

Petra is one of the new 7 Wonders of the World and I could definitely understand why. The rose colored rock magnificently engraved into tombs and palaces in the middle of nowhere is a sight to behold. Walking the long and narrow passageway of the Siq leads to a narrow opening with the Treasury peeking through and in my photo, also a camel like in 312 BC when the Nabataeans once lived here.

The Nabataeans ruled the trade route from Damascus to Arabia and eventually left due to major earthquakes in the area. They left much to admire and explore. Eva from Belgium, Heidi and Lyle from Alaska and I wandered about together exploring the miles and miles of ruins.

On the road again...

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 03:46:00 +0000

After 15 months on the road, I had no desire to travel for quite some time. I loved being back in San Francisco, using my brain again, and most of all, being settled amongst friends. After a year however, the travel bug reappeared and off I am again, but for only 2 weeks this time. I had planned to go to Syria and then bought a ticket for Laos/Cambodia, but actually ended up in Israel/Jordan. Why there?

Israel has been at the top of my lists to go for quite some time. Not only for the sheer history, the curiosity that's sparked from every news report, the small size of the country, diversity of landscape, but also so I could celebrate Christmas in one of the holiest places in the world. Granted, I'm not exactly the most religious person I know, but spending Christmas in Bethlehem seemed like an unique and special place to be.

Fast forward a month from my decision, and here I am in Israel. I chose first to head to Eilat for the diving. The main city center of Eilat looked like a run down Strip, but under the water, a whole new and wondrous city emerged. The Red Sea has some of the most spectacular coral, now highly protected due to the damage from diving. And diving in Israel is highly regulated. Since I had dived in Kauaii less than 6 months ago, I didn't have to take a refresher course, however, I was expected to put all my gear together by myself, which I hadn't done since I was scuba certified. Thankfully, an Israeli/South African woman named Gaby walked me though the process again. Off I went to explore a ship wreck, my first!

Health Management for a Lifetime

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 05:51:00 +0000

Management of diabetes is a lifetime commitment and how well one manages his condition determines his future health. A good method to assess the management is to check the HbA1c, which essentially shows on average the blood sugar level over the last 3 months. Glucose naturally attaches or glycates to red blood cells and therefore people without diabetes would then have 4-5% of their red blood cells glycated with glucose which is a blood glucose level of 65-100 on average over the last 3 months. The % of red blood cells glycated can then give an indication of how well diabetes has been managed for the last 3 months, the lifespan of a red blood cell. The American Diabetes Association would like people with diabetes to have their HbA1c level to be less than 7% which on average is 170 blood sugar level or lower. We tested all the kids and the majority of them ended up with an HbA1c of 10-17%, which translates to an average of 275 to over 400 glycemia over the last 3 months. i have serious concerns for the child whose HbA1c is at 17%, which is at a deadly level. I asked Leonardo's mom what his was and she told me 14% or on average 410 daily. She seemed quite disappointed with the number and understood the implications. I received the sense that she would do everything possible to lower it over the coming months. Despite his high HbA1c, he seemed much happier and healthier than when I first met.

In fact, the entire crew from Santa Elena seemed upbeat although maybe not so evident in this picture.

So, how do I sum up such an eventful and meaningful experience? I'm not sure. These kids became such an important part of my life and I had to really watch over theirs especially at night. Feeling as though I helped Leonardo have a brighter future was the most worthwhile part of it all. I honestly am not sure he would have survived in the long run if we had not intervened, corrected him with insulin when he was over 600 and brought him and his family to the camp. At least now they have the tools to manage his healthcare appropriately and the insight to know that they still have much to learn. The rest of the campers wept when they said their goodbyes to each other. The friendships they made as well as the love connections will continue on as will their desire to better improve the management of their diabetes.

Not only the kids, but also the other volunteers developed friendships that have carried over into the Facebook age and will prosper on as we hold our reunions.

By the end of camp, I like the rest of my friends had literally passed out from exhaustion. After everything that had occurred from the emergency appendicitis of one of the campers, which I never really discussed, to the potential swine flu spread, to the raging pre-teen hormones, we were all ready for a long afternoon nap.

Meal Times Kid Style

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 06:17:00 +0000

Meal times are not just about eating and counting carbs, but also about having fun! To shake things up, we had the kids engage in different methods of eating. I felt obligated to participate as well despite the messiness and I'm glad I did since I had forgotten how enjoyable it is to just be a kid, get dirty and not care.

One evening, we had to eat our spaghetti with only our faces. Grabbing the spaghetti meat balls were easy, but Kevin mastered slurping up the noodles.
Another night, I taught the kids how to use chopsticks and I lauded them on their magnificent attempts.We even ate blindfold. Thank goodness it was only a hamburger!
After dinner, we read the traditional mailbox messages. I received a love note from our Dr. Nick, although, I'm pretty sure one of my kids wrote it. The girls and boys giggled at all the funny notes and I watched cupid at play. Carmen, Kristen and JuanJo even dressed up nicely for the part of reading the messages.
After the mailbox, Susanna gave out prizes to kids who had accomplished something significant that day. For example, when one of the girls, age 5, injected herself for the very first time with insulin by herself, Susanna gave her a barbie for that accomplishment and everyone cheered wildly. I am so impressed with these kids and all that they mastered over a week!

Santa Claus with Milk and Sandwiches

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 05:33:00 +0000

Evenings are always the most interesting for us since we perform night checks to ensure that the kids' blood sugar levels are not dropping that low. When the blood sugar drops too low in the night, the kids can start convulsing. Therefore, at the end of their night activities around 10-10:30pm, we give the kids their nightly dose of insulin as well as provide nightly snacks to ensure that their blood sugar remains at a good level throughout the night. Given all the exercise each day, we don't want them dropping low while they sleep.
At about 1am, we gear up for the nightly checks bundled up in warm clothes and ready with our headlamps. Given the timing of when different insulins peak, we need to check their blood sugar level around 1am to make sure everything is ok. We have set protocols that we follow. If their blood sugar level is below 55, we give them a full glass of coke to raise their blood sugar immediately and we check it again 10-15 minutes later. If it rises to above 70, we give them a sandwich and a glass of milk to sustain their blood sugar over the long run of the night. Any blood sugar between 55-70, we give a half glass of coke and when they rise above 70, we give them the sandwich and milk. Between 70-120, just the sandwich and milk. The most critical ones to watch are those who drop significantly from their 10pm blood sugar to the check at 1am. Even if they are at 130, but they were originally at 350 at 10pm, we need to give them food to ensure that they don't continue such a harsh drop.
The kids usually don't wake up when we prick their fingers and check their blood sugar levels however pulling their hands out from under the covers is sometimes tricky. They groan and move around and so we have to wake them up if they continue to be uncooperative. And if they are low, we have to give them food. We almost had to force feed Kevin in the photo below when he kept whining that he would throw up on us and refused to eat. He realized in the end that he needed to obtain the necessary carbs for survival once he woke up a little more. After much complaining, he ate it all and did fine the rest of the night.
However, if there are kids whose blood sugar levels still need to be monitored, we end up staying awake until 3am to make sure they are still ok. I only had one night where I ended up awake until 3:30am and then had to wake up for morning checks at7:30am. Others had rougher nights and were up until 5am because they had kids who needed to be monitored yet again. Despite the lack of sleep, I enjoy night checks the most since I find the process pleasantly peaceful to check their glycemias while they sleep in the dark. I feel like Santa giving them milk and sandwiches even if they don't want them.

Being Just Like One of the Kids

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:41:00 +0000

Our primary goal for camp was to create a camp for kids and second to encompass diabetes education. This may seem counter intuitive to the basic premise of a diabetes camp, but it is important to realize that these kids are just kids and we wanted to make their experience not only educational, but also entertaining and interactive.
Since my usual role at any hostel is social coordinator, I thought it only fitting that I help organize the night activities. On the second night, I organized the game, Busca el Gringo, which is essentially go find the gringo like hide and seek. I hid 9 gringos throughout the camp site and each group had to find them all. The first group to find each gringo received the most points with less for each group after.

I placed Carlo up a tree and felt bad later when he almost fell out of it. I stuffed Kendra inside a trashcan she's 4'10'' and could fit inside. I put April in a cupboard, Merith behind some curtains in the auditorium where we started the game, Corey in a shack, Jackie in a flower bed, Nadine in the bushes, Natasha behind the cabins and Randy found his own spot behind a whiteboard. I think I made the game too hard because the kids took awhile to find the gringos, but when they did, they were so thrilled! It's similar to the feeling of finding the big Easter egg on the egg hunt. The game was a smashing success and everyone had fun especially the hiding gringos.
For the other night activities, mainly Kristen and Carmen organized them because I fell seriously ill. I was so ill I laid crying in my dorm unable to get up to get medicine from the docs. Thankfully, Caitlin found me and retrieved the medicine for me. I thought I had swine flu, but Nick, the doctor, said it was just a viral infection despite my sore throat, coughing, runny nose, body aches, fever and lack of appetite. So, I spent much of the next 3 days bedridden. Many others fell ill during the week as well. Sadly, Randy ended up being quarantined at the Quito hospital for several days after his host family took him there. He almost missed his flight home because the doctors had to blood test him for swine flu. I'm glad no one took me to the hospital.

Kristen and Carmen created a flurry of phenomenal activities including the talent show, twister, costume party and dances. I only wish I had felt well enough to participate more than I did. My kids felt bad that I was so ill, and I was careful not to infect them with whatever I did have. Thankfully, Jairo and James took the reigns and watched over the kids without me until I was well enough to join back in.
Despite being MIA for most of the week, the crew remembered my bday and made a cake to celebrate. They asked me to come to a meeting where they presented the cake and I received my sugar high.
Other groups organized the sports and arts activities. All in all, the kids were just kids and learned how to better manage their diabetes in the process of having fun. And I had fun just being like one of the kids.

My Boys

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:05:00 +0000

For the week, I was responsible for a group of 12 13-14 yr old boys. I shared responsibility of the campers with Jairo and James along with Fernando, a local boy with diabetes too. Honestly, much of camp is a blur. Every day we had sports, arts, education and night activities to keep the kids busy. Our day started at 7am and ended sometimes well past 3am when we performed night checks.

My boys as I called them referred to me as doctora chan from Grey's Anatomy instead of juguete the name I had given myself. I thought it was funny and later they just shortened it to doctora. I fell in love with these kids especially Kevin who was just as camera happy as me.
At times I did want to scream. Gustavo in particular drove me crazy because he refused to wait for the other campers, for lunch, for really anything. And then there was Fernando who was suppose to be a monitor, but acted like a camper and so we had to demote him since he became a distraction. The rest of group did just fine and really bonded together.

They learned a great deal in their week, better techniques for injecting insulin, how to count carbs, understanding the pyscho social aspect of having diabetes and just learning that they are not alone and that diabetes is just a lifestyle and not a disease for them.

More than anything, they learned from each other. I could tell them what to do, but I don't lend a lot of credibility with not having diabetes myself. However, by watching the other kids, their fears of injecting in certain places lessened. In fact, Carlos Andres injected himself in his arm for the very first time on the last day of camp. And Juan Carlos who never used rapid insulin learned a great deal from his peers too.

Our living situation consisted of dorm beds in cabins. The boys separate from the girls and so I stayed with the 12-14 yr old girls next door to the boy's cabin. Most nights I had to separate the girls from the boys and send them to bed to which the boys always used my full name doctora chan and whined about it. I served as bad cop while Jairo was good cop.

Road Trip with Insulin

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 23:29:00 +0000

I've been so over bus rides for awhile now, but I thought I might enjoy the 14 hr bus trip from Santa Elena on the coast to Quito with a bus full of kids. The 4am departure time did not agree with my internal clock, but I was awake and ready for the adventure. Jairo and I bought and brought our supplies the day before; honey and coke for emergencies in case the kids blood sugar goes low on the trip, glucagons, insulin, syringes, alcohol to clean, lancets, glucometers, cotton, snacks, fruit, food, water empty plastic bottles for the syringes, and our energy for the long trip.

At 4am we collected a few parents, one of whom brought her newborn, and a few kids. We then drove off and picked up awaiting parents alongside the road. Once we had collected the kids from the Santa Elena group, 7 in total, we checked their glycemias. Leonardo's was still high at 485 and so we corrected him again on the bus. All the kids from Santa Elena were young ones ranging from 3 yrs old to 7 and all came with their parents to camp. At 7:20am, we made it to Guayaquil where we picked up the rest of the crew. Another 7 kids joined up including Juan Carlos and Ayisha and her dad.

During our road trip, we checked glycemias along the way. Arturo, a 25 yr old who has had diabetes for 2 years, had a high glycemia, over 400, but he didn't want to correct for it. He's been living with diabetes and never uses insulin only when forced to at the hospital when he's really sick. I didn't realize his history until after I made him inject himself. We told him that these 5 year olds on the bus can inject themselves and so if they can, he can learn too. He watched Francesco, a 7 yr old boy inject himself and then he followed suit. Jairo helped him a bit by grabbing some fat in his arm for the needle. He did ok with the whole process but winced at the sight of the needle.
During the lunch break, we stopped to check glycemias and distribute insulin. Unfortunately, many of the kids had fallen low at this point and so Jairo, Maria Fernanda and I had to distribute coke to half the group to get their levels up. One kid was really low at 50 and of course Jairo was low at 45. Jairo always seems to overexert himself and drop and so despite his monitor status, I'm always asking him what his blood sugar is to remind him to check himself.

Leonardo and Yannina, 3 yrs old, especially hated the shots and screamed the entire time until it was over. Checking blood sugar is quite the ordeal too since both hate having their blood sugar checked and crunch up their fingers to prevent the prick. Despite the screaming and wiggling kids, we managed to take care of them both. Jairo was great with Leonardo and made him watch as Jairo checked his own blood sugar and injected insulin into himself to help Leonardo understand that it isn't painful and there's no need to scream.

After the lunch time lows, the rest of the 14 hour road trip went a little smoother. Although, we spent the last hour circling around the city trying to find the camp site. I became so car sick from this last hour that immediately when we arrived, I went to the bathroom and threw up. All the color had drained from my face and everyone thought I looked quite pale and on my death bed. I didn't realize at the time, that this might be a warning sign of my health for the coming week.

A Lack of Education is Worse Than a Lack of Insulin

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 20:28:00 +0000

This morning, Jairo, Maria Fernanda a mother with a son with diabetes and I hit the road to the coast to organize for our long journey. Along the way, we picked up Sra. Rocio who has 2 boys with diabetes. She told of us another family who has a boy, 4 yrs old, who is having trouble with his diabetes and she thought his blood sugar might be high. So, we hurried over there and made a cold call visit.

We listened as the family told us that Leonardo always cries, doesn't feel well, has lost a lot of weight, is always thirsty, and always has to urinate. Sure signs that he has hyperglycemia. After explaining the objectives of the camp that leaves tomorrow at 4am and the necessity to have them educate themselves on how to better manage their child's condition, we tested Leonardo's blood sugar. His blood sugar was so high that the glucometer could not even read it. It just said in bold big letters "HIGH GLUCOSE, over 600". He was off the charts. We needed to do a correction and give him insulin to lower it immediately. But we continued to talk to the family to create that relationship. After we answered their many questions about insulin and calmed their fears that it isn't bad for Leonardo, they allowed us to correct him. We stressed the extreme negative consequences of having such a high blood sugar. I really was fearful for the kid that he might pass out into a coma at any second. We gave him 7 units of rapid insulin to bring him down assuming 1 unit for every 50. We didn't want to drop him down to a complete normal level since he probably is always high and we weren't sure how he would handle having a more normal blood sugar at once. Plus, I'm not a doctor, and we just wanted to get his level lower than what it was currently. His family actually has insulin, only the rapid one, but doesn't use it every often and only checks his blood sugar every few days. A lack of education is worse than a lack of insulin since they don't always use it.

After about an hour of passionate pleading on behalf of Maria Fernanda, the family agreed to bring the mom, the aunt and the child to camp tomorrow. We stressed that the week long camp is completely free including all medicine, food and accommodations in case that was a deterrent. I'm so, so glad they are coming. Leonardo is the child with the overalls in the photo. He is so skinny and desperately needs help. At camp we will have a program just for the parents to teach them skills to help their child. I know we can help them.

Diabetes Outreach

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 03:08:00 +0000

In an effort to reach out to the communities, we split up into 8 teams to scour the country for new cases of kids with diabetes, create relationships with endocrinologists, and maintain the relationships we have with the camper families. Jairo, Kendra and I went to Guayaquil with somewhat of a plan.

Due to competing organizations that are for-profit whereas we are non-profit, we lost a few kids to a competing camp conveniently being held on the same dates as our camp. However, Kendra, Jairo and I did find a few new kids to add to our camper list. So, how do we find these kids? We visited various hospitals and clinics and just asked the local diabetes educator, endocrinologist or pediatrician if they happen to know of any kids with Type I diabetes. The hospitals varied from the very rich and private to the government funded and crowded. For better or worse, the doctors have no patient privacy issues and freely gave us the kids names, their phone numbers and the names of the parents. Next year, we could do a better job of maintaining these relationships so that the doctors give us the names of the kids throughout the year. Many hospitals don't have electronic records so unless the doctor sees a kid with Type I that day, they won't be able to find the info. After recieving the info, we just then cold-called the kids and set up home visits. The families also, for the most part, don't seem to mind meeting complete strangers who know about their kid's condition. The first family we met has a 5 year old girl, Ayisha. Despite the last minute request to see if she would be interested in attending, the parents agreed to send her after we spent 30 minutes educating them on better ways to measure blood sugar, inject insulin and count carbs. We will need to help her learn to inject insulin in places other than her stomach. The area around that part is becoming hard due to the repetitive injections and the more hard it becomes, the less insulin gets absorbed. From an economic perspective, the parents will then have to spend more money on insulin due to absorption issues. However, if they rotate the sites of injection, she should be fine. She is absolutely precious although a bit closed off. The parents are worried that she will not open up to other campers since she is so shy. I can't wait to see if she does since most kids change quite dramatically after camp.

We also met up with Carlos, a 13 year old boy who will be in my camper group. He is extremely skinny and never measures his blood sugar. He only takes the base line insulin and no rapid insulin to account for the increase in carbohydrates. We didn't get a chance to measure his blood sugar during the visit and I will be interested to see what it is on the bus to camp. I think Jairo convinced him to come by mentioning all the pretty girls who will be there. The parents even laughed at that comment.

We found a few more campers who can not make this camp, but might be able to come to the next camp, strenghthened relationships with doctors and reconnected with old campers. One of our campers will make a public announcement on the radio where she works about diabetes and the camp. Yeah!

In-between visits, Jairo and I had lunch at the Malecon, a boardwalk that is pretty touristy but with a beautiful view. We are pretty beat overall from all the cold calls but overall excited for camp. Tomorrow, we head to Santa Elena to meet with campers and then take the 4am 11 hr journey to camp where we will meet up with other campers from around Ecuador.
We went shopping tonight for all the snacks and honey and cola for emergencies. I just hope we didn't forget anything. Can't wait for the journey!

Pre Campamento

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 19:45:00 +0000

Before diabetes camp, the Ecuadorian volunteers as well as the US ones came together at the campsite to prepare for Camp. So, what does that exactly mean? Well, we organized educational diabetes related activities for the kids as well as fun crazy activities, trained on what to do in hypoglycemia emergencies and participated in fun team bonding.

At pre-camp, I learned that I would be working with James and Jairo counseling the group of boys aged 13-14 years old. Jairo is Ecuadorian with diabetes and we had worked together in Bolivia before and James is from the US and new to the program. The others were divided up into groups and the monitors for the youth groups up to age 11, adolescents up to 14 and adults then had to create banners and songs for their groups. I have to say that our group created the best banner for our team the Tucanes Rojos although our songs could still use some work.
For Educational activities, we created stimulating ways to engage the kids in learning about diabetes. We think that diabetes is not a disease but a lifestyle and so we need to ensure that kids understand how to manage their lifestyle to best care for themselves. I continue to learn more about diabetes from those volunteers who have it as well as from the training sessions.
In order to truly understand the ritual of testing the sugar and injecting oneself with insulin, we did something similar. I've tested my blood sugar before in Bolivia and did it again here. We also each took a needle and inserted it into a place that is common to inject insulin to see what that is like for someone with diabetes who has to do this everyday. I didn't mind putting the needle in my stomach, but really hate pricking my finger to draw blood to test my blood sugar. Afterwards, we drew pics around our needle spots.

For fun, we created nicknames for everyone so that the kids would have an easier time remembering names. Although everyone just wanted to call me Fujimoto since they seem to like my last name a lot, I am now Juguete, which means toy in Spanish.

In case of an emergency, we simulated out what to do when a child's blood sugar goes so low that he starts convulsing in the middle of the night. I had seen this skit before in Bolivia, but each time I see it, it still shakes me up. We learned how to use the glucagon, an intramuscular emergency shot of sugar essentially, which I hope we won't have to use.

At the end of pre-camp, one person held a ball of string together and stated what he received out of pre-camp and what he hoped to achieve at camp. After his statement he threw the ball to another person who did the same. Once we had created an interwoven tangle that bond us together, we cut the string and tied it around our wrists to remember this time together and the objectives we had set out for ourselves. The gathering proved to be an emotional one when Martina, a 14 year old Ecuadorian broke down crying when she explained that her sister who has diabetes would be dead today if not for the the support of the foundation. I expect Camp to be even more moving and emotional and I look forward to supporting these kids in their development of skills and tools necessary to better manage their condition.

Playing Tour Guide

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 19:15:00 +0000

Given that I enjoyed diabetes camp so much in Bolivia, I thought I would rejoin AYUDA in Ecuador and continue their work on juvenile diabetes education there. This time the program is a month long and a group of 15 16-24 year olds came prepared to support AYUDA's efforts. Having been in Ecuador for the last 2 months, I thought I would show them around and be the social coordinator in usual fashion.

In the mornings, we received training on diabetes education and in the afternoons, I took the group of volunteers out on excursions. The first day, we went to Lagunas de Mojando and to the Otavalo market. Due to weather issues, I took them to another artesanal market the next afternoon instead of to the TeleferiQo.

When the skies cleared, I brought them up the TeleferiQo to view Quito from some 4100 meters.
Since I missed the Guayasamin museums the last time I was in Quito, I brought them there. Guayasamin is the most famous Ecuadorian artist who also created a memorial to the poor and the suffering of Latin America. Inside the memorial, one particular wall really drew in my attention. It says, "I cried because I had no shoes until I saw a child who had no feet." This really embraces the last year of my journey and all of that I have experienced, witnessed and newly appreciate as a result.
For the tour of Old Town, I hired the local police to show us around.
To properly appreciate Ecuador, I bussed them over to the Equator for the photo opps and the cool science tricks.In order to apprciate the nightlife, I had Maria provide salsa lessons and we hit the clubs to practice.
The night activities in general, I left up to Corey to coordinate. We pretty much went out to random clubs to dance although, I did miss a few nights since I think my age might be catching up with me. But everyone enjoyed watching my microwave dance move that I learned from Leah in Bolivia.
After a week of diabetes training, afternoon excursions, and late night clubbing, I think they wore themselves out. I found them napping in the diabetes foundation one afternoon after our outing to the equator.

Dressing the Part

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 05:03:00 +0000

When in Silvia.... dress the part. About 1.5 hrs away from Popayan is Silvia, a small town that is most well-known for the local Tuesday indigenous market of the Guambianos who wear their traditional handwoven blue dress while spinning wool. The market is not touristy, but the tourists come for the photo opportunities as I clearly did.

When I arrived, the town had police crawling through the city checking IDs, patting down guys for guns, inspecting buses and just looking quite menancing until I spoke to them. They regularly patrol the towns and this just happpend to be the day they patrolled Silvia. They explained that their presence ensured safety and gave people a sense of security. True, I felt secure with an entire town full of machine gun and grenade toting police men. Although I wanted to see the grenades in their pockets, I decided against asking since they looked quite busy, but they did graciously pose for pics with me.

In the afternoon, I joined a Chiva bus tour of the Guambiano region. Children came out to greet us and even sang to us at the urging of our tour guide. My favorite photos are always of children who usually look quite inquisitive.

Case of the Missing Toilet Seat

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:29:00 +0000

Toilet seats are MIA in Southern Colombia. In restaurants, hotels and public bathrooms, toilet seats are a rarity. I have my conspiracy theories and I wonder if the FARC is somehow responsible for the kidnappings. Or maybe the added step of adding a toilet seat is just too much trouble for people and the rim of the toilet works just fine as a seat. Normally, I never actually sit on a toilet seat in a public restroom and have perfected the squatting technique that is necessary for survival, but to not have a toilet seat to sit on in your own hotel seems rather odd. I worry that small children might fall in and drown. Well, whatever the reason for the missing toilet seats, the locals don't seem mind or maybe they just don't know what they are missing.

The toilet in this pic is from a theatre house I visited and is not exactly the cleanest, but those in the hotels are really clean but just missing the seat. By the way, in Latin America, you have to put toilet paper in the trash and not in the toilet or it clogs it up. Yes, it is gross, and I just try not to look in the trash. Overall, my level of tolerance for many things has increased greatly.

Hot, Hot, Hot

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:32:00 +0000

Everything about Cali, Colombia is hot; the sun scorches, the dance floor sizzles and the women are on fire. The rumors are true. The women in Cali may just be the most beautiful and the salsa dancing is an obsession as is the plastic surgery. Despite lacking the obvious, a pair of heels, just one left foot, and a dress that barely covers my ass, I hit the salsa clubs anyway.

The first club, Tin Tin Deo was packed with salsa experts. I felt a little out of place since I arrived alone and everyone else had come with a partner. But after befriending a local woman who salsa'd with me on the dance floor to show me the basics again, guy after guy asked me to dance. They could see that I obviously sucked at salsa, but yet they still asked me to dance. They twirled me in every which direction and back again. I believe that you can be the worst dancer out there, but if you are with a guy who really knows how to salsa, then it doesn't matter. After awhile, I finally ran into the couch surfing group I was suppose to meet, but I only had an hour left to dance with them. Unfortunately, the clubs in Cali city proper close at 2am. And so to truly dance the night away, you have to go about 20 min outside of Cali to the clubs that close at 6am. So that's what I did the next night.
The next night, I partnered with Julia from NY and Lady, that's really her name, from Colombia and we went clubbing in the Menga district to TiTiFeRu. Apparently, it's best to go to these clubs in a large group with an equal number of men and women because the women get jealous if their guys dance with other women. Despite this, we chose a ladies night out. TiTiFeRu is where the beautiful congregate although after awhile, they all kind of looked the same; tall, skinny, long straight hair, lots of cleavage, and perfect smiles. I think if I had come with guys, they would have spent the whole night gawking. Instead, Lady, Julia and I just danced the night away to the rhythms of Merengue, Regatone and Salsa.

On another night, I joined up with a local guy from Couch surfing and we went to watch a dance show. The dancers really wowed me with their flexibility, creativity and high energy. At one point, 2 guys bent this woman's back in the air til she almost folded in half and I literally thought they were going to break her. Seeing the cultural side of countries is my favorite part.

Before the dancing, I checked out the local bars and cafes. I especially like this bar full of kitsch stuff with each room decorated in its own artsy theme. And on another night, I dragged some tourists out to a bar with a 9 piece live salsa band.

Other than the night activities, the day activities are rather boring. There's not a lot going on in Cali by day. Their zoo is rather impressive and I especially liked these strange creatures that look like shrunken head idols. I never did find their nametag and so I'm still unsure what they are. The zoo even had a Bengal tiger whose paws are as big as my head.
When not visiting live animals, I visited the cat statues in the cat park. I petted a couple but none of them purred. I walked around the city, visited the museums and received a facial. I could have received a full body sculpture for less than $1000 with every piece of cellulite drained from my body, but figured the facial was good enough.

Popayan

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:09:00 +0000

With a multitude of white-washed colonial buildings, I immediately lost my sense of direction in Popayan and walked in circles until my sense of direction decided to rejoin me. Despite its cute and quaint nature, Popayan remains unaffected by the tourism that is growing in Colombia, although I did stay at the first hostel to open up here. Very few tourists come to Popayan and if they do, only as a stopover to get to San Augustin and Tierradentro. I expect this town to grow in tourism once the infrastructure is in place given the many day trips that can originate from here. I rather enjoyed the sleepy town feel and spent a couple days just relaxing from all the killer bus rides over the last week while catching up on my blog.

Ancient Burial Grounds and Cool Statues

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 04:52:00 +0000

If you can stomach a 7 hour bumpy bus ride that makes you want to pee the entire time while your kidneys rock to a beat all their own, you will be lucky enough to see underground tombs with colorful designs, ancient statues carved out of volcanic rock and the picturesque scenery of San Augustin and Tierradentro. Within these two towns lie the essential elements for a new Indiana Jones movie or just good sightseeing.

Since I wasn't sure if I would hit both towns given the poor road conditions, I chose to go to Tierradentro first, the less touristy of the two. Throughout the hills of Tierradentro lie tombs where people buried their dead. Not a lot is known about the people and tomb raiders stole many of the artifacts. Stone steps lead down into each tomb that occasionally has colorful artwork in shades of red and black while others are just plain, but cool nonetheless.

While sightseeing the tombs, I came across a group of 20 locals from Cali who are all studying tourism. When they saw me, they immediately started taking pics as though the roles somehow reversed and I became their tourist attraction. I guess they don't see many Japanese American tourists and everyone wanted their picture with me. They were all so friendly and they once again reminded me why I love Colombia so much, the people. They wanted to make sure that I had a good impression of Colombia so that I would tell others to visit their wonderful country. So, go visit Colombia. After I left them, I hiked for some 6 hours and visited every tomb in the area.
The next day, I took the 5:30am bus, switched a couple times and eventually made my way to San Augustin to check out the mysterious volcanic rock statues. Little is known about these statues that sometimes accompanied burial sites. I think that instead of annual pumpkin carving contests, these people host volcanic rock carving contest and then just leave them lying around year after year.

To view these statues, I walked through a cool jungle where each had its own display. The rest are scattered in the hillsides and so I rode a horse to visit the rest.

So Over Bus Travel...

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 04:37:00 +0000

When I evaluate how I've spent my time over the last year, I can honestly say that most of it has been spent on buses. I may have lost months of my life on public transport going from one place to the next because I was too cheap to buy flights.

On each bus, I usually encounter some sort of animal whether it be a chicken, bird, cat, dog or even a guinea pig. People crowd the rest of the space and I just try to blend into the scene. Since I'm usually the only foreigner on the bus, the locals take great delight in helping me get off at the right stop. Sometimes the entire bus cheers me off so I know I can't get lost.

What has become a typical travel day, I took an hour bus from Montanita, Ecuador to Puerto Lopez, then switched to an overnight bus to Quito and arrived at 4:45am. I took the 5:30 am bus to Tulcan that took 5.5 hours, switched to a taxi to get to the border, crossed the border, took another bus to Ipiales, switched to another bus to Popayan that took 8hrs. After 29hrs, I arrived at my final destination in Colombia. En route, I took a quick detour to visit the Santuario de Las Lajas near Ipiales. The church was built into the valley to memorialize the appearance of the Virgin there in the early 20th century.

Video Updates to Blog

noreply@blogger.com (June Fujimoto) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:49:00 +0000

I finally found a fast wifi connection and hence the multitude of updates. I was able to finally upload some videos for past blogs too. Here are the links.

Playing with Pumas in the Bolivian Jungle

Howling Faustino the Howler Monkey in the Bolivian Jungle

Partying with the Dutch at the Heineken House at the Beijing Olympics

Cheering as the Chinese Weightlifter Wins the Competition at the Beijing Olympics (still uploading video)

Watching a Penguin Waddle in Patagonia

Mating Dance of the Blue Footed Bobby in the Galapagos

Mating Dance of the Waved Albatross in the Galapagos

Celebrating with the Sandinistas at the Nicaraguan Election in Leon