1. There is overwhelmingly positive evidence that fecal transplants can cure C. Difficile infections
2. Obese mice that have been transplanted with intestinal flora from thin mice lose weight and vice versa
3. Timid mice when transplanted with the flora of braver mice, became more active and adventurous
4. Mice injected with flora from malnourished children could not digest food properly
5. Breast milk, nature’s most perfect food, contains a carbohydrate, oligosaccharide which for years confused scientists because this carb could not be broken down by the infant.  Why would nature include something useless in such a perfect food?  It turns out that oligosaccharides are not present to nourish the infant, but rather to nourish a certain class of intestinal bacteria.  This is further evidence for the importance of breast feeding and also for the importance of bacterial health.

Click here for the full article.

Leon today is a must-see; a city highlighted and recommended in every traveller’s guide.  Travellers come to witness the colonial charm that remained after history ran its course.  Others use the city as a base for visiting the nearby beaches or for the “once in a lifetime” chance to toboggan down the side of a volcano.  More serious travellers take advantage of the city’s language schools and learn to hablar espanol muy bien.  Most don’t realise that in the city lies a real rarity that is hard to find anywhere else in Central America: a traditional Chinese medicine centre.

The Chinese Medicine Centre

The many services the centre provides

Centro de Terapias Naturales y Orientales offers acupuncture, massage therapy, herbal remedies, Thai massage, chiropractic massage, lymphatic massage, and reiki.  The best massage I had in Central America was received here for a mere $14. There is an herbal dispensary selling supplements at very low prices.  A bottle of maca root that would normally sell for $20 in Canada, is only $2.50 there.  A bottle of dietary cleanse capsules that normally go for $25, sells for $1.50.

The most interesting story, however, is not what the centre is, but why it is.  This Chinese medical centre exists because of the revolution.  The revolution had strong roots in liberal, intellectual Leon as evidenced by the many murals and monuments around town remembering the martyrs of the revolution.  In a show of empathy and solidarity with the people and their ideals, a team of Japanese came to Leon’s aid.  In the years they were here, they trained willing students the art of Chinese medicine, acupuncture, and massage.  The director of the clinic and her husband were both in the first class of Nicaraguans to learn Chinese medicine from the Japanese.  It was this tiny grass roots group that carried on the tradition, spreading the knowledge to those who want to learn.  Today they offer  a one year course in acupuncture that can lead to certification.

Centro de Terapias Naturales y Orientales can be a bit tricky to find.  The address is:

Costado Noroeste UNAN Leon
1/2 cuadra al oeste, Leon.
Telephone: 2311-2955, or 8333-8747, or 8657-0643

A mural dedicated to the 4 martyrs of the revolution

A mural dedicated to the massacre of July 23, 1959

I had the good fortune of meeting Tami, an Israeli massage therapist living and working in San Pedro. She had been travelling and living overseas for 25 years.  You could safely say that she has wanderlust.  Tami was happily travelling the world when a friend invited her to spend Christmas in San Pedro.  For her, the mountains, lake, and work/life balance seemed ideal.  The expat community was also ideally suited to her.  She felt like she could be herself here, and quickly lost the desire to leave and discover the next destination.  She has been here ever since.

The intersection near Tami’s clinic. Her sign is the yellow one. To find her, just ask around. Everyone knows her.

Tami’s practice is located off one of the main pedestrian alleys.  At the intersection there is a cluster of restaurants and cafes and a yellow sign  pointing to Tami’s clinic.  A one minute walk down an alley leads to her clinic. Tami’s clinic offers Swedish massage, hot stone massage, reflexology, and healing with crystals.  She also teaches all these techniques in multi-day workshops.  Once you get to San Pedro, she is pretty easy to find, as everybody knows everybody.  To make arrangements ahead of time, you can visit her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tami-Massage-and-reflexology-in-san-pedro/176674989104195 or call her at 4225-7121.

Sign for Tami’s Clinic

The market in San Pedro is primarily made up of travellers who spend only a few days in town.  Serving transient customers changed the nature of her work.  Back home in Israel, she could easily arrange clients to follow a treatment plan of 10 weekly that would target and treat their ailments.  It was simple to build up a repeat client base and achieve results.  In San Pedro, the majority of customers are travellers that are only there for a solitary dose of pampering or therapy before leaving for the next town.  In these single treatments it is difficult to achieve real, lasting results.  However, sometimes, travellers are physically in such dire straits that they don’t have a choice but to stay and get regular treatments over a couple of weeks.

Tami is fortunate enough to own her home where she runs her practice. Property ownership can be one of the trickiest parts of the equation.  Neighbouring El Salvador allows a maximum 49% ownership of real estate or business, meaning that foreigners can never have a controlling interest in their business.  Other countries, like Thailand, do not allow foreigners to own any real estate.  Ownership there means marrying a local or having trustworthy local business associates that have exclusive legal title to the business.  Luckily, Guatemala has more attractive laws which allow foreigners to own land and property outright without citizenship, residency or local investors.  Business permits are also fairly straightforward to acquire.  When you open a business in Guatemala, it is all legally yours.

San Pedro offers a great combination of a developed expat community, a steady flow of tourists, favourable real estate and business ownership laws, but most importantly a beautiful, friendly, culturally fascinating place to live.  There are many other ideal locales around the world waiting to be discovered by you.  Keeps your eyes open, you never know when you will discover your new home.