Hello, I'm just now getting a chance to write an update. Here we go…
Health
Well, just after my last update, and a month after arriving in Chontal, I got sick with either a flu or covid or something similar on March 13. I've been recovering bit-by-bit ever since, but it knocked me out. I had a fierce fatigue and malaise, chest pressure and headache, a mild dry cough, sweats that came and went, and digestive problems. I was mostly in bed in a cloud the first 3 days.
The family I'm staying with tried to convince me that it was certainly a flu. One of the daughters came down with something, then another who was visiting, then the mother. That was when I had arrived. Then the father as well, who was sick for about 2 weeks (they tried to keep that hidden from me). The mother and daughter have had a return of symptoms in the last several days. The problem I have is that they never informed me anyone was sick when I was arriving. I had of course taken a covid test out of precaution before coming and was forthright with my health situation when arriving (I had no symptoms of anything at all, and had quarantined for 10 days.) They didn't want me to go to the local health center, and I did take it on myself to go to a zonal doctor (more on that next).
In fact, there are many in the pueblo who have been sick with these flu-like symptoms, and they have all decided that it was just the flu - without a single covid PCR test. This is in part because PCR tests are difficult to get (a trip to Quito) and expensive for them. But it is also because people here are inherently afraid of finding out the truth of things, because there are so many fearful thoughts around it. Finding out the truth and facing reality courageously is just not part of the culture here.
According to the gossip, someone in the pueblo was tested for covid by the local health center, which is staffed by recent med school grads doing their rural year. It turned out positive. Now, this was likely a rapid, antibody test, which says nothing about a person's current condition (they reliably show positive for antibodies after 2-3 weeks of symptoms). And apparently, the man tested didn't have symptoms (I'm not sure why he was tested). But, for whatever reason, the person and their family was told by the health center to quarantine and close their business until PCR tests could be completed. According to the gossip, it took a week before they could take the test (someone from public health came from distance and administered it to them), and then another week for results. According to the gossip, that is. Anyway apparently, the PCR results were negative.
Gossip is that the family was irate that they had to close their business, that supposedly the health center staff publicized the situation, and that the family was ostracized by the fearful gossip: "they have covid, stay away", that type of thing.
So, this the dramatic narrative embraced by the family I'm staying with and by the gossipy pueblo, so that NO ONE will go to the health center if they have symptoms. The narrative is that you'll definitely get a false positive on a covid test, have to quarantine and close your business if you have one for 2 weeks. This is why the family didn't want me to go to the health center (they run a clothing store from their house), and why they - and others - basically work out their symptoms and diagnosis themselves. Or go to the zonal doctor I went to, as he is not going to make anyone quarantine.
So, about 4 or 5 days into it, I took it on myself to go to the zonal doctor about 45 minutes away. We left at 6am to arrive as one of the first people, as a long line typically forms early. I was second in line, and was received at about 9am or so. The doctor took my vitals and all and I described my recent history, including testing positive and then negative in sequential PCR tests on Feb 8 and 10 - five weeks earlier. He gave me some pepto and anti-parasite medications for digestive problems, and he gave me a rapid, quantitative covid antibody blood test (which looked conspicuously like a prize from a cereal box). It was a double test, testing IgM and IgG antibodies. According to him, the M are the short-term antibodies, and G long-term. If I had M but no G, it meant what I was currently experiencing was likely covid, and that I hadn't had it before in the positive test I had 5 weeks earlier (i.e., that was false positive). If I had G but not M, it's likely that I had had covid at that time of the positive test, but not now. If both were positive, then I would likely have had covid 5 weeks earlier, and it would likely that I was experiencing covid symptoms. Finally, if both were negative, it would mean two things: I likely wasn't currently experiencing covid, and didn't have it 5 weeks earlier, either.
Well, they both turned out negative, meaning there were no indications of any antibodies in me. The doctor said I'd likely test negative for PCR, which is part of my travel complications (more on that later).
But… here's the problem. Though the M antibodies typically show up earlier (within several days of symptoms) for viruses, my research says that that's not the case for covid. For covid, the M antibodies show up at the same pace as the G antibodies. Meaning, that both M and G antbody tests are really useless until at least 2 (and much better 3) weeks after the onset of symptoms. And since M antibodies decay away after about 5 weeks, and G stay for the long-term, it really doesn't make a lot of sense to test for both. That's why if you look at antibody tests in the US, they really only test for G antibodies.
Finally, about the doctor. At one point he had me lie down on the chair/table, face down. He said, "This is going to hurt," and he gave me three chiropractic blasts of my spine down my back! It did hurt a little bit, but afterwards I was fine and felt good. Later when I was sitting in a chair, he got a hold of my head, moved it around and told me to (you know what's coming!) and he gave a few rapid chiropractic head twists! You have to realize, I'm fatigued and a bit in a cloud. Otherwise, I probably would have told him to take a hike. But it's completely unprofessional (actually, insane), and I don't have confidence in him obviously.
So… I have doubts about the test he gave me, so that I don't think it's definitive. First, who knows about the test quality and the interpreter of the test? Is the negative G reliable enough to say that I have no long-term antibodies, that the positive PCR test back in Feb was false positive? Second, from what I understand, I would not have any antibodies yet 5 days into a case of covid. So the test doesn't say anything about what I've been currently experiencing.
Now all this gets complicated by travel regulations. I fly in about 3 weeks, and aside from being healthy (which I feel very confident I'll be by then), I need either a negative PCR covid test within 3 days of my flight, OR … a positive covid test within the 90 days before the flight (which I do have) and a doctor's official letter stating simply that I'm cleared to fly. So… just from the travel requirements alone, you can see why it's in my interest to (a) find out more definitively if I've had/having covid, and (b) involve a doctor who would be willing to check me and provide a letter of health. This would be help the people in the pueblo as well.
I should note that I haven't had any elevated temperature since the very first few days of being sick, and now it's been 15 days. According to CDC guidelines, if I've had covid, I haven't been contagious for a while, and can mingle with other people after day 14. It's not uncommon for the symptoms to linger for various timeframes, but I've been gradually getting better each day. So, I don't consider that I'm at any significant health risk myself or to others. Now, it's basically important to get more clarity for myself and my travel strategy, and for the local pueblo and medical center.
All that being said, I've been distanced from people now 2 weeks here, and I'm taking things still at a distance (not really worth mingling too much when I only have a week or two more here). I'll share more about Holy Week below, but I'm planning on going to a medical clinic in Quito in the days right after Easter. It's close to where I've been staying (and will be staying) in Quito, and I've gone there before, both for myself and a friend. And at the minimum, there are antibody test available at locations in the same area. I'm hoping a doctor there will collaborate in getting more clarity on whether I've had covid, and also the travel requirements, if necessary. So, I'll find out the days after Easter!
Anyway, I decided to include all that to provide a description of how similar and different the social, institutional, and cultural reaction to covid is here in rural Ecuador, compared to, say, urban United States.
Holy Week
Apparently the bishop has allowed some simplified Holy Week activities in this diocese, so the priest will be doing a Last Supper Mass and an Easter Vigil. He asked that I help organize the Stations and Last Words of Christ on Good Friday - there'll be no Good Friday service or adoration of the cross. I'm trying to minimize my interactions and participation, so I'm planning on supporting and preparing the religious ed teachers, the catechists, to lead the Good Friday activities. I don't think it's a good idea for people to meet three days in a row in the church for long ceremonies. I'm pretty sure I'm not contagious with whatever I have now (Saturday will be 3 weeks since my symptoms started), but there are others in the community who are sick, including 2 of the catechists! So, I've arranged for as simple and quick a Good Friday service as is possible.
Food in the Desert and Preaching
I had been preaching at times before getting sick, and I'm continuing to work on publishing written reflections, as well as video presentation guides for finding inspiration in the Gospels. The goal is still to have them universally available online, though I've been delayed by the sickness. I made some progress while I was sick, but plenty of days I just didn't have the energy to do much!
I'm working on updating the Food in the Desert series with a look at the relation between the Christmas story and the Last Supper in Luke's Gospel. That's where we've found ourselves during Lent, and there's a really cool message that the inspired author has put there by linking those two stories. As I mentioned before, it will certainly challenge what you thought about the Christmas story!
María and Her Cancer Treatment
Maria is still in treatment for her cancer, although it was delayed one month. She's waiting on the diagnostic test that determines the condition of her tumor, and then how to proceed.
Music Lessons
I'd been teaching ukulele to one of the teens here, who got inspired to learn a particular song and owns a new ukulele. I've paused the music lessons while sick, and likely there'll only be a few more before I leave. But she's made good advances, and now seems confident to take next steps on her own.
Travel
CopaAir has rescheduled my flight with United Airlines - actually at a better hour than my original flight. However, I'm not fully confident that that won't eventually get canceled too - the same things happened last year. The flight is scheduled for April 21, and my last valid day in the country is the next day Apr 22. So, if the flight were to be changed to anything beyond the next day, I would have to go into a place in Quito on Apr 22 (and no other day!) and get a 90-day visa extension for about $133. So, as you can see, things could go very smoothly - or get very complicated!
Pandemic ReBirth
I'm continuing to offer the Pandemic ReBirth Workshop, as well as the Tree of Life. Feel free to contact me directly if you're interested. And you can share the link freely as well.
Odds & Ends
Zombie Ants
One day, we noticed a whole colony of ants making a home in the floor of the outdoor patio here where I’m staying. They are leafcutter ants - you may remember them from a video I took in Mindo. Well, they are pests if that get that close, so it was necessary to give them some poison before they became a pest. I used an insecticide spray that I use a lot in my room, designed for insects in general, but especially for roaches and ants. All the ants lay dead around the hole they were creating. Or so I thought.
Exactly a week later, I was sitting in my room and noticed movement on the ground outside, out of the corner of my ants (the ants are big!) It was one of the ants, groggily … coming. back. to. life. And… I looked around the ground… and ALL of the ants - at the very same time - were coming back to life. Yes, they had been lying motionless on the ground for one whole week - looking dead, but apparently only in an ant coma. It was literally an ant apocalypse. Check out this video: the rise of the ant zombies! But in reflection, it’s a testament to the resilience of nature, and the mystery of the resurrection that we are all invited to in Christ.
There is a lot of plantain/banana product around here, more than people can eat or sell. Some of it actually gets thrown out, as you can see in the picture. I took as much as I could with me, but we already have plenty in the house. Plantain/banana products, yucca, and beans are diet staples here.
This is a fruit called Guava. Inside the large green pod are large black seeds covered in a cottony, sweet pulp, which you eat.
While I was on my way to the doctor on St. Patrick’s Day, I got this great view of green through the cloud forest:
And finally, here are different views of the pueblo here in Chontal, by day and night:
Once again, as Holy Week begins, I'll leave you with these words from Pope Paul VI. This fundamental following of Christ is eventually what got him crucified by the jealousy of religious folks. But it also is a mark of his resurrection, because it's a fruit of eternal life. Enjoy.
“Since the world cannot be saved from the outside, we must first of all identify ourselves with those to whom we would bring the Christian message-like the Word of God who Himself became a man. Next we must forego all privilege and the use of unintelligible language, and adopt the way of life of ordinary people in all that is human and honorable. Indeed, we must adopt the way of life of the most humble people, if we wish to be listened to and understood. Then, before speaking, we must take great care to listen not only to what men say, but more especially to what they have it in their hearts to say. Only then will we understand them and respect them, and even, as far as possible, agree with them.
Furthermore, if we want to be men’s pastors, fathers and teachers, we must also behave as their brothers. Dialogue thrives on friendship, and most especially on service. All this we must remember and strive to put into practice on the example and precept of Christ.”
Feel free to reach out at any time. Until next time,
Jerome