Nov 15, 2017
TRAVEL IS AN ENDLESS PLEASURE
Arriving in a city after midnight brings with it exhilaration as well as trepidation, especially if it is Manaus in the Brasilian Amazonia. Brasil does not have a reputation for…
Stories
Field notes from the road
Medicine, culture, travel, food, healing, and human stories from my archive. Start with a trail, search for a memory, or move by year.
Roads, meals, clinics, and human encounters.Archive into inquiry
These field notes are not only memory. They are the ground from which my new field inquiries begin.
The current inquiry follows one trail through the archive: food culture, metabolic health, Indigenous knowledge, and Suriname.
Nov 15, 2017
THE TWO MUST DO THINGS IN LETICIA, COLOMBIAN AMAZONIA
Leticia in the Colombian bit of the Amazon River was left out of the riches of the Rubber Boom that made Iquitos in Peru and Manaus and Belem in Brasil…
Nov 15, 2017
MAGIC IN BARRANQUILLA: MY CUBAN LOVES
Original Blogger URL: https://medicoanthropologist.blogspot.com/2017/11/magic-in-barranquilla-my-cuban-loves.html
Nov 15, 2017
A DOCTOR WITHOUT BORDERS WITH A GROUP OF INDIGENAS SIN/SEM FRONTERAS/FRONTEIRAS
What is the nationality of this man, who is saying his Shabbat Brachas in a Moslem country with a glass of wine (sorry it was a white wine from South…
Nov 15, 2017
INDIAN CHEFS AND OWNER FROM THE INTERIOR: EL CIELO RESTAURANT IN LETICIA, COLOMBIAN AMAZONIA
INDIAN CHEFS AND OWNER FROM THE INTERIOR: EL CIELO RESTAURANT IN LETICIA, COLOMBIAN AMAZONIA I had discovered El Cielo, the Amazonian fusion resto, during my first visit to Leticia, and…
Nov 15, 2017
A JEW ALONG THE AMAZON: FRIEND OF THE TICUNA AND LOOKING FOR JEWISH HISTORY
Within the course of one month: I was in Iquitos in Peru, Manaus in Brasil and Leticia in Colombia. Every where I went I met and made friends with the…
Oct 15, 2017
RAV KOOK AND BOUNDLESS LOVE. BREAKING THE FAST 5778 IN MIAMI
It was Yom Kippur and I was on my way to Miami to be with my good friends. We broke the fast together. The hours we spent chatting was an…
Oct 15, 2017
MEDICINE AS A METAPHOR FOR SOCIETY: A COMMENT ON THE BOOK BY HILLARY CLINTON
MEDICINE AS A METAPHOR FOR SOCIETY Until the end of the last century, the dominant metaphor for Health was Religious/Spiritual. Body is a temple, health is godliness or saintliness. Even…
Oct 15, 2017
MINNESOTA MON AMOUR : A NEW LOVE IN MY LIFE
This country is immense, and most of us just touch small patches of it. I cannot claim to have traveled it well rather than in patches: Florida, Texas, Nebraska and…
Oct 15, 2017
GRATITUDE, HUMILITY AND SACRIFICE FROM OMAHA COUNTRY TO SOUTH AMERICA
I am grateful for the kindness shown to me by the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska; especially Ashleen BB, Wehnona S, Lorna S, Taylor H among the many others. Lately I…
Oct 15, 2017
MY RAPA NUI FRIENDS : MEMORIES AND ANTICIPATION
I renewed some old friendships and made some new friends in Rapa Nui It was lovely to celebrate a shabbat, inviting some Rapa Nui friends.
Oct 15, 2017
OFFERING TOBACCO TO MOAI IN TAHAI IN RAPA NUI: A GIFT FROM MY BROTHER ARNE VAINIO OF MILLE LACS OJIBWAY
ARNE VAINIO, my Ojibway brother, was being honoured as the American Indian Physician of the Year 2017 at a meeting where I was one of the speakers. Our meeting and…
Oct 15, 2017
MEDITATING ON THE MEANING OF DESIRE
A young medical student from Cuba asked me: I explain, I understand that the more we want something, the more likely it is to happen, so tell me, I must…
Sep 15, 2017
TRAVEL IS SUCH A SAD PLEASURE
Travel is Such a Sad Pleasure The above sentence brings back several sentiments, first of all, on this trip: La Habana-Miami-Los Indios-Doha-Casablanca-Doha-Siem Reap-Kuala Lumpur and now to Quiberon in France…
Sep 15, 2017
SIEM REAP IN CAMBODIA : TWO DAYS TO CHILL OUT
Most people come to Siem Reap, to base themselves there for three days to visit the largest archeological ruins in the world, Angkor. I have been to Siem Reap three…
Sep 15, 2017
A VERY BRIEF STOPOVER IN KUALA LUMPUR
It always feels good to arrive in KL, a city I have grown to like since 2008 when I met a dear friend on my flight to Siem Reap! Over…
Sep 15, 2017
THE CHANGING MOODS OF QUIBERON ON THE BRITTANY COAST
This is my favourite spot in France, so far. France is a beautiful country and I have seen just a small portion, perhaps I will get a chance soon enough…
Sep 15, 2017
SOHEIL NAFISI, AHMAD SHAMLOO AND SOME SWEET MEMORIES
I am in Quiberon, Brittany, France where the night has fallen and the rain gone into hiding and the cote sauvage or the wild coast back to its unrelenting rhythm.…