tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11593277434229596742011-07-07T13:01:39.257-07:00I'm a Berkeley PhD. student studying international emerging infectious diseases. I work at Joe DeRisi's lab at UCSF and am co-mentored by Eva Harris at Berkeley. Occasionally, my interests send me to Nicaragua. These are my stories.Nathan Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12148485106890637547noreply@blogger.comBlogger201100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1159327743422959674.post-36195494682269377752009-05-12T08:51:00.000-07:002009-05-12T09:07:03.729-07:00

Monday May 11, 2009A monkey’s adorableness is universally unquestioned – hemorrhagic viruses aside – but a chirping, playful, miniature monkey crawling all over your head and eating mango slices, well that’s just too much for anyone to handle. La Hotel Mariposa (www.mariposaspanishschool.com) the oasis jungle eco-hotel/Spanish school/animal sanctuary that I visit every Nica trip (and have

Nathan Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12148485106890637547noreply@blogger.com42tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1159327743422959674.post-81036150247408601082009-05-07T16:39:00.001-07:002009-05-08T10:54:41.937-07:00

Nicaragua now has swine flu testing capabilities!Observations that could make one think this has been a long time coming include: masked airport personnel, symptom checklists for all arrivals, and required hand sanitizing for all Pizza Hut customers. I’ve heard the head of virology here at the Ministry of Health has been under a bit of political pressure, and that blaming the CDC, while accurate

Nathan Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12148485106890637547noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1159327743422959674.post-56180827416421276622008-03-14T16:00:00.000-07:002008-03-14T16:01:49.159-07:00

It’s 4:30pm on a Friday and they’ve started fumigating the lab. A man with a mask, a work suit and what looks like a deafening leaf blower is blasting nauseating clouds throughout the hallways.Me: (cringing) What the hell are they doing?Lab technician: Fumigating.Me: What?! For what?LT: Mosquitoes.Me: What?! But we’re still here.LT: Yeah. So?Ok, I’m likely signing off for a few days. Heading

Nathan Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12148485106890637547noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1159327743422959674.post-22249824301648703102008-03-13T13:23:00.000-07:002008-03-13T13:25:44.236-07:00

My housemother, Mary, is very nice and motherly. She cooks me breakfast and dinner, cleans my room, washes my clothes, and worries if I come home too late. She kinda nags me in Spanish, loves to proclaim the virtues of the Sandinista party, and never stops asking me if I’m hungry or thirsty. Yesterday morning she panicked when I accidentally crashed the small mirror in my room. It was a

Nathan Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12148485106890637547noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1159327743422959674.post-22693410440803387802008-03-12T14:49:00.000-07:002008-03-12T14:55:50.404-07:00

The island is tarantula country after all and at night they like to roam walls and scare people who aren’t used to living in tarantula country. An Arizonian staying at the farm, being accustomed to such beasts found one and picked it up and waved it at a group of girls who screamed and scampered. He assured that, “they’re hairy and loners and chill, like cats – it’s like petting a cat.” Anyway,

Nathan Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12148485106890637547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1159327743422959674.post-38262312904340399812008-03-11T15:09:00.000-07:002008-03-12T14:54:44.299-07:00

This weekend’s grand adventure took me to Ometepe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ometepe), which screams awesomeness from the most cursory glance at a Nica travel guide. Rising from the huge freshwater sea of Lake Nicaragua (that at one point was being explored as a possible canal site to rival Panama's) are Concepcion and Maderas, twin volcanoes that form the hourglass Ometepe Island. On Friday

Nathan Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12148485106890637547noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1159327743422959674.post-91176328840992706032008-03-05T09:25:00.000-08:002008-03-12T14:57:27.325-07:00

Occasionally the Ministry of Health driver will pick me up, but I mostly commute to the lab by taxi. Each way usually only costs a little more than a San Francisco bus ticket (negotiated beforehand, of course) and the ride is anywhere between 15 and 40 minutes, depending on traffic and detours and general Managua mayhem. It’s also affected by how many times the driver stops for $1.50 gas

Nathan Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12148485106890637547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1159327743422959674.post-84058519559312323842008-03-03T14:43:00.000-08:002008-03-12T15:00:03.634-07:00

This weekend, I fully embraced the whole exploring by myself thing and took a variety of buses for four hours up to the Pacific coast and the beach of Las Peñitas. The most colorful part was the final 20 km leg from the beautiful colonial city of León, out to the coast in an ancient yellow school bus. (León was moved 20 km inland in the 18th century to protect itself from pirates.) Again, the

Nathan Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12148485106890637547noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1159327743422959674.post-65480619406292459682008-02-28T15:42:00.000-08:002008-03-13T13:39:24.003-07:00

Let’s talk more on lab culture.At first I may have been a little discouraged. I saw inefficiency, bureaucratic bullshit, and micromanaging. Lab members hesitate to solve problems on their own or change their routine for fear of reprimand. The hierarchical fear is based somewhat on realities, as their jobs are valuable and delicately insecure and the country is damned poor. If something doesn’t

Nathan Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12148485106890637547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1159327743422959674.post-31203913244671559662008-02-26T14:58:00.000-08:002008-03-13T13:30:15.213-07:00

The working relationships in an academic lab are usually relatively simple. Students (undergrads, grad students, post-docs) work with varying degrees of autonomy on individual projects under a primary investigator. The projects may or may not be connected.The situation in a diagnostic lab, such as this National Virology Lab of Nicaragua, can be much more complex with a confusing web of

Nathan Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12148485106890637547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1159327743422959674.post-73834448978920454042008-02-25T12:24:00.000-08:002008-03-13T13:35:24.933-07:00

Things I learned this weekend include how to open a coconut with a machete and that twenty-five people can fit in a mini-van.I returned to my favorite mountain eco hotel in La Concha, about an hour outside of Managua (see January 15, 2007 entry). I remain convinced that the tranquility of the Mariposa eco-hotel is mostly derived from living amongst their animals, which may have something to do

Nathan Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12148485106890637547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1159327743422959674.post-11663944039877704582008-02-25T12:13:00.000-08:002008-03-13T13:34:16.225-07:00

I'm here in Nica again, and all is well and nice, and I ate beans for breakfast. Things seems to have taken an economic upturn in the past year as there are many more nice cars, and the lab has undergone some nice structural and tech renovations (a QiaCube, a new freezer room). It's refreshing.Still, the work ethic, ah. I need to calm myself. For a few days I'll be relying on others for some

Nathan Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12148485106890637547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1159327743422959674.post-25414607673338917112007-02-09T09:35:00.000-08:002008-11-12T22:38:55.681-08:00

Photos: I'm not sure what the man was selling, but he sure carried a large sword (left); basket-carrying on a road near La Concha; and a isolated mountain farming hut (bottom).It’s a shame I’m leaving just as I’m feeling acclimated enough to gain tremendously more from my time here. I’m more confident, informed and willing to explore the city, people and country on a more intimate level. The

Nathan Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12148485106890637547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1159327743422959674.post-10697656600093757642007-02-09T09:20:00.000-08:002008-11-12T22:38:56.032-08:00

Photos: Crazy tarzan vines (left); Manuel, our guide, next to Manuel-sized leaves; and a standard farming family's home (bottom).By 6:30 this morning I was in the back of a pickup on the road back to Managua. I’d stayed through Sunday night, to savor the warm showers and comfortably work on my lab presentation. It was striking how less struck I was by the sights of the capital upon my return; I

Nathan Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12148485106890637547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1159327743422959674.post-29795794221840092752007-02-08T16:52:00.000-08:002008-11-12T22:38:56.442-08:00

Photos: Fellow travelers on the bumpy road to La Boquita (left), shaded huts with hammocks and rum, and a home-made beach umbrella (bottom).I imagine world travelers of yore found much wonder in the man’s great creations, marvelous engineering feats and towering constructions conquering nature, but today it seems more remarkable to find beautiful country untouched by modern development, like La

Nathan Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12148485106890637547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1159327743422959674.post-22284740134358926332007-02-08T10:57:00.000-08:002008-11-12T22:38:56.677-08:00

Photos: An historic building in Managua controlled by military. I know that's a lame discription, but no one I met knew its name (left). Hotel Mariposa in La Concepcion, the proverbial getaway within getaways.Judy is an older, ex-pat English woman, trying in her own saintly liberal way to save Central America in her retirement. She lives with her adopted, disabled Nicaraguan daughter in the

Nathan Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12148485106890637547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1159327743422959674.post-63859575809080722712007-02-07T16:51:00.000-08:002008-11-12T22:38:57.186-08:00

Photos: Moises and his house, (from left) before his shot, the doorway, and backyard with Lake Mangua in the distance. Children from the lakefront barrio (bottom).Managua real estate is strange. The city borders a gigantic lake surrounded by breathtaking, dormant volcanoes, but years of massive industrial pollution left the water toxic and, as a result, the lakefront remains ignored by developers

Nathan Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12148485106890637547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1159327743422959674.post-69926608420612433092007-02-07T10:26:00.000-08:002008-11-12T22:38:57.672-08:00

Photos: modern art, Nica door-style (left), and Hospital Infantil. Children like their hospitals brightly colored.I visited the bedside of a young girl hospitalized with dengue fever. She had been painfully sick for five days prior, but was accompanied by her mother and well on the road to recovery and away from the road to serious complications. Since the happy ending was in sight, I can look

Nathan Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12148485106890637547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1159327743422959674.post-49416029870222991562007-02-07T09:40:00.000-08:002008-11-12T22:38:58.095-08:00

Photos: Restaurants naturally extend from family kitchens (left), and dudes like their carts brightly colored.Running water and towels are luxuries – not necessities – and I should probably grow accustomed to washing myself with water scooped from a 50-gallon plastic garbage can and drying myself with a t-shirt. The lack of conveniences makes every street sight prime photo opportunities – fathers

Nathan Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12148485106890637547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1159327743422959674.post-40966413623878048372007-02-06T18:23:00.000-08:002008-11-12T22:38:58.401-08:00

Photos: Inside my apartment (left), and an extinct, lake-filled volcano from the descent into Managua.Landing in Nicaragua means throwing away my American conveniences, like my plush apartment and ability to communicate with people around me. Jilma, the exceptionally nice Nicaraguan abuelacita seated next to me helped ease me into the language and culture by sharing family photos, assuring me su

Nathan Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12148485106890637547noreply@blogger.com0