Good crazy woman

Years ago, my mother-in-law told me that her four children were delivered by c-section. I remembered her saying, “It was the 50s and 60s. You entered the hospital with a belly, they put you to sleep, and when you woke up, you had a baby in your arms!“

Compared to my grandmother, who gave birth to her seven children naturally, having a c-section was never an option. The lack of medical services in rural Colombia back in the day mandated women to endure labor and God’s will.

Nonetheless, more than half a century later, Latin America has changed drastically, becoming the region in the entire world with the highest rate of c-section, according to the latest data published by the medical journal, The Lancet last week. Continue reading “Giving birth, giving light”

Even though I wrote about the risk of using groups of muscles that are not exerted often two weeks ago, I fell victim to a fitness challenge my husband saw on YouTube–100 daily push-ups for a month–motivated to get rid of the “bat wings” that hang from my arms.

As expected, I could barely finish 50, and that by supporting my legs on a yoga ball. To make the long story short, I ended at the acupuncturist office last Thursday with an acute sciatic nerve pain in my right leg.

Waiting in agony to see the doctor, I saw a new poster on the wall. It was the silhouette of a female torso in thermal images which alluded to breast cancer prevention. when the doctor greeted me I asked her about it. Continue reading “Thermography, a complement for mammography”

Since its inception in 1789, the Supreme Court of the United States has had 114 associated justices including the new member, Judge Brett Kavanaugh; he was sworn in on Saturday, October 6th.

The court’s justices are nominated by the sitting president and the tenure is for life. To this day, they all have served until they retired or died. Not one has been removed via impeachment. Continue reading “The Freedom of The Law”

Exercising regularly is one of the pillars to live a healthy life. Based on this principle and sponsored by the popularity explosion on social media, the fitness fashion and sports apparel market harvest exorbitant fruits in the last decade.

According to recent data, the launch of this market worldwide–with Nike, Adidas, Puma, and Under Armour as key players–reported $135 billion dollars in 2012, this year will be almost $174 billion, and projecting for 2024 is $220 billion dollars. Continue reading “The hidden danger in fitness fashion”

Last week, a renown TV diva in my home country named Amparo Grisales, stirred the pot with her opinion about feminists creating a controversy I believe is worth debating. During a radio interview, she claimed, jokingly, that women’s G spot is located at the end the of the word “shopping.”

The radio host censured the comment and told her the feminists were going to get mad at her. Then, the actress responded in her famous self-confident way “I don’t give a damn about feminists.” Continue reading “The Chauvinist Feminism”

Last Wednesday, September 12th, I listened to the live radio interview of a Colombian actress, Eileen Moreno. She gave her version of a brutal beating she received from her boyfriend, the also actor Alejandro Garcia, during a stay in Mexico. Her recounting of the events–which occurred almost two months ago–was nothing but gruesome.

As was to be expected, the Colombian social media erupted in an overwhelming support for the actress under the hashtag #NiUnaMas (not one more). Celebrities, politicians, and the general public joined in by posting their selfies covering one eye, imitating Eileen Moreno’s public complaint image. Continue reading “Lack of Compassion”

Last Monday, I listened to an audio that went viral in my home country. It was a radio caller on Colombia’s most listened morning station; the caller wanted to give his opinion about the day’s topic, the illicit drug personal dose.

The radio caller was a dad named Carlos, and he began his testimony detailing how he found eight providers of marijuana, ecstasy, and acids in his seventeen-year-old son’s cell phone. He also found the conversations that proved the transactions to acquire the illicit drugs.

Continue reading “Micro-dealers”

A funny way to describe the health of people who drink on a daily basis is that they are “pickled”. However, the belief that alcohol–one drink for women, and two for men–is beneficial is being questioned as of last week.

Last Friday, August 23th, the medical journal The Lancet published the results of a study conducted between 1990 and 2016 in 195 countries and territories. The initiative was sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The object of study was to determine the impact of alcohol consumption in general and to debate the popular association of health benefits with moderate consumption. The data was arranged every five years, and divided by ages 15 to 95 worldwide. Continue reading “Health Drop by Drop”

On Monday, August 13th commemorated the death of probably the most important political comedian in Colombia, Jaime Garzon. Nineteen years ago, his life was taken by hired assassins because he dared to create humor without a political affiliation.

He did the one thing that many aspire to do but only a few accomplish: becoming the voice of the people and uniting the citizens against the corruption and abuses of the Government. Continue reading “Funny Power”

The Ciudad Perdida (Lost City) Trek in Colombia has become a must on the bucket-list of eco-tourists around the world; many people are disenchanted by the commercialization of Machu Picchu in Peru, and have labeled the Lost City of the Tairona tribe the best challenge in South America.

Compared to the Inca ruins, built around 1450 A.D., it is estimated that the Tairona’s were established 650 years prior, 800 B.C. Moreover, while Machu Picchu can be accessed via foot, train, and bus, the Ciudad Perdida (known as Teyuna in the Tairona tongue) can be reached only by foot on a three day journey of 30 kilometers through the jungle. Continue reading “Another kind of adventure travel”