One thing we noticed during our trip was how commonly people depend on plants for medicinal purposes. This is not news, obviously, but I had never really met someone who so thoroughly depended on natural remedies. In both Honduras and Belize, our tour guides repeatedly pointed out which plants were used to treat what. Hypertension and diabetes seemed to be the two major health concerns, and each guide pointed out multiple plants to address these conditions. And each had personal stories to accompany them. "My father have diabetes so he boil this plant to drink every day for 3 months, and now the diabetes is gone." Insulin, beta blockers, and other drug therapies were never mentioned, seemingly not on the radar at all. They have (in some cases limited) access to doctors, but I detected a distrust - perhaps even a disdain - for clinical medicine. Not to mention the expense.

I cannot tell you how many times we heard "hypertension and diabetes" mentioned by our guides. Both guides in both countries mentioned these two conditions over and over. I was surprised that these seemed to be the most common complaints, and found this really interesting because of what it suggests about health care and health education in these countries. And yet, these conditions are also so prevalent in our own country. In many cases, hypertension and (type II, by far the most common) diabetes can be managed and even prevented with proper diet and exercise, and yet neither us nor them seem to have effectively communicated that to the public.

In Belize, we were visiting the site of Altun Ha, a Mayan ruin. After the tour, our guide gave us some time to roam around on our own. She told us we could climb the temples if we wanted, and then warned, "But if you have hypertension, you should maybe not do that. Not good idea." I had to agree with her. And then she added, "Also not good idea if you have diabetes." Cracked my shit up.

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Someone in our tour group at Altun Ha, wanting some local tea to take back home, asked our guide for advice on selecting one.

"Can you recommend a good tea from your country?"

"For what?"

"Just a nice soothing tea."

"Okay, well...one tea is called [didn't catch the name]. It has some cinnamon and is good for digestion. Also, there is a Red Rose Tea and the Chinese like to take that for...[searching for the word]....um..."

"Relaxing?"

"...resistance. For to increase resistance."

It just struck me how first world our needs are, you know? These people are drinking tea for a reason - hypertension, diabetes, to ease digestion or improve the immune system. And we're all, "I need to be soothed. I need to relax." At home in the evening I'll put on a pot of tea because I'm "freezing cold!" "Freezing cold" in my heated home. My god, will we ever realize how fortunate we are?

This is the ultimate reward of travel. We go for the scenery and the culture, because we're curious about the world and, yes, because we want to relax. But somewhere along the way, there is a small moment that significantly changes our perspective, that chips away at our insular isolation from the rest of the world. We return with a better appreciation for home and, more importantly, a better appreciation for the people and places beyond home. And I believe that viewing even small things, like a cup of tea, differently begins to influence the way we conduct our lives.