Prophylactic Pepto and iPood: Preoccupations in Bodily Functions

When traveling in poor or developing countries the amount of time spent thinking about, contemplating, and analyzing bodily functions increases significantly. There is little attention paid or concern over how much information you are sharing with friends, family, colleagues, or respected elders. Ego seems to wash away… or at least priorities change. Dinner conversations regularly involve some sort of discussion of how things are flowing, or projections on how well the current meal will sit. It is common to evaluate and rate the conditions of a given bathroom upon returning to the table or activity in progress, as well as answer questions such as “how’d that work out for you?” “any better?” or “success?” Upon a thumbs up or sheepish smile there are offerings of congratulations all around. Approving nods and “well dones” are given as if any of us really have any control over the success, failure, or form of our bowel movements.
I was happy to find out that I was not the only one to employ a method of prophylactic Pepto usage when concerned about an upcoming meal or beverage. So far I have not had any problems, but there is a good chance that I may be putting too much stock in this defensive strategy. The other day Aya and I tried something called paan, though I still can’t fully identify what was in it. As we consider ourselves to be reasonable and responsible with our willingness to try new things we each downed a Pepto before committing ourselves and our stomachs to the strange “treat.” It was purchased from a roadside stall and I believe it is some sort of digestive (though in all honestly I‘m still not sure I have fully digested it). We watched skeptically as they were assembled. It contained what I think were candy coated anise seeds, along with a sprinkle of small red bits of something, a dash of a little more crunch, an extra dollop of chewy, a drizzle of a thick sap like concoction, and a few dustings of some colorful powders. All the ingredients are then wrapped up in what I understood to be a betel nut leaf. The entire package is then skewered onto a toothpick with a small red thing at the base that I thought was a cherry but wasn‘t and handed over. After a strategy discussion of how best to eat it, we decided to follow the advise we were given and consumed the entire thing in one bite. The one bite method may have been the best option for cleanliness and logistical reasons, but it did not make the experience pass any faster. There was an excessive amount of chewing required, and minutes passed before we were finally able to swallow it; enough time to change our opinions from thinking it was weird but not so bad to oh man, this is gross, you've all got to try it. In retrospect, it seems pretty amazing that the only consequences were feeling like I had ingested Vaporub, and a sense that my entire mouth was going to go numb at any second.

*thanks for the photos Ceci!

Later that afternoon, when we no longer felt like we were battling a cold in our stomachs, we were able to appreciate a shirt spotted in a window while exploring Kathmandu that had a picture of a girl, next to which were written the words “cute girl” (in case you weren’t sure what to think of her). The girl was wearing a pair of earbuds and since the shirt was clearly trying to state that the cute girl was listening to music, down the side of the shirt was written “iPood” in large distinct letters. Not only was the shirt funny in and of itself, but we were quite pleased that "iPood" had not been something we had to say after our earlier food experiment.

While I am perhaps overly confident in the ability of my body to fend off parasites, I remain cautious and regularly repeat, as a mantra, a warning that was once shared with me. A warning that I have since passed along to my fellow travelers: when in doubt never trust a fart.