Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Beers, burritos and lots of rain in Tunco Beach, el Salvador

We're in el Salvador, safe and sound in Tunco Lodge in a little town called el Tunco.  We drove down from Antigua, 6 hours in a minibus, with just 2 other people so it was very comfortable but absolutely torrential rain.  There were times we had to slow down because there was so much rain on the road.  A few mudslides and missing bridges but nothing major.  All the bad spots have detours along rutted country roads with cavernous potholes.
Tunco Beach, el Salvador
The border looked like a scene from a zombie trucker movie with tractor trailers backed up for a good mile.  I guess the rain and detours slowed everybody up and no one was moving.  Our driver detoured us through back yards and driveways until we were past most of the truckers, then we jumped out of the van, flashed our passports at the border shack and went on our way.
I'm lying in a hammock as I write, overlooking the pool and a forest of palm trees.  Dinner was a fat burrito and a beer for $4, we watched the waves pound the beach during sunset as an appetizer.  There is just enough development here to keep things lively, but not too much.  Tunco Lodge is barely one year old and apparently 3 years ago this place wasn't even on the map.
When we checked out the waves today they looked pretty damn big and the river that dumps into the ocean has turned the water a thick milk chocolate brown.  I think we'll have to head down the beach a bit so we aren't pounded into the sand. 
Hotel Tunco Lodge
For now the view from the hammock is just fine.

Monday, September 27, 2010

A Week in the Life of a Medical Mission Volunteer

We are back in Antigua and it's still pissing down rain.  This may have something to do with the dissolution of Hurricane Mathew which was headed this way last week but fell apart before it could do any real damage in this region.  So we are spending a lot of time in little coffee shops and bars and that is not a bad thing.  Current favorites are Cafe No Se and Ocelot, so if you're in the area check them out.
Last week I planned to blog during a medical mission I volunteered for.  It was my first medical mission of any kind and I found myself exhausted at the end of each day, overwhelmed by what I had seen and experienced, craving alcohol, and not feeling like blogging.  So I didn't.

But now I have had the chance to process the week a bit amongst my synapses and here is the result:
This was a fantastic opportunity and I'm glad I took it.  Yes, there were times when I questioned what and how we were doing something but I think if you walk into any hospital or clinic in the world you will find moments of profound joy, sadness and frustration.  For better or worse you are changing peoples' lives and that comes with consequences.
Some of our female patients suffered from a prolapsed uterus and from what I saw that is not a pleasant thing.  Others had incontinence from numerous childbirths and needed muscle and tissue repair to stop the problem.  Also not pleasant.  We had a number of children come in with terribly disfigured cleft lips and palettes.  One girl was 30 years old with a mouth that was cleft all the way to the top of her nose and virtually no palette.  So any improvement on these conditions is a good thing.  We were very limited in our recuperative narcotics and for that I was ashamed.  Granted, I have been raised in country with a drug for everything, but it is difficult to watch a woman walk out of a clinic 24 hours after an abdominal hysterectomy with a handful of acetaminophen and ibuprofen.  That is a world of pain I have never visited and cannot imagine.  But it was the best we could do.



My greatest joy during the clinic was spending time with the patients in their 24 hours after surgery.  I enjoyed making them more comfortable and talking to them about their work and lives.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Listening to the rain in Chichicastenango

It's pouring down rain outside the hotel right now as Hurricane Mathew nears Guatemala.  I don't think this rain is related yet but by tomorrow or the next day it certainly could be and these folks don't really need any more rain.
We spent the week volunteering at a medical clinic in a little town called Camanchaj.  I don't think it's even on Google Maps.  To get to the clinic one must drive down a short dirt track surrounded by fields of corn.  The clinic consists of two OR rooms, one big room that doubles as intake, post op, and recuperation, and then off to the side there are two other rooms alternately used as exam rooms and dental clinic rooms.  So the 30 of us got pretty cozy.
The clinic is run by Salud y Paz (based in Guatemala) and we were with a church group organized by Pura Vida out of Colorado.  The clinic provides the building and basic supplies and hosts groups as they come through doing cleft lip and other operations, depending on the surgeons that come through.  Our group had a surgeon specializing in facial plastics so he did a lot of cleft lip repairs, and there were two other GYN surgeons doing hysterectomies and vaginal repairs.
I came in as Support, which means do everything not medical.  But my Spanish/English abilities soon had me interpreting and helping with patients after they came out of anesthesia and since the surgeons were cool I even got to scrub in and assist on a tubal and a repair.  I won't go into detail on those.  Suffice to say some very private parts were cut and put back together and I was in awe of the whole bloody process.  Literally.  Should one get the chance to partake in a surgery that is not one's own, do it.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Antigua- it's a long way from Fairbanks, Alaska

Perhaps that title seems a bit obvious but the phrase keeps repeating itself in my head as I walk around this fabulous city. We left Fairbanks at 1am on the redeye to San Francisco Sept. 13. We touched down around 10am and spent the day with friends in the city, enjoying sunshine in Alamo Square and dinner at Suppenkuche, one of the tastiest German restaurants in the city. We got back on the plane at 10pm and flew to Ft. Lauderdale via Atlanta, arriving at 7 am, a very long night that I spent in a Theraflu coma due to an encroaching head cold. Took Spirit Air at 9am direct to Guatemala City with my knees wedged tight against the seat in front of me for 3 hours. Oh, to be the size of a Central American, just for one flight.



We unfolded ourselves at Guatemala City International Airport and braced for the onslaught of a city of 15 million. It never happened. We got through customs in 15 minutes, exchanged $100, and jumped on an Inguat minibus to Antigua. Our driver Juan was incredibly knowledgeable about the area and even the U.S. When we said we were from Alaska he even asked about Palin. Her politics appear to mirror Guatemala's president who also has a passion for power and corruption. So we have that in common, which is nice.
We bounced onto the cobblestone streets of Antigua in the early afternoon and found many of the streets blocked off in anticipation of Sept. 15, Independence Day. We checked into Posada Dona Clara. The owner's son, Alejandro, checked us in and the place looked decent for $25/night. We kicked around the city a bit, had dinner and watched the celebrations start to crank up. Marching bands all around the city, fireworks, food stands, and lots of glow in the dark children't toys. Awesome.
We came back to the hotel around 10p and as we settled in an American woman came to the door. She looked to be about 800 years old and was like an oracle from an old European film. "Beware the thieves!" she said. "I'm stuck here, I hate it, the owners will steal from you and all Guatemalans are bandits! I hate these little people!" We thanked her for the creepy advice and shut the door in her face. At midnight we were awakened by yelling as a Dutch couple came home to find their room next door to us ransacked and all their belongings gone. Alejandro was summoned and in a stroke of genius found their belongings in a nearby room. Clever Alejandro. Turned out a camera and 300 Euro were taken but passports were left behind. The police came, the couple made a statement and we went back to sleep, sort of. The next morning we decided to move, but went out for breakfast first. I carefully arranged the zipppers on my pack so I could tell if they had been tampered with and we took all our valuables except for a few $5 and $10 notes which I left in the pack, but not too deep. When we returned my zippers had been opened and $20 from the notes was missing. We packed up and went to confront Alejandro. He did not seemed worried at all, almost as though he expected us to say something. Then he said the room was locked and no way anyone could have gotten in as we have the only key. He asked the maid if she stole from us, she said no and that was the end of that. Alejandro and the Posada Dona Clara should not be trusted. Do not stay there. The worst part is that I can't listen to my favorite Lady Ga Ga song without feeling ripped off so it's a double wammy. Alejandro, you pinche bendajo I curse your hotel and hope you accidentally sit on your imitation mirrored Ray Bans.

So we moved into Casa Antigua and it is pure bliss, but at $55/night it ought to be. The staff is delightful, there's wifi, coffee and endless courtyards. Impeccably clean and they even did our laundry.
Hotel Casa Antigua
Independence Day in Antigua was a combination of Drum Line meets Bring It On as every school in Guatemala brought forth their marching band/cheerleaders/brass orchestra and went at it as loud as they could. The result was 12 hours of ear shattering madness punctuated by fireworks. Totally awesome. The mix of indigenous people was amazing. Tiny little people from the highlands in traditional dress, teenagers in tight jeans texting and messaging, and high rolling politicians from the capital. Someone gave a rousing speech about patriotism and the entire square sang their pledge of allegiance which made me want to grab the nearest armed guard and start pumping off shotgun rounds into the air with my shirt off yelling "Guat E Mal A! Guat E Mal A!" But I didn't.
This entry has gotten rather long so I'll cut it off here and post more about the people of Antigua next time. We meet up with a surgical team tonight that will take us into the Highlands for a week where we will volunteer at a clinic run by Pura Vida.