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.

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.

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.

Double back to Antigua

Deja vu all over again, we are back in Antigua after a whirlwind weekend in Tikal. It was quite an experience. It was wonderful to fly over most of Guatemala and imagine all the hours on a bus we weren´t riding on.
We arrived early in the morning and took a taxi up to El Remate where we met Don David, the owner of Hotel Don David. He is extremely old and extremely nice and it was a good introduction to northern Guat. We hitchhiked to Tikal and spent the rest of the day in the ruins. They are not much older than Don David. But prettier.
We hiked all over and up and down and there were monkeys and spiders and crocodiles and butterflies the size of small airplanes. On the hitchhike back we rode in the back of a pickup with a Guatemalan who had moved to LA to be a lawyer, crazy. So we all told stories all the way home while bugs went up our noses and the night air cooled off considerably to a chilly 68F.
The next day we caught the chicken bus back to Tikal and stayed at the Jaguar Inn. Each bed has a jaguar skin comforter on it and they have a trained jaguar that takes you to your room. Well, that isn´t quite true but I had high hopes. Their coffee was good though and the showers were hot. We kicked down mucho dinero (that means a lot of money Philip) for a guide this morning and he took us on a super private jungle trek at 5am to see the sunrise. We wore traditional Mayan skirts and I sacrificed several millipedes on the hike in. The sunrise was incredible from atop Temple IV and as soon as the sky light up howler monkeys began screaming back and forth and it sounded like King Kong times a lot of monkeys. It was loud but we weren´t scared.
After sunrise we learned more about the ruins and traditions and global positioning and the solar system and eating plants and harvesting allspice and it was all very amazing touristy fun stuff. Then we caught the bus back to the airport and here we are in an internet cafe in Antigua listening to¨American Band¨on the radio and getting ready for dinner. Tomorrow we are off to Honduras at 3am on the super First Class Hedman Alas bus and I can´t wait to see what the movie is.
Hope all ya´ll are safe and sound as a pound,

Back in Antigua

We survived the hellacious bus ride from Lago de Atitlan to Antigua once again and are now back amongst the cobblestone streets of this majestic colonial town. We picked up a few more gifts and booked all our flights and buses so we are set for the final week of travel.

Tomorrow we leave for Tikal at 4 am, the last city of the Mayans, and should be there by 9am then we return to Antigua the night of the 9th if the flesh eating Toucans dont carry us off. The morning of the 10th we leave at 3.30am for Copan, just inside Hoduras, where we will spend the day chasing monkeys and then we are back to San Pedro Sula where we will spend a maddening hour in the duty free lounge trying to find quality gifts for under $5 to bring back to all the people we care so much about.

Gosh darn it we love you all. Hope the snow is deep and the mountains are steep where ever you are...

Hasta pronto,

Lago de Atitlan

We are still in Casa del Mundo and loving it. We were begining to worry about putting on too much weight this trip but here at la Casa there are about 4 million stairs so I have cleverly devised a regimen in which all food is placed at the top of the steps and all drink at the bottom. It keeps Ang and I fit and healthy. We are currently working on our cliff diving skills and our tans so there is much going on. Last night we fired up the resorts wood burning hot tub and listened to the crickets around the lake as the stars shone bright overhead and the volcanoe rumbled in the distance. Today we took a boat to the nearby market and shopped for presents. I hope everyone needs keychains...

Gotta run, there's special prices today only!

Feliz Año Nuevo

Hello all, we have survived the New Years festivities here but it wasn´t easy. We went to the city center of San Pedro del Lago on new years eve to check out the entertainment and it was quite a sight. A band from out of town had set up and we were treated to some great ranchero music with a horn section, two marimbas and enough bass to crack my sternum. There were three guys doing vocals and they all had the La Bamba look going is they danced and sang. There was enough hair gel to deep fry a turkey.
Of course the crowd was 99% Mayan so they didn´t exactly do the freak or anything like that. Mostly there was lots of standing and staring and drinking. The locals like to send fireworks in all directions, not just up, so by the end of the night we were pretty gun shy of anything more than a burning cigarette. They also don´t really care about pretty colors in their fireworks, here, it is all about the concussion. The result is that the city sounds like it has been under siege for the last 24 hours. There are massive explosions 6 or 7 times an hour. We hear a hollow "thwoop!" as a projectile leaves its cardboard canon and then about 5 seconds later an explosion identical in strength to the bombs used to check avalanche safety at the Alyeska Resort. Crazy. Another one just went off as I write and it´s the 2nd of January, maybe it never ends.
After the New Year officially arrived we headed back to our hotel and met a missionary up late and looking for people to talk to. He was from southeast Texas and we talked with him for about 2 hours about everything from the Devil to the breeding lineage of his pet Chihuahua Gonzalez who ran around our feet in intense fear the whole time. It was very strange.
Today we boat across Lake Atitlan to Jaibalito, a small cliffside village where an Alaskan has established a hotel (lacasadelmundo.com)with kayaks for rent and a wood fired hot tub. It should be good. Daytime temperatures are well into the 80´s now and at night lightening storms light the hillsides of the surrounding volcanoes. It is quite amazing.

Lago de Atitlan

We are now on the edge of one of the deepest lakes in the entire world, Lake Atitlan, the left over crater from a massive volcanoe blast 85,000 years ago. It's over 2000 feet deep and teeming with fresh water crocodiles. Well, no crocs but it is beautiful and the surrounding mists that enshroud the nearby volcanoes that puff contentedly in the distance make me want to sing John Denver songs at the top of my lungs. Thank God I'm a country boy.

Anyways, the journey here was nothing short of epic. That means it was difficult Philip, life isn't just a bowl of curried Lobster on this trip. No sir. The bus ride from San Pedro Sula, Honduras was fraught with bad music and even worse movies. Our air conditioned bus featured Cat Woman played at an unavoidable decible on the big screen. Once the movie ended it was the Beegies, Air Supply and Foreigner. Angela became ill and it wasn't from the curvy roads alone, of that I am sure. The driver threatened with Kenny Loggins at the border so we hurriedly paid more, got our passports stamped and were on our way.

We reached Guatemala City around 6pm as darkness fell. The city is home to over 4 million and it is crazy to see McDonalds, Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken fighting for the same corner. We switched to a taxi there and hurtled on to Antigua, touching down around 9 pm. There is only about a 4 thousand foot hill seperating Antigua from Guat City but it is quite a change. On the ride down the mountain we passed vehicles with sparks coming from their brake pads and discs that glowed red in the night. Awesome. Luckily our driver didn't use his breaks so our taxi survived uninjured.

Angela and I roamed the streets for a bit before a family took us in for the night. They had a hotel and all so it wasn't a charity situation or anything like that. We spent the next day exploring the cobblestones, checking out the local market and walking aproximately 400 blocks. It was quite the little city.

This morning we boarded a 10 passenger van and hurtled off to Lake Atitlan at 7am. The driver pointed out areas along the road where massive mudslides earlier this year had killed people in their homes and shut down the road for 15 days. The devastation that still remains is hard to imagine. Within a few hours we were on the beautiful shores of Lake Atitlan where we jumped in a boat and head across to San Pedro del Lago where we found plush accomodations and Jeb and Anna from Texas who showed us around. This looks like a grand spot we will definitely stay through New Years and perhaps a week after that. Next on the list is horseback riding to the top of one of these volcanoes with some fireworks and see if we can get things going around here.

Ciao for now,

J and A

Antigua- Cobblestones and Volcanoes

We are now in the ancient colonial city of Antigua, Guatemala. The streets are cobblestone, the churches are massive, and it is as though we have stepped back to the 1700´s. I bought some big black shoes with buckles and Angela has taken to wearing a dashing green cape and white gloves. Actually that is not true, we are down to t-shirts and shorts because it is blasted hot and dry. We awoke this morning to breakfast on a terrace overlooking the city with not one but two volcanoes smoking in the distance. I thought I spotted a pteradactyl but Angela´s keen eyes pointed out it was just more vultures. We are both suffering a bit from Seagull Syndrome (I shan´t go into detail) but our spirits are high and we are enjoying wandering through Central America´s first capital city. Tomorrow we bus on to Lago de Atitlan where we´ll stay through new years. I´ll post more tonight once the sun is down.

Vaya con Dios Amigos!!

Feliz Navidad

Merry Christmas to all!

We have just taken the morning ferry from Utila to La Cieba. It´s tough to leave our tranquil little island behind but move on we must and the rain there has been a bit of a downer. Right now it is dumping buckets on the streets of La Cieba, there is nearly 6 inches of running water at the crosswalks and I saw a boatload of Puerto Ricans stranded on a small curb at an intersection, their raft had run aground and they looked confused.

We plan to bus across the border now which will be a 12 hour ordeal, naturally we shall travel first class as that is what we are accustomed to but it will still take awhile. We will bus from here to San Pedro Sula this afternoon, spend the night, then continue on to Guatemala City in the morning tenatively arriving around 5pm. We will get out of there as soon as possible since it is full of gangsters and loose women. One hour away is the quaint town of Antigua where we shall regroup and rally for another 3 hour bus ride to San Pedro de Atitlan on the shores of lake Atitlan, renouned for its tranquil beauty, volcanoes and roving banditos. Sounds nice.

Christmas dinner was spent with Steve and Michelle and new friends from England and Holland. We dined on curried lobster, shrimp, turkey and coconut tartlets. It was all quite delicious but made standing up difficult at the end of the meal. Such are the hardships when one travels in the 3rd world.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night,

The Legend Continues

The weather today is hot and humid, a nice change from yesterday where it rained so hard Angela was washed right off the dive dock. Luckily she wears a bright red jacket so we picked her up in the boat before she had drifted too far. Apparently last December the island recieved 77 inches of rain, yikes. I dove yesterday down to a wrecked sailboat 60 feet down that was guarded by a barracuda, he wasn't covered in mango sauce so I let him be. I had two great dives with Alton Dive Masters but it was raining and blowing above the water so I got pretty cold, even though it was still 70F. Last night we went Italian and had pasta with shrimp in a white wine sauce, most excellent. The night before was bbq lobster at RJ's bbq, a heavily favored local spot. The lobster was amazing and RJ is the ultimate bbq dude, he looks like he quit his job as an ultimate fighting champion to bbq anything that holds still and he has attained master status.
Today I begin my advanced dive course which will start with a deep dive to 100 feet where we will check out the wreck of the dread ship Halliburton. I can't wait. Beyond that all is well, Angela will be off on a snorkelling adventure and then we will plan our culinary assault on the island later on tonight. I'm thinking bbq...

La Vida Loca

Hello friends, we are still alive and well. Today we took it easy and stayed out of the water, exploring Utila and meeting the locals. They are incredibly friendly people and their accent is a joy to listen to. We met up with Steve and Michelle after lunch with the idea of snorkelling on the west side of the island but a sudden rainstorm forced us into a bar and we were waylaid for a bit. Afterwards the sun never really came out so we bagged the idea and headed home to the hammock. Tonight we will try out RJ's BBQ which is supposed to be excellent and then it's off to Bar in the Bush, a famed night spot with a volleyball court and good people. Tomorrow we move yet again into a waterfront hotel associated with Alton Dive Shop where I will begin my advanced certification. It looks like a great place and I am excited to get more dives in, Angela has decided to stick with snorkelling and navel gazing, her specialty. The only drawback here has been the fact that it is indeed the rainy season and when a cloud breaks overhead it dumps inches of water in seconds. Amazing. But it is still at least 80F at all times so there is no hardships.

TTFN
J and A

Thrilla in Utila

Angela and I have just surfaced after a morning of diving so if it sounds like I have water on the brain, well, I do. We landed in San Pedro Sula the 17th about 3 pm. We caught a bus at 6 and were in La Ceiba by 9:30pm. We met some travellers who recommended Hotel Paris which turned out to be great. We launched our stuff inside the room and were soon drinking beers poolside as the night air cloaked us in a wonderful 86F. We slept the sleep of the overtravelled and awoke at 8am for a harrowing taxi ride to the ferry terminal where we found out the boat did not leave until 4pm. So we hooked up with some other backpackers and taxiied back into town with an even crazier driver. We spent the day exploring La Ceiba, trying on hats, sweating, dodging cars and listening to extremely loud spanish music from speakers placed at random in the streets. I tried to buy a straw hat to keep the sun off but apparently my head size is unheard of here so that was a bust. We boarded the ferry ontime and were in Utila by 5pm. Steve and Michelle greeted us on the dock and took us straight to Tranquila Bar where we watched the sun set over the ocean and rehydrated with various beverages. We then booked in at Rubi's, a nice little spot with AC and a fridge. We ended the night at the Mango Inn eating grilled Red Snapper. Decadent and delicious.
The next morning I dove with Steve and Michelle at Utila Dive Center. The water was warm but it rained like crazy on the way out and has been overcast ever since. It was a good time though and it felt good to get back in the water. We spent the day exploring the island and eating which prepared us for dinner which was fresh Barracuda in Mango Sauce at Dave's Restaurant. The best I have ever eaten. I will look upon Barracuda with renewed respect and the rumor is that Dave is a retired master chef from San Francisco and he knows what to do with mango and spices, we shall return. The evening wound down at the most amazing open air bar\hotel\restaurant I have ever seen. The entire thing is crafted from recycled glass and must be seen to be believed. The night's entertainment was acoustical guitar and the vocals of a lonely Canadian. Again, excellent.

This morning I dragged Angela from her room at the crack of 7am and we headed out with Alton Dive Shop to see if Angela remembered all that she had been taught relating to scuba diving. She did and was off like a gold fish, leaving the dive master behind in a wake of sand and seaweed. We went down to 60 feet and watched Black Angelfish, Cow fish, and a Grouper the size of a Volvo. It was incredible. Our dive master was from Italy but his name was Daniel not Ricardo or Terramizu or something cool, but that was ok, he was nice, the boat was small, uncrowded, and piloted by Joe, a local boy. The locals speak a sort of pidgeon creole English that is much better than any English I've ever spoken. I am taking pains to learn the dialect and shall return to spread the word.

We are now staying at Freddy's which has a deck over the ocean with big hammocks and cable tv which is why we moved. Angela couldn't leave Judge Judy behind and without the Tyra Banks show I just get cranky.

I hope everyone reading this is well and happy and doesn't hate us for having the most fun in the world.

Ciao,
J and A

We Have Arrived!

Hello sportsfans,
We posted a wonderful account of our trip thus far two days ago but it is apparently lost in cyberspace so here we go again. The flight to Miami was uneventful, no terrorists, vomiting children or otherwise. Angela did lip off to the TSA a bit but nothing they couldn't handle with intimidating stares. We spent a wild night in Miami, but again no shootings and everything went as planned. On the 15th we flew into Atlanta right behind an ice storm. We lucked out once again because the storm didn't do too much damage and the airport had delays before us but we were right on time. Angela's mom picked us up and took us straight to the brand new Georgia Aquarium. There are guards positioned at the entrance to the aquarium so we were searched once again, in the cold rain, before we were allowed in. Luckily Angela did not take on the guards this time so all was well. We were there two hours and saw an incredible amount of fish in massive aquariums, well lit and easy to see. The highlight of course was the Whale Shark exhibit where rays passed by in huge schools and the Whale Sharks trolled along like Greyhound Buses. We finished up the day at Touch of India, the best indian restaurant in Atlanta. It's so famous the owner has a picture of him and the band members from Great White and the Bullet Boys up on the wall. Wow.

The next day we visited Angela's dad and drank our weight in sweet tea. We ate at the Hickory House, which is some good southern cooking. Hickory smoke boiled off a massive bbq in the back and there was a cop at the counter complete with pointy silver star on his shirt so you know it's gonna be good. Of course none of this could compare to Angela's grandma who cooked an epic feast that night of green beans, sweet potatoes, fried okra, dressing and again gallons of sweet tea and a farmload of turkeys. We all had to roll ourselves home after opening a few early Christmas presents.

It was a nice visit, but too short, so we'll be back before long.

Where in the World?

Here is a map of Honduras, get out your magnifying glass or click on it to enlarge. They don't speak English or Latin here although it is called Latin America- that is crazy. We will land in San Pedro Sula and then take a bus for 1.5 hours to La Ceiba on the coast and then a ferry ride over to the island of Utila where we will dive and eat fresh fruit for the first week. So far that is all we have planned. That leaves 3 weeks unplanned- no itinerary- no ideas- nada. We'll find out soon enough just how smart that is going to be.

We haven't left yet

Ok, we haven't left yet but I'm excited. Currently it is about 12F and snowing in the wee Alaskan town of Girdwood and we will soon be leaving that all behind. Today Angela and I bought diving masks and I was so excited I drove home with mine on. Not such a good idea in hindsight as I now have a massive purple ring around my face and my nose has a bright red crease in the middle, no matter, at least I know it fits properly. Tomorrow we pack our bags and make sure they don't leave our sight at any time until we are onboard our redeye to Miami, FLA. I am thinking of wearing my "Don't Shoot, I'm Bipolar" shirt as a safety precaution and shout out to the TSA and Air Marshals. - J