Santa Cruz La Laguna

This was a weekend unlike any other.  For starters, I had to work on Saturday.  What is that all about?  The podiatry surgery team arrived this past week, and Saturday was the day they had designated for screening and planning the operations for all of their patients.  It was actually a lot of fun for me because only one of their doctors speaks Spanish, so I did all of the patient intakes and interpreted for the physicians during the interview and physical exam.

There is another side to the coin, though, and that is that our clinic on Saturday did not end until 6:30pm.  It was far too late for me to safely meet up with my friends that night in Santa Cruz, so I woke up early this morning in hopes of getting there and meeting them at their hostel.  My journey went a little bit like this:

(6:30) I leave my hotel to go to the San Lucas market, where I wait for a pickup to Santiago.  After arriving at the Santiago market, I walk to the dock and wait for the next lancha to Panajachel.  When I get to Pana, I walk to the dock on the other side of town to take a lancha to Santa Cruz.  I finally arrive in Santa Cruz.  (9:30)

All in all, the trip lasted a ridiculous three hours.  THREE HOURS!  How could it possibly take so long?

At least I finally got to meet up with all of my friends, and we spent the morning eating, laughing about their antics the night before, and taking another kayaking trip.  We were out on the water a lot later this time than the last, though, and the water was a lot choppier.  What didn't change was the fact that the lake is still the most beautiful place ever.  I braved taking my camera out in the water today, and for good reason!

After our kayaking adventure, we took a lancha back to Pana, where we had a big group lunch together.  A few of us said our final farewells, since Emi, Evan, and Kate are headed back to the States at the end of this week.  Then, randomly, I ran into the group of surgeons on the streets of Pana and was able to catch a ride home on their minivan.  Free rides are always appreciated!

Now I'm back in San Lucas, and it's time for me to hit the hay early in preparation for a long week of interpreting.  Wish me luck, folks!

La Comunidad

I've been in the clinic for over a week now, so I decided to do something different today.  I went with Vincente, one of the local Health Promoters, via microbus to the nearby village of Xejuyu.  Our main purpose was to educate the mothers of malnourished infants on the use of Nutri-Mantequilla, an enriched peanut butter fortified with nutrients that are frequently missing in the local diet.

Our other purpose was to see sick patients in the village.  As the only health professional in the village, I felt that I was much better suited for this part.  In reality, I couldn't do much for them.  Armed with only a stethoscope and a reflex hammer, how was I supposed to determine the cause of non-descriptive diarrhea in the malnourished infant?  To rule out a slow intracerebral bleed in the old man with an alarming contusion below the scalp?  To treat a postictal epileptic child who has been suffering from an increase in seizure activity over the past week?

I feel as helpless as the patients I'm supposed to be helping.  That's not a good thing, is it?

El Chat de Vídeo

I wanted to attend a meeting at UVA today but obviously wasn't able to since my body is in Guatemala (uh, is there a way to say that without making it sound like I'm dead?).  So, I did the next best thing: I made Nosheen video call me on Gchat during the meeting.

But only I could see them and they couldn't see me.

So I made Nosheen video call me on Skype.

But only they could see me and I couldn't see them.

So I made Nosheen video call me on Facebook chat.

And we finally hit the jackpot!  How is it that Google and Skype, both of which I consider to create reputable and high-quality products, failed me, where Facebook triumphed?  Also, why do I miss UVA so much that I need to video chat in for meetings?  Oh, to be in Charlottesville...

El Día del Cariño

It's Valentine's Day!  Luckily I had no chance to forget because the entire clinic has been decorated with red balloons for at least the past week.  Who would have thought that Guatemalans celebrate the festival of chocolates and flowers on the same date as we do in the States?

To celebrate, I'm going out with the other LTVs for ice cream after dinner.  The plan is to bring it back to the volunteer house and watch a movie afterwards.  The frontrunners at this point are one of the Harry Potter movies and Love Actually.

I'm just excited that I'm not spending this Valentine's Day studying renal physiology.

Nuevos Amigos

I'm the only person from UVA working at San Lucas Tolimán.  This is a blessing and a curse.  I'm actually obligated to practice my Spanish at the clinic because there is nobody for me to cheat and speak English with.  However, I miss all of my friends and I am jealous that all of them (with the exception of Steph) get to live with other UVA students and hang out in the evenings after they're done with work.

At least I'm not entirely alone.  There are other volunteers at the San Lucas Mission, all working on different sorts of projects.  I've become good friends with the other long-term volunteers.  They're a fun group: all of the LTVs aside from myself are either in college or recently graduated, so there's a lot of youthful energy.  Uhh wow, I sound like I'm really old or something.

I've also become pretty close with another group of fourth year med students from West Virginia University and a church group from Michigan.  Sadly, the church group and half of the med students left at the end of last week.  It's crazy: new volunteers are coming and old ones are leaving every day.  My only constant companion is Tiny Tower.

La Antigua

After being separated from the rest of my Wahoos this past week while I worked in San Lucas, it was great to meet up with them again this weekend.  Emi and I rode with some other volunteers in the region to Antigua on Friday and spent the afternoon exploring the city before everyone else arrived from their sites.  Believe what you hear: Antigua is absolutely beautiful, with architecture that could occupy you for days.  I guess that's why it's on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

While the many churches and historic structures were a sight to behold, so was this random carving of "Chino" into the sidewalk.  If this doesn't scream "Kodak Moment," then I don't know what does.

Friday night was our group's big night out.  We went to Mono Loco, a random bar that we had heard some good things about.  Emi and I had noticed it during our walking tour earlier in the afternoon and had remarked on how it reminded us of the Mono Loco back in Charlottesville.

When we walked in, Evan pointed out that there was a Wahoo sign hanging on the wall.  Intrigued and confused, I asked the bartender what the piece of UVA memorabilia was doing there.  He told me that Billy, the owner, was a UVA alum, and then he said that I should go talk to him.  Good thing I did: he bought all of us shots and over half of my drinks were free that night!

As a result of this great fortune, I was hurting pretty bad the next day.  Still, some of us went to hike Volcán Pacaya, a live volcano that most recently erupted in 2010.  Now tourists are no longer permitted to ascend all the way to the summit, but we did reach an area with air vents from the volcano's center where we were able to roast marshmallows.  ¡Qué bueno!

The hike took a lot out of us, and I was still suffering from our previous night out, so Saturday night ended up being pretty chill.  This morning we woke up to explore the ruins of the Convent of the Capuchinas.  It was a nice way to say goodbye to Antigua and also our friends who were heading back to Xela.

After taking a bus to Panajachel, a lancha to Santiago, and a pickup truck to San Lucas, I'm finally home.  What a great weekend!  We ate, we drank, and we were very merry indeed.  Now it's time to buckle down for another week of clinic work before getting to see my friends again next weekend!

Los Ultrasonidos

Today was kind of a different clinic day because Thursday afternoons are ultrasound afternoons.  We saw a lot of women, and I was confused as to why we were scanning so many women who seemed be having no problems with their pregnancy.

As it turns out, they typically use American fetal growth charts in Guatemala.  The trouble is that Guatemalans are generally of much smaller stature than Guatemalans.  Dr. Tun and some of his associates  in Santiago are doing a study to determine the size of fetuses at different stages of the pregnancy to create a Guatemalan fetal growth chart that will more accurately measure the health of unborn babies here.

Have I mentioned yet that my clinic is awesome?