What a day… where to start? I guess at the beginning; that would be the
most logical choice :) So I’m here on
the island of Roatán in the Caribbean, which is part of Honduras, given over
from the British in the 1800s (for you history buffs out there). You may know it as a popular cruise ship
stop. I’m here for my Community Medicine
rotation and will be working at Clínica Esperanza, a local medical clinic. We’ll be seeing everything from the
underserved to tourists.
My classmate (we’ll call her J) and I am came down
together. She’s a paraplegic from a
recent snowboarding accident in the last few years. She is seriously one of the strongest and
most optimistic people I have met. There’s
perks to traveling with someone in a wheelchair – we got bumped up on both flights
to Economy Plus, where I enjoyed a wide expanse of leg room. So we took the midnight flight last night
from Portland and landed in Houston, TX at 5:40 am, about a 4 hr. flight. I asked J if she’d rather leave at midnight
or at 6 am? She said 6 am. I still don’t know…. All I know is that I
dislike red eyes, very much. And not
being able to catch even a wink in Houston for our 4.5 hr layover just made
things worse. Fortunately the flight to
Roatán from there was only 2 more hours.
We were greeted by a blast of heat in our faces
stepping off the plane, but with a pleasant cool wind to follow it up. Dang, I should have taken my sweatshirt off
BEFORE getting off the plane.
Brilliant. With J in a
wheelchair, I juggled 6 bags between the two of us. We only had to wait a moment before Nurse
Peggy showed up to take us to our new apartment with a brief stop at the
supermarket along the way. A few
tire-screeching turns later (Peggy blames the road, NOT her driving) we arrived
at the supermarket, not having a clue what to purchase. So J and I stocked up on the essentials – the
makings for PB & J, cheese crisps, chips & salsa, and salad. Yep, that’s pretty much what I’ve lived off of
the whole last year, aaaaaand turns out I don’t have to change my diet living
in a third world country for the next 6 weeks.
That’s what I’m talking about.
With J’s situation, our housing options were
limited. She needed something with doors
wide enough for her chair to fit through.
That automatically threw out the beach house next door to Miss Peggy’s
(not to mention the full flight of stairs up the front door) and the usual
apartments across the street from the clinic.
We had previously arranged a different beach house that was going to
work out FABULOUSLY (come on, right on the beach?! You know me and the beach…), but of course
that fell through last minute as the current tenants were long term instead of
short term (egg their house for April Fool’s tomorrow? Ha, I kid).
So instead, we ended up at Ed’s Apartment. As my mom intuitively asked, Ed doesn’t live
there does he? No, Mom, he does
not. But he owns the laundromat next
door, which is quite convenient. It
looked innocent enough on the outside, but a nice stench greeted us in the
kitchen upon opening the front door.
Nooooot the nicest, but hey, we’re in ghetto paradise so what can I
say? I’m happy to have A/C, a bed, and a
door that locks.
This evening J and I went to Nurse Peggy’s for a
potluck gathering of volunteers at the clinic.
I was expecting only a handful of people, but as the handfuls kept
walking in, I just kept hoping I’d still have patients to see tomorrow. There was probably 15-20 from all over the
world there and I’m sorry if I sound British, but I spent a good chunk of time
conversing with a British 19 year old medical student. Loved her accent of course. It was great to be in such pleasant company
sitting on the balcony overlooking the ocean and enjoy the sunset. Not my typical way of spending Easter, but it
was fabulous.
I just admitted to J that earlier today I was
already missing the U.S. Maybe that had
to do with me being awake for 30 plus hours, or maybe it was Ed’s stinkin’
apartment, or maybe I just miss my family.
Whatever it is, I know how shocked you are. I didn’t even get home sick when I spend 9
months in Spain teaching English. Don’t
worry, once I get some sleep in me and start working at the clinic and
exploring in my free time, I’ll be right back on track. Very excited for what the next 6 weeks has in
store!
And if I type THIS much EVERY day that I am here,
the only reader I’ll have left at the end is myself…
2 comments:
I read it!
You keep writing, I'll keep reading! Your adventures sound so wonderful!
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