Roatan - Day 3

After getting oriented to the clinic yesterday, I was assigned to work with a PA today to see patients.  I was very excited to work with her since she has over 30 years of experience.  We teamed up – I did the history and physical while she typed the chart note.  Toward the end of the day, we realized it would be more efficient if we both saw our own patients and I presented my patient to her with my assessment and plan.  Excited to start out this way tomorrow.  J was in triage and during a break discovered a lady outside the clinic selling a whole bag of mangos for one dollar.  Yep, we will be buying mangos every day I think!

After putting in a full 5 hours of work (hey, I didn’t get a break or even lunch during this time) and an hour or so catching up on emails, we headed to the beach.  We took a taxi to West End which has all the shopping and restaurants, as well as a very nice white sand beach.  We walked up and down the road following the beach, then found a perfect spot to spend the rest of the afternoon.  Fortunately the water wasn’t very far from the road so it wasn’t a problem getting J down to the water.  I popped her up onto her back wheels and wheeled her down.  Getting her OUT of the water was the problem.  I tried to carry her – turns out she’s too heavy for me, not because she’s a big person, but because I don’t have the muscles I need (I haven’t worked out regularly since before Christmas, ay…).  So I wheelbarrowed her out of the water onto her towel, then pulled the towel up the beach, a pretty steep incline mind you.  Then I had to wheel her back to the road.  Turns out a wheelchair doesn’t move very well in the sand and turns out I’m not very strong.  I may throw my back out while I’m here, but at least it’s for a good cause!

Also, turns out the sand fleas everyone has talked about are indeed real.  I was hoping they wouldn’t dare ruin my ghetto paradise staycation, but it looks like they just might.  I am covered in bites, all over.  I thought they would just go for my legs, but turns out they seemed to have liked my back quite a bit.  Mosquitos and sand fleas are turning out to be my nemesis. 

We ate dinner at an outdoor joint called Monkey Island, right next to the beach with a perfect view of the setting sun.  J had heard good things about it from another nurse at the clinic.  I couldn’t decide between coconut fish and a burrito, but fortunately I went with the fish.  SUCH delicious fish!  Coconut crusted w/ a coconut dipping sauce accompanied by coconut rice & beans.  I will definitely be back!  By the way, just a warning… I may talk about food a lot on this blog.  Food is pretty big in our family.  My brother would remember our family vacations by where we ate lunch or by what he ate for dinner, anything that applies to the sense of taste :)

J was impressed with my taxi bartering skills.  I’ve been getting us good deals on our fares.  And after some chavo (what’s the Hondureño word for dude?) tried to charge us 6 bucks and I cut the fare in half, maybe I’ll shoot for a lower amount next time.  I LOVE bartering.  Why can we not do this in the States??

Oh, and by the way, I could really go for a bag of red vines right now…