Roatan - Day 24

Because the OB/GYN doctor didn’t show up today for one reason or another, J and I ended up doing women health exams again.  This time it went MUCH smoother and quicker than last week.  After finishing early, we saw another patient and her son, both with an unusual rash.  Turns out it was a VERY good idea for J to wear gloves while she examined them since they both had scabies, which is very contagious.  I couldn’t get out of that room fast enough!  J and I washed our hands multiple times and wiped everything down with alcohol.  Crossing our fingers….

I finally had some success with V (as we’ll call her) during tutoring today.  She is very skilled at coming up with every excuse in the book not to do her work and then when she does sit down to do it, is very distracted.  She ran through a couple practices of a presentation she has to give and then we actually did a whole worksheet on synonyms and antonyms without putting up a fight or being distracted.  My trick – “When I say ‘synonym,’ you say ‘same.’  ‘Synonym.’  ‘Same.’  When I say ‘antonym,’ you say ‘opposite.’  ‘Antonym.’  ‘Opposite.’”  I drilled it in her.  Even the other kids learned a thing or two.

Another med student at the clinic, MA for short, accompanied us for an evening in West End… souvenir shopping, dock sitting, and quesadilla eating.  My fumble for the night – losing Hector’s phone number, our taxi driver on the way home that was going to drive us to West Bay this weekend for a song.  Dang!

Roatan - Day 23

Big morning today… we wore ourselves out snorkeling.  We went out in Sandy Bay (where we’ve already been a few times) with Peggy, L, and D.  Our typical snorkeling adventures last 1 – 1.5 hours so we were planning on the same today.  Only 2.5 hours and bright red sunburns later did we realize we should have planned more carefully.  I DID put on sunscreen, but not enough apparently.  It was a GREAT snorkel though.  We went out farther than we had before… until we came to 20 foot high coral reefs and the steep drop off into the dark abyss.  We even saw a barracuda and a couple of turtles.  We swam around a small island, Anthony’s Key Resort, and got close enough to touch the dolphins (you can pay bucko bucks for the dolphin encounter).  Well J did anyway… she put her hand through the fence and one swam right up to her.

After such a long snorkel we were all famished.  Nothing that a Coca-Cola and giant chicken quesadilla with fresh pico de gallo couldn’t fix.  Thank goodness for Marco’s, the joint at the bottom of the hill from the clinic.  We are regular customers there.  He might even have to close down after we leave for lack of business.

L took us to the grocery store were we stocked up on the usual – makings for a salad, juice, yogurt, Oreos, plantain chips, bread, and peanut butter.  On the way back we made a stop at the Rusty Fish, a tourist shop filled with cute brightly colored décor handmade out of recycled metal.  You are guaranteed a typical locally made souvenir here, not one shipped in from Guatemala or China. 

I passed out on my bed when we got back until I got a call from the hondureño doc at the clinic, asking if I wanted to come help him coach his basketball teams.  Heck yes!  The basketball court was literally my dream come true.  I wish I had taken my camera with.  Imagine this… a super nice outdoor court literally built OVER the ocean with bleachers on the water side.  I could play there all day every day.  I thought the doc’s teams were high school age, but turned out to be junior high.  They are some talented kids, but have some distractions and learning the basics to work through.  They did some warm up drills, then I worked with the post players (guys & girls) on inside moves to the basket.  Then we played some 5 on 5 ball.  Yes, I got to play with the girls.  I have never sweat so much in such a short amount of time.  Playing in this humidity is a killer.  Also, I was the ONLY white girl on the whole court (most were Black)… on the other end, there were 15-20 dudes balling it up.  Yes, I got a few looks. 

It was super fun and made me miss coaching my girls back in the States.  I hope I get the opportunity again to coach in the future.  J stayed behind to rest from her 2.5 hour upper body snorkel this morning (AMAZINGLY, she didn’t fall asleep while I was gone).

Tip: Have you ever tried a spoonful of peanut butter on the top of an Oreo?  Try it!  It’s our new favorite sugar appeaser.

Roatan - Day 22

This morning I got up bright and early to go to church.  Everyone was very friendly and I met a lovely American couple a few years older than me who asked me to take their picture outside the church.  They said they always take a picture such as this (to show their kids) and go on a vacation every year for their anniversary.  Love it… that’s what I want to do!  During Sunday School, I got a message from J saying that no one came to pick her up to take her to the resort (we always get a free day at Infinity Bay every Sunday).  So I stepped out to call Peggy, but no answer.  After not understanding much of the lesson (that’s what I get for sitting on the back row) and J stranded at home, I just headed back to figure out how we could get to Infinity Bay ourselves.

We hailed a taxi, who turned out to be my “friend” from last week that I was giving a hard time about charging too high of prices.  We had a nice chat about his previous two girlfriends (yes, simultaneously) and then about his kids.  We are now good friends, even after telling him having two girlfriends at once is a huge no-no. 

THE AFTERNOON WAS AMAZING.  Never have I seen such a beautiful beach.  And the resort itself was gorgeous.  In all my beach travels, I have never stayed at a resort.  I think I could definitely stay at one for a week, never set foot on other soil outside the resort, and be completely happy.  Such a different place than the rest of the island.  The rest of the island is ghetto paradise, but this is just paradise in the truest sense of the word… white sand beach lined with palm trees and crystal clear blue water. 

The snorkeling was amazing.  You would swim between giant walls of coral teeming with schools of fish until you arrived at the edge and looked down into deep dark abyss.  Sharks might be lurking there… that’s what I was trying to avoid thinking anyway.  Every time we go snorkeling I see some new sea creature… this time it was a turtle!  I wanted to touch it (which is illegal) so good thing it was too far down for me to dive.  You see, I’ve been having a bit of a hard time trying to propel myself downward very far.  My fins get stuck out of the water and I don’t go very far before I have to breathe again.  Meanwhile, ER #1 and ER #2 are diving 40 feet down, going through tunnels in the coral.  Good thing I still have a few more weeks to practice.

We lazed another hour or so on the beach chairs before I went to go play some beach volleyball.  This time I nailed it… lots of good spikes, amazing blocks and strong serves.  They call me Xtina.  However did they know that was ACTUALLY my real nickname?  I’m pretty sure M (professional volleyball player) was impressed… that alone makes it a good day.

On the way back home, we ALL piled into the red pickup truck.  M sat on the passenger side with J’s wheelchair on his lap, 4 of us ladies in the second row back and about 10 in the back, no joke.  D was willing to make 2 trips, but we all made it safely in one.  SO ready to go back next weekend!

Roatan - Day 21

So we slept the morning away.  Ok, so actually J did.  We didn’t get out of the house until after noon, but I got some stuff done for school at least.  We wondered down to West End and explored some overpriced tourist shops before we met up with the whole gang from the clinic for some afternoon sailing.  I wasn’t holding out for the biggest or best sailboat, but when a giant catamaran pulled into the bay, I couldn’t contain my excitement.  I have always wanted to ride on one of those!  Actually, I think us kids did when we were younger in Rocky Point once… remember?

A few of us sat at the bow (aka front) of the boat with our legs dangling over the edge (mine were long enough that I’d catch some water every now and then) as we sailed for open water.  Ok, it wasn’t really a sailboat… there was an engine or two involved.  We finally anchored at a prime snorkeling spot and right when we got in the water, we saw a giant eagle ray!  Incredible.  Actually only a few of us stragglers getting into the water saw it, the rest were too far gone to even notice it.  We spent over an hour out in the water exploring.  I saw a lionfish, squid, starfish, and even found some seashells for my souvenir.  It took me 6 or 7 times to actually get it off the ocean floor (pretty deep).  Every time I’d try diving down I couldn’t propel myself since my flippers were out of the water.  Ok, I also admit I couldn’t hold my breath very long.  And I was worried about touching the surrounding coral.  There were many factors involved… but I finally got it!  Turns out I don’t think I was supposed to take it either since we were in a marine park area.  Oops.  That just makes it an even better souvenir!  We also got to see the dolphins at Anthony’s Key Resort on the way out.  Who needs to go swimming with the dolphins?  This was just as good!

On the way back in, the crew caught a giant tuna fish (they should have fried it up for us right then and there.  I demand a refund.  Ok, I guess I can’t complain for only $25.  Free Coca-Cola makes up for it).  No sun was to be found, so I must have gotten my tan on the way out.  After a group photo (there were 12 of us), we set off to find some dinner in West End.  After walking up and down the main street a few times we finally settled on Lionfish Louie’s.  Fresh fried fish always hits the spot.  M showed up halfway through bringing a bundle of heaven with him, coconut candy, for us try.  Delicious.  The other kids set off to Coxen Hole for the festivities going on and J and I headed back to Ed’s for another $2 pirated DVD.  Who thought I’d be watching Les Miserables for the first time since it came out in Roatán, Honduras?

Roatan - Day 20

Yay for Friday!  ER #2 and I pumped through the patients this morning.  We had a good system going – I would ask all the questions and do my physical exam while ER #2 typed away on the chart note (as I translated).  Then we would decide our final plan and what medications to give together.  It was perfect.  I got the experience of doing everything on my own without having to type the note.  Now we’re talkin’.  One patient even told me she thought I was a model at first because I was so thin and tall.  She was surprised to find out I was her “doctor” (PA’s don’t exist in this country).  She is my new favorite patient.

I have to laugh because ER #2 tries so hard with his Spanish, yet patients just give blank stares back at him.  Take for example, early today he asked a question… the patient had no idea what he said so looked at me… I then asked the same EXACT question and they immediately replied appropriately.  Haha, so dang funny.  We all give him a hard time.  He even went so far as to show a patient how to gargle salt water for his sore throat.  In one hand, “agua.”  In the other, “sal.”  He then proceeded to actually gargle both together in front of the patient… and the patient still didn’t get it!  Or the time he told a patient 3 times in a row, “Me llamo doctor ___.”  The patient’s response after 3 times, “No te entiendo.”  I DIED LAUGHING.  He’ll never live it down.

After work, J and I laid out on the dock in Sandy Bay for a while then went snorkeling.  Not our favorite spot – way too murky.  However, we did find LOTS of brightly colored fish and even saw an octopus!  I almost thought it was going to come out after us.  Can the small ones squirt ink?

Remember a few days ago when M never showed up for volleyball?  Well, he was actually there this time, along with a whole lot of other peeps (or people, if you prefer).  We were 45 minutes late, but they were still only on the second game.  Finally it was our turn to play.  M, ER #1, ER #2 and I all formed a team and proceeded to win the next 3 games in a row.  So the islanders all teamed up with the best players and finally beat us off the court.  Not my best games, but beach is always much harder to play.  The very first play of our very first game, I made an awesome block over the setter of the opposite team.  She looked up at me with eyes that said “not fair” and made a remark about me being too tall.  Booyah.  Later, M told me that when all the other players saw me walk up and how tall I was, they all got worried.  Too bad I didn’t deliver more of my skills.  I was a little rusty… But can’t wait to play some more! [Side note: the same dog that bit me had to be tied up due to his bad behavior.  Maybe he DOES have rabies.]

We all spent the next couple of hours at Cannibal Café, enjoying steak fajitas, mango smoothies, ice cream sopapillas, serenaded songs from the local guitarist, great company, and plenty of laughs.

And what better way to top off the night than with our $2 pirated DVD we bought on the street?  Can’t beat that.

Big news: NO WORK ON MONDAY.  We will be celebrating the island’s revolution.  Other big news:  NO WORK THE FOLLOWING MONDAY.  It’s a national holiday.  Don’t be jealous.