Roatan - Day 26

Today we switched our shift to the afternoon since everyone else was working the morning shift.  It gets chaotic with too many people around.  So J and I woke up bright and early to head to our dock close by… we hadn’t been for almost 2 weeks.  Turns out some other gringo girlies noticed we had vacated it and gladly took it upon themselves to put it to good use.  So we grudgingly sauntered onto the dock next to it… it would have to do.  Problem is, you can’t get to the water from it to cool off every now and then.  Next time we will beat them to it!  We didn’t last very long so we headed back to freshen up for work and eat our daily PB & J.

Amazing new discovery today!  I poured a packet of strawberry-orange flavoring (local purchase) into my water bottle and I wanted to stop between EVERY patient just so I could take a swig or two… so tasty!  Can’t wait to try mango, pineapple and coconut (separate flavors).  Already looking forward to tomorrow.

Work was a bit confusing today since we had changed shifts at the last minute.  M was counting on us for tutoring this afternoon so we got permission to leave during that time and come right back to work afterwards.  Well, turns out there weren’t enough nurses around to staff triage and pharmacy, so I was wanted in pharmacy.  Then L said she could cover pharmacy, but she’s never done it before so they turned her down.  Peggy came to staff pharmacy, but then M had already cancelled tutoring so we continued seeing patients on our own.  Those poor kids without a tutor… yeah right, I’m sure they were thrilled to no end (no exertion on their part thinking up new excuses to get out of doing their homework).  We’ll whip ‘em into shape next week.  J and I were glad to have more autonomy at work today seeing patients on our own.

MA had everyone over this evening for dinner since she is leaving on Saturday.  Wow!  Such good food… makings for chicken, beef, or shrimp tacos plus beans, coconut cilantro rice, pico de gallo, and tres leches cake.  J and I made a TASTY guacamole that was definitely a hit.  We will be making a repeat just for the two of us – avocado, red onion, tomato, mango, lime juice, and salt.  AMAZING!  J very keenly pointed out that there could be so many of us here all doing so many different things with different backgrounds and yet we all get together and have a good time.  There were a few Canadians, native Hondureños, an English lad (word choice selected in honor of England), med school students, nurses, dive instructor, wedding photographer, hostel stayers, apartment stayers, beach house stayers, etc.  You get the idea.  Plenty of diversity.  The people who permanently live here are going to miss the rest of us.  I couldn’t just up and move to a third world island permanently, that’s for sure (shocking I know)…  I need a backbone of my family and friends.

Roatan - Day 25

My morning was a bit crazy bouncing between J and ER #2 to translate for each of them.  I only saw one patient completely on my own, but still had some other good cases.  ER #2 and I literally had a crazy lady come in… I asked at least 3 times why she was at the clinic, but she kept going off about her daughter and what had happened earlier that day.  Then I asked if she had high blood pressure… her response, “Yes, no I don’t.”  And diabetes, “Yes, no I don’t.”  Talk about confusing.  ER #2 and I had to wonder if she literally was crazy or was delirious due to an ulcer she had on her leg.  She finally said she needed some medication refills and when I asked for the names of the medications, she told me her name.  Then she said her daughter was with her at the clinic, but she couldn’t tell us her name.  So I went outside with her to look for her daughter and she couldn’t find her.  I was starting to wonder if she was even there, but some other patients waiting pointed her out.  Thank goodness.  We finally sorted everything out and got her taken care of, but it was a struggle!

[Side note: Peggy brought in a GIANT bag of licorice (red, black is disgusting) and totally made my day.  Hoping there’s some left over tomorrow…]

After our shift, we headed down to West End for lunch at The Lighthouse, recommended by a nurse at the clinic.  J got fresh lobster and I got a huge plate full of a whole fish (literally), fried plantains, rice, beans, and a salad.  Oh, and don’t forget the fresh mango juice w/ a chunk of mango on the side.  My new favorite restaurant!  The couple I met in church on Sunday showed up halfway through our meal so we had a nice chat with them.

Oh, and I ran into the dude from Infinity Bay who offered to take me out parasailing for $65.  Our conversation abruptly ended after my counter offer of $15.  Hey, that’s what I paid in Mexico a few years back so why should I pay more?  When I reminded him who I was he gave a boisterous laugh and a big hug.  I love making the local people laugh.  Like the guy we bought makings for guacamole from… his prices were atrociously high, yet his red onion was less than acceptable.  I was hoping for a discount after he laughed at my remark of the onion having an ulcer… I guess a 20 cent discount will have to do.

After tanning on our favorite dock for a few hours, we started to head back for a taxi.  Turns out my new taxi friend from Sunday isn’t my new friend after all.  After asking if he could take us home (he’s always sitting in the same spot) and how much, his enthusiastically replied, “However much you want!”  Then he immediately said no to 20 lempiras each ($1) AND then to 25 lempiras each.  That’s it, I’m done with him.  Either we’re friends, or we’re not… there’s no middle ground here.  It was easy enough to find another taxi for 25 lemps each.  J thinks he just doesn’t want to work, which I’m sure is accurate.  After all, we are in Honduras.

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!