Roatan - Day 29

Wow, J and I have had a busy couple of days.  This is the first time all weekend I’ve had time to sit down and catch up on everything.  At church this morning, I sat by a nice American family (who turned out to be related to one of my friends in San Diego AND own the Banarama resort here in Roatan) and shared my hymn book with their 8 year old daughter.  After sacrament meeting ended, she turned to me and said, “You’re a good example.”  How sweet is that!  I love kids.  You never know what they’re going to say.

THEN I met E (girl) and G (guy), from SLC and Provo respectively, both my same age.  Turns out we were all at BYU the same time as well.  They are here for the week to film at the clinic to make a promotional video for Nurse Peggy to help with funding.  I had heard a small film crew was coming, some of the same people who did Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre.  Yep, that’s right.  Don’t be jealous Ryan or Sonya…  That is indeed the case!  E works for said filming company.  G does freelance.  Funny that I met them at church… both super great!

Since they are staying at a resort in West Bay, I shared a taxi with them so I could meet up with J and the other volunteers at the clinic.  Had a nice chat with E and G, then parted ways upon arrival in West Bay.  They were going to the clinic later in the afternoon to interview Peggy in a much quieter environment (Mondays are always chaotic, and with PLENTLY of loud crying babies).  [Side note: the Bananarama owner invited us to the resort tonight for dinner on him, but after church was nowhere to be seen.  Darn.  Maybe the offer will still stand next week.]

B, J, and I hung out together at the resort/beach.  We went snorkeling yet again (I think I’m just now starting to get tired of it…) and saw a giant eagle ray.  I went in (water was too cold) before J and D spotted a ginormous stingray.  Since we always see something new every time we go out snorkeling, I’m hoping for a shark next time!  Swimming to the edge of the coral reef and staring into the deep dark abyss and sudden drop off always gets to me… a little uneasy, but amazing to see at the same time.

After lunch on the beach and with too many people playing volleyball, I took a stroll up and down the beach.  Even though the rest of the beach is nice, our spot in front of the resort is prime.  At one point, I was blowing up one of those air mattresses made for the swimming pool and I must have looked ridiculous because one lady told me I could take it up to the left where some inflatable water toys were and they could pump it up for me.  After finding out there was a $2 fee, I resorted to blowing it up myself.  Then the security guard came over and told me I could take it up to the right where a shop could blow it up for $5.  Shoot, I only bought the thing for $3 so I’ll gladly spend 20 minutes of my time to blow it up myself.  There’s just something about floating on top of the ocean waves that I love.  5 minutes of that is definitely worth 20 minutes of effort.

Not at all jealous of J’s sunburn from today.  My tan may be slower in coming, but I have 6 weeks in Hawaii to look forward to next!

Roatan - Day 28

Perfect day today, apart from the morning downpour and postponement of morning snorkeling.  We made plans with B (the new ER resident) to go snorkeling from West End, a new spot for us.  It’s ridiculous the amount of snorkeling we are doing here.  I love it and yet I’m getting sick of it.  This time we saw a tiny sunken submarine with some exotic fish swimming around it.  We didn’t go too far out as there were some ominous rainclouds close by.

                                                    

We ran into ER #1 and ER #2, who were on their way to Utila (a nearby island) for a few days.  We also ran into M, who was with the boys.  We persuaded him to accompany us to lunch at our new favorite restaurant – The Lighthouse.  Our favorite waiter was delighted to see us again.  I even persuaded him to give me a mix of french fries and fried plantains instead of just one or the other.  You should have seen J’s face when she asked for the same and the waiter told her no.  Ha!

Since the sun finally decided to show itself, we went out to our dock to suntan for a while and then made a stop at a fruit stand for some more fresh mangos.  J and I headed back to Ed’s to freshen up before heading back to West End to meet up with B and M later for some homemade guacamole.  Problem was our upstairs neighbor from the clinic was throwing a massive birthday party for her 2 year old daughter, complete with an outdoor tent, all kinds of food, and at least 50 people.  We decided to stop by since she had invited us the day before.  After sitting down with a few other people from the clinic, a very nice gentleman each brought us a heaping bowl full of crab salad.  Then a tall glass of Sprite.  Then a piece of birthday cake.  So much for the guacamole…

Oh, and I cannot forget this story!  You’ll LIKE this one, if not LOVE it.  So on our taxi ride back from West End to our apartment, I was chatting it up with our taxi driver like usual.  At one point he asks J and I if we are married (this is all in Spanish mind you, so J has no idea what’s going on).  I told him I wasn’t, but J was (only a few months to go, so what’s the difference?).  So then he says, “You’re single?  I’m single too.  In fact, I want an American girlfriend” (‘novia gringa’ were his exact words).  He then proceeded to tell me he’d like to invite me out to West End sometime for dinner.  After asking him how he expected to get an American girlfriend when he charged too much for a taxi ride, his best response was “gas is expensive.”  Well, so is a girlfriend, J remarked later on.  Ha!  Then we started talking about other things so I asked him typically how much it would cost to get from Sandy Bay (where we live) to West Bay (where the resort we go to is) in a taxi (we are planning on going on Wednesday).  He said he’d charge us $11 for the two of us both ways, which is really good since normally it would be $20.  I think he was starting to figure out he couldn’t charge me so much money for a taxi if he wanted to see me again.  Upon arriving at our apartment, I asked him for his phone number so we could call him to take advantage of such a deal.  Then he had the audacity to ask for my phone number.  He said he wanted to take me out to Punta Gorda (another area of the island) to the beach for the day and he wouldn’t charge me anything at all.  He even upped the ante by saying he’d drive me in an SUV, “porque me gusta el modo suyo.”  Wow, what a great offer, BUT after telling him I didn’t want to give him my phone number, Jorge (great name by the way) asked for a good reason why not.  I told him we’d see how Wednesday goes.  Question is… do I call him on Wednesday to have him take us to West Bay, or not?  However will I turn him down yet again?

J and I finally made it back to B’s place in West End where we cut up a few juicy mangos and made our homemade guacamole.  We sat (I may have even sat in the hammock for a while) on the deck enjoying the fruits of our labor and the ocean breeze coming from the beach across the street.  M kept us enthralled with a few amazing stories.  I could repeat that every night.

Afterthought: Somehow the sand fleas rediscovered my juicy blood and I am again covered in bites from head to toe.  Ay ay ay…

Roatan - Day 27

We had a FULL day today.  We woke up bright and early to have a scrumptious breakfast with MA on her last day before leaving tomorrow, at Earth Mama’s in West End.  If banana pineapple pancakes and coconut drizzled nutella banana crepes accompanied with fresh fruit isn’t any indication of scrumptious, I don’t know what is.  I already want to go back.  Our Canadian hostel friend showed up halfway through for some additional company and to eat our leftovers (he graciously surprised us by paying $5 on the total bill).  We are going to miss MA mucho!

J and I headed to our dock (M jokingly said he had heard it was now “ours” from some of the locals) and chilled for about 5 minutes before it started to rain more than we were comfortable with.  After looking back and seeing a giant dark ominous rain cloud on the horizon, and coming fast, we decided to pack up and leave.  We made a few stops along the way back to the taxi stop.  We just had to get the fixings for another round of the delicious guacamole we made last night.  Yep, chips and guacamole for dinner!  That was the plan anyway…

Right after our vegetable purchase from the back of a pickup truck parked alongside the road, the clouds let loose and down poured on us.  We literally got soaked in a matter of seconds.  Turns out we got our swim AND shower in for the day.  Our morning was cut short so we headed to the clinic early to bum the internet for a while.

Turns out we missed an awesome case downstairs as we were non-productively bumming the internet upstairs.  ER #1 was just finishing up a finger amputation.  So sad we missed it!  What a way to finish on his last day too.  I was able to see quite a few patients on my own today, which I loved.  Just over 3 months until I will be completely on my own so it’s nice to have the autonomy now to prepare for the terrifying yet exciting change.  Looking forward to it.

M invited us to play volleyball again on the beach.  I had a feeling our plan for guacamole and movie that evening was about to change...  After M, ER #1, ER #2, and I got killed (yet again) by a team made of some of the locals, M and I played 2 on 2 with ER #1 and ER #2.  I love playing 2 on 2 beach volleyball, but it’s a bit of a challenge.  Not to mention the difficulty of trying to see the ball in the dark with lights only coming from one direction on the court (we are in a third world country here… no luxury of stadium lighting all the way around).  M probably wanted to kick me off the court and throw down the rest of the game all by himself.  We had a good time, though.  J kicked it with a new ER resident that just arrived for her 4 week rotation here.

We met up with the other half of the gang (remember the random mix of people from our dinner last night?) at Sundowners, a bar/restaurant on the beach for drinks, hamburger and fries.  At least we had some avocado on our bacon cheeseburger to make up for missing our amazing guacamole dinner at home.  MUCH more fun to hang out with everyone on the beach.  When Sundowners closed up for the night, everyone was beyond belief that J and I were up for relocating to the next restaurant/bar.  It was already 10 pm by that time and usually J and I head back earlier than everyone else.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that our second stop had a dance floor!  Except no one in our group acted interested in actually dancing.  I love J.  After telling her I wanted to dance, but no one else was, she said, “Come on!  Let’s go!  We can dance!”  So out we went and everyone else followed.  Just imagine me in my beach gear post volleyball wearing a backpack on the dance floor (excited to see 2 others just like me).  Yeah… I soon lost the pack so I could dance better.  Downside: electronic versions of hip hop songs with the same beat over and over.  I was good after an hour or so, so we called it a night and sad goodbye to everyone.  Sad to say goodbye to MA, ER #1 and ER #2.  Made my night when ER #2 told me to get in touch with him if I want a job in the ER in Phoenix.  I JUST might have to make him follow through with that promise…

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.