Roatan - Day 31

Today was pretty slow at the clinic.  J and I ended up only seeing one women’s health patient and just a few patients on our own, but we saw some interesting things.  Like a snake in the treetops right outside of M’s office window.  Or a nasty large growth on this kid’s nose that the hondureño doc burned with silver nitrate sticks.  Or the 20 year old lady with a gaping open wound on her leg.  It’s interesting because the hospital here really is not that functional.  This lady spent 10 days in the hospital and only got IV fluids and came to our clinic the day after she got out.  If that doesn’t say a lot about the capabilities of the local hospital, I don’t know what does.  It’s a big concern that many people have here, especially with so many tourists coming to the island on big cruise ships.  If someone were to get really sick or have a really bad accident, I’m not sure if they’d survive here.  They would for sure have to be flown back to the mainland, or the U.S.

J, B, M and I went to the local bilingual school to tutor this afternoon.  We gave B the low down on LM, a trouble maker to the max.  She put a lid on him quick and kept him in pretty good control.  I’m establishing a better relationship with a few of the kids there, so it’s getting a little easier.  Those kids will do anything to get out of doing their homework.

On the bus ride back to the clinic we always take the kids with us and drop them off at their house along the way.  I was joking around with them and having a good time.  I miss being around kids every day… that’s the only thing I miss about teaching.  Then for some reason I mentioned the fact that I wanted to rent a scooter and M immediately piped up, saying there’s no way as my knees would get caught in the steering and I’d most likely crash.  I appreciate that he has my best interest at heart, but really M?  Are my legs REALLY that long?  Get caught in the steering?!  Haha!

M is hilarious.  We’ve been hanging with him a lot more since ER #1 and #2 left.  He always says “My goodness…” or “How could you?” at the perfect time and it always makes me laugh.  Or when he says, “What?!” in that high pitched drawn out voice that only my brother would know to what I was referring (old Sprite commercial).

After tutoring, M drove us to Flowers Bay specifically to buy some coconut puffs (pastries filled with caramelized coconut) and coconut bread from an Islander selling goodies on the side of the road.  HEAVEN.  Those coconut puffs are DANG GOOD.  Wish I could bring some back with me for you to try.  It was actually my second one for the day.  Earlier, a lady was sitting outside the clinic selling them, but they don’t even compare… more bread-like than pastry-like.

M then drove us to the grocery store for our LAST TRIP.  Cannot believe we only have about one week left.  I made sure to stock up on plantain chips and mangos.  M stocked up on Pringles.  M’s remark, “You’ll stock up on my stuff and I’ll stock up on your stuff.”  Dang right!  I cannot even believe I forgot to buy more mango packets to flavor my water at work… that stuff is delicious.

Roatan - Day 30

It wouldn’t be a Monday if SOMETHING didn’t go wrong, would it?  First off, we almost missed our ride to the clinic… One of the administrators at the clinic lives in the same apartment building as us so we catch a ride with her every morning.  J was stuffing her belly full of yogurt and didn’t even have time to finish.  THEN, we checked the schedule at the clinic only to find we were scheduled for triage and pharmacy 2 days and doing pap smears the other 2 days (we have Wednesday off for Labor Day).  Not even one day to see patients this week!  Whaaat??  J managed to work with B this morning and saw a handful of patients and I got a chance to see one on my own.  We are happy to work where we are needed, but of course we would prefer to see patients as this is our rotation for PA school and are actually paying money to be here.  Also, Marco’s failed us by not putting any avocado in our baleadas.  Boo.

E and G roamed around the clinic all day, filming everyone in action.  They even pulled J and me aside to ask us a few questions about Peggy and the clinic.  I meant to convey enthusiasm, but somehow my fumbled words came out less than inspiring.  It’s nerve wracking being on camera!

B met us with us later in West End on our favorite dock as she had to stay a few extra hours than originally planned.  We chatted in the sun for a while then went out for some dinner.  I had a 20% off coupon at the joint we went to, but our waiter wasn’t going to accept it UNTIL I brought up the fact that we work at Clínica Esperanza.  It’s funny how mindsets can change so fast once we bring up that little tidbit.  Everyone is super appreciative of the volunteers at the clinic.  I’ve even had a few taxi drivers ask us to move to the island to keep working there.  Maybe I’ll take up that offer from that taxi driver who asked me out the other day…

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…