A weekend in utila - June 3,4,5

On friday we got off From the clinic a few hours early so we could catch our catamaran to the small island of Utila. The catamaran ride was about 3.5 - 4 hours long. The boat was ran by a guy who lives on his boat and simply travels back and forth everyday carrying passengers to and from the islands. There was no hiding from the old sun that journey - she shone hard on us and we were lapping up the sun screen just as quickly. We arrived on Utilla with red shoulders and noses, it is such a neat little island (Deb - you and brad need to look at this island). It had a very relaxed feel, very safe and a great cultural experience. We stayed at a hostel - only they call them dive shops here, if you stay with the hostel then you get to dive with them for a discount. We stayed there for 6 dollars a night, and it was about as fancy as 6 bucks a night !! It was kinda neat cuz the whole thing was on a floating dock, only we couldn't quite figure out what the smell was until the morning when we realized that the showers and god knows what else drains through a little hole right into the water underneath us!!!! Yummmmm!!
After that I thought okay I can deal with this until we started finding cockroaches in our room so our plan of attack was my snorkeling flipper, after a huge smack we thought we conquered it then we argued for about 30min about who was going to clean up the dead cockroach but when we returned to the scene we realized it was gone, it had drug it's half dead body across the floor (tough bugger) - we picked it up and put it in an old pringles container and left it by the door to signal to all it's buddies that we are heartless bug killers and not to enter this dorm!
On Saturday we were up and off to dive and snorkel, went to some excellent dive sites and saw some great stuff but we were really hoping to see whale sharks seeing as it is the best dive site for them however we came up dry. The reefs here are basically untouched and third in the world for best reefs. The island was extremely hot and there was no escape from it seeing as our hostel had no a.c. It felt similar to a sauna that smelled of sewar with cockroaches roaming about - all these things added up does make Andrea a happy camper. However I feel I did pretty good, 1 hr of sleep is good enough isn't it?? We found a few places that served a pretty good meal and spent saturday afternoon on the beach enjoying the breeze, we all slept for a few hours on the beach making up for our sleepless steam box nights. Friday night we went a karaoke bar which consisted mostly of drunk tourists, one of the bar tenders was a 10 year old boy! Saturday night we took in a local soccer game which was an excellent dose of culture as there were no tourists here. The locals were buzzing with excitement and the children ran wild!! They served chicken and rice as snacks at the game. We were so glad to catch our catamaran home sunday morning and get back to our clean, scent free, bug free, air conditioned condo. We showered, and slept and watched movies and then went to bed very very early.

Today was a very rainy and windy day which felt so nice and cool, apparently Jamaica is getting a tropical storm or hurricane right now and we are getting the after effects - lots of waves, heavy rain, and strong winds. Soul be passed by tomorrow. We lost power at around 5am this morning and it was out until sometime mid morning - the clinic has a generated s it was business as usual. Myself and a few other volunteers were put in charge of sorting 600lbs of medication donated over the weekend. Most of it was spent - counting and taking fosomax pills out of there boxes and aluminum unit does packaging - all 5,536 of them!!!!!

After clinic we went grocery shopping at a grocery store recommended by the clinic and it was SOOOOO much better than the last experience. There were a lot of American brands which made our trip a lot quicker, we mamed the fruit and veggie department stripping it of most of it's excellent looking and smelling produce. I will say though the meat is still looking very unappetizing and we skipped over that department fairly quickly.

After a quick stop at home we headed to a local pub west end called Sundowners as they were broadcasting the hockey game. When we arrived we found every canadian on the island all huddled under a thatch roof trying to stay dry from the down pour going on outside watching CBC!! Gotta love it!

Tomorrow I am off to snorkel with the dolphins after clinic!




The catamaran



Te streets of Utila - no cars just golf carts and scooters


Supper in Utila


Singing at the bar


Our room at the hostel


The hammocks in front of our room at the hostel


The hostel





Pringle cockroach!


Ash getting her scuba gear ready


Ash decending - I was snorkling








At utila beach








The soccer game


Sorting mess





Check out the huge tits on this manican!!!! It even had nipples!!


Having a beer watching the game



The weather



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Junio y dos

Was a learning experience today, I was triaging at the clinic and learned that triaging here just means doing vitals and writing down a complaint in one word - ie: headache. I tried to get a little bit of history and paula one of the Honduran nurses says - "NO you no dr, what do you know - they know, we don't - just one word". I had a guy with chest pain, pulse of 144, blood sugar of 433 (really high seeing as normal is around 85) and a bp of 212/125. So I was trying to get a history and was going to put him in the front of the line and do an ECG and the other nurse says "no, first come first serve" yikes!! There are quite a few volunteers right now so there was like 4 people trying to vitals and get a chief complaint and I could not take it any longer so I went to help in the pharmacy. We Also had a lady today who has had a broken hip for 3 months and all we can do for her is give her good pain killers - she can not walk really at all anymore - so sad.

Today was day two of our scuba lessons which was our first full dive to 30 feet at a place called "overheat reef" it started off a little sketchy but after a little panic attack on my part, a little vomit on Dans part, and a few minor jelly fish stings all around we came away fairly unscathed! we managed to spy a green moray eel, green turtle, lion fish, and a barracuda among other great things.
We are pretty tired and are off to bed!

We are off to utilla tomorrow after clinic for the weekend - one of the Bay Islands apparently amazing snorkeling and a good time. We catch a catamaran in West end! Here's hoping the waters are calm and make it there with as little nausea as possible!!!! Probably no blog until Sunday night!

Andrea

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Supper at West End - mmmmm chicken, beans and rice and fish tacos!


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Junio uno

I just gotta say you know your somewhere hot when you get home and feel so refreshed because your a.c. Is set to 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30), and when you are feeling a little devious you turn it down to 80 (26) just to feel a little chilled so you can snuggle into your sheets for comfort.

Today was a busy clinic day for myself just doing a lot of housekeeping items. Ashley and Dan went to the schools today to do dental health teaching and had a lot of fun doing it. They have videos of the kids singing songs on how to brush there teeth - it's pretty cute. Some others from the clinic went to start a massive eye health program. They are going to be doing eye checks and handing out donated glasses to the children - they plan to do the entire island by the end of the month!

After clinic we had our first scuba lesson which entailed a mish-mash of leg cramps, mask problems, gagging up salt water, mask poking fights and anenomie stings. Collectively we spent far more time at the surface of the water than under it! The poor instructor probably had to have several beer to recover and is sitting at home right now I am sure regretting taking us on for the next 5 lessons!!!

On the way home today we actually got change from a cab driver - I bet he sensed that we are now hard nosed locals when it comes to cabs and decided not to mess with us!!! ( or he was just really honest - he was pretty old).

Tonight for supper we had baleadas off the beach for like 75 cents each - they were pretty good. They are flour crepe - tortilla things filled with beans and cheese or eggs and sausage. Before we left canada Jagger (my nephew) put a bag of toy cars together to give to another little boy who didn't have toys and we were to deliver them and take pictures to show Jagger when we got back. While we were getting the baleadas a man delivering supplies to the beach canteen came with his son who was 2.5years old named Jared. Jaggers cars were given to this little boy, he didn't white know what to think - but he accepted them with big eyes and a tiny smile while staying very close to his dad. He was pretty cute.

Until next time!!!
Andrea



Ash and Dan with the dentist and his wife at he school


The playground - a cement pad


Ashley having a school girl demonstrate how to brush her teeth


Ashley and Dan teaching





Kids playing on the play ground


A little guy getting neb treatment!


A clinic volunteer holding a little girl (who is the cutest thing ever) who was born to a mentally disabled mother who got pregnant with her by being continuously raped by people who knew she was mentally disabled.


Fruit that I bought from the above little girls mother who selling them for 59 cents a bag. You peel the green skin off with your teeth and then suck the middle fruit off the stone in the middle - they are really sweet but also bitter!


The sterilization room


Blue Bahia - were we are taking our dive lessons


Jared getting a coloring book and crayons from Dan


Getting his cars from Jagger via ashley!



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Mayo trienta y UNO ( may 31st)

Hola!
was another busy day which started with another very hot walk to the clinic, however today we we're in sandals, and tank tops and changed into scrub tops once at the clinic. I was so surprised today how much I caught on to yesterday! I was a mean lean Spanish speaking machine - my main phrase being "tomo uno cada para ocho horas x cinco dias" (take one tab every eight hours for five days" !!!! I bet I say that 50 times a day!!!!! The people at the clinic are good to work with - no troubles there. And I don't really have any funny stories from the clinic today. Ash and Dan did some extractions, cleanings, etc. They are off to the schools tomorrow to start an island wide dental screening on all the children in school.
Today we also got some intense lessons at the clinic today on how NOT to get ripped off by taxi drivers - we started practicing our new rules today and are no longer paying ten times the amount we should be paying for a ride. We ran into the same taxi driver we had yesterday who over charged us who was very excited to see us again(obviously) but armed with oiur new know how we told him "we know you overcharged us" and made him drive us back home for a proper amount - he was very quiet after we started talking and I think a little upset.
After clinic we went to the blue Bahia resort to register for our scuba certification classes and got flicked off by some local children after we refused to give them money, then went to infinity bay resort which we get access to for being with the clinic. While at the resort we had several intense down pours which cooled the the air off a bit during but then the sun instantly came out leaving it more humid an ever! We then took a water taxi home past all the vacation homes - beautiful. It so hard to believe that behind these lavish resorts and homes an entire world of poverty exists - kinda sad. We were going to settle in for a quiet night of a frozen pizza And scuba homework, but when we unwrapped the pizza we found a frozen mound of moldy cheese - ewwww, plan B = homemade tostadas which were really quite good. We are a pretty tired crew in the evenings - all of us looking for bed by 8 ish so that being said nighty night all!! Hope all is well at home!



-infinity bay resort


Water taxi












Vacation homes






Floating bar



Shops in west end


Dan with his rustafarian hat!!

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Mayo trienta (May 30th)

Hola!!
Well today started off well, with a good breakfast and off to work. The dentists of the group were pretty upset that they had to get up at 6:30 to be at the clinic for 7:30 - they were even more shocked that I normally get up at 5 am for work. We headed off on our 10 min walk to the clinic which comprised mostly of beach walk ( which is also the road btw) then a straight uphill climb to the clinic - whew!!! It was some feat to accomplish this in the blistering 28 degree morning sun! I learned one thing about uniforms and extreme temperatures though . . . . . They SUCK, by the time I made it to the clinic I was sweating like Kim in a great call at the hospital - I really didn't know my brow dripped!!! In 10 quick minutes I went from fresh showered prepared Andrea to some sorta greasy sweaty mongrel off the street. The only thing worse than uniforms in this heat is rubber duty shoes ( damn crocs) screw them I am wearing sandals tomorrow.
Once at the clinic we were quickly swept into our duties, and I realized that yes, just as I had feared - I am totally inept at speaking with these people, I realized that I could memorize all the medical phrases in the world like "tienne doler" etc but that does not help me when they try to answer me and I have no bloody clue what they are saying. Picture this, I am all ready to tackle one of my first patients took a deep breath and entered the room, my task was to explain to this lady how to take birth control - it was particularly stressful because she had two young children both breastfeeding at this exact time, so already I'm thinking I have to do a really good job because she obviously missed the message the first time around. So away I go with half assed Spanish spoken with a combination French Italian accent and flamboyant arm gestures trying to get my point across. The lady is looking at me like with a smile saying ci, ci, ci, and I am thinking "I am doing pretty good - excellent, this lady obviously gets me, and my accent isn't even throwing this teaching moment off"! I then finish my speech and walk away the lady is still smiling and I figure this is a time to celebrate my success until I hear the same lady asking one of the Spanish speaking volunteers who I was, what I was trying to tell her, and how long I was going to be at the clinic!!!! So tonight we are learning Spanish at our little apartment - we started with counting to ten!!! Meanwhile at the clinic Ash and Dan embarked on there first root canal in Spanish! Quite a lot to accomplish before 2pm.
After clinic our mission was groceries which took a good hour to accomplish, we carefully made our way down each isle, phrase book in hand and ended up with a cart full of carefully decided upon items!! I am not sure where I thought I was going but i had visions of these lavish fruit and vegetable markets with plenty of the most wonderful fruit and veggies one could imagine - instead we found our selves with plugged noses and a little green around the gills trying to make it through the produce section. I honestly can not tell you what the smell was - but it was a cross between rotting meat and rotting sewage - at first we thought it was the meat department which was located quite close to the produce until we entered the meat department and realized the smell was much improved. (I am sick just thinking about that smell). After getting thoroughly ripped off on our cab ride home we decided to celebrate with beer on the dock, we topped the afternoon off with hotdogs and arrow chilaxing with our Spanish dictionaries close at hand.

Buenos Noches!



Off to work!!!





The root canal!


Uploading donated meds into the pharmacy inventory


Trying to choose dish soap!


The all important tequila - decisions decisions !


Guards with machine guns at the gas station!





Chilaxing on the deck learning to count to ten!



This ones a little gross but yes it's the sweat marks on my bra from getting off the plane and getting settled in our apartment on Saturday - ewwwww! Gives the term "swits" a whole new meaning!!!!


Andrea
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First two days!!!! (may 28th and 29th)

My burn, this of course is on a cloudy day with block 30 on and after tanning for a month before I left!!! Money well spent!!!!!





A view of Our house ( far right) top floor!





Breakfast


Arriving


Having a beer and supper west end


View of the reef just as we were landing - can't wait to scuba


Arriving in roatan!


Hola seniors and senioritas!
Well we arrived yesterday at about 3pm no problems with our connections or anything, we celebrated the start of our adventure with a beer on board! We we're greeted with humidity and temperatures that reminded me of cairns in Australia! To put it bluntly - the canadians are melting!!!! We had a quick tour of the area and got settled into our accommodation then cought a taxi and went to west end for supper - we were starving!!!!
This morning we slept in and then had an excellent breakfast on the balcony - were by the way I was viciously attacked by a giant hummingbird. I swear it tried to land on my head and when I screamed it took off leaving me in it's vibrating wake - that was a great start to the day! we applied our sunscreen and headed out. We ended up in West Bay at a resort that we get access to as volunteers (called infinity bay) it's lovely!!!!! We met up with Peggy ( the clinic head) and some other volunteers, while chatting we felt something mysterious lurking around our feet in one loud simultaneous scream we all lept out of the water only to see a shadow swim away - hmmmmm I will keep you updated on it's identity.
We caught a ride home with Peggy tonight and we took probably one of the most sketchy drives of my life,(it's one of those places were you just know a white person has no business being in) we were in the colonia, this is were all the mainlanders came and squatted after hurricane Mitch, its straight up a mountain right behind the clinic.They live in tents and shacks etc and only have water for two and a half hours every eight days. They just got electricity. They were all just wondering around in gang like groups attending makeshift church ceremonies on the side of the road. The colonial is home to. Approx 3400 people who are the majority of the patients of the clinic. I was in the back seat of the truck and was glad to be there.
Anyway hope this meets everyone well. We have access to skype so use that if you want to get ahold of us. We start at the clinic at 7 tomorrow morning! Nighty night all or should I say buenos noches!!!!

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New Adventure

Honduras!

Just a quick note to mention about my newest adventure scheduled to start this saturday! My sister Ashley and myself are headed to Roatan Honduras to volunteer at a medical clinic for the month of June! Ashley will be working with the dentist and I will be working in the clinic triaging and treating patients to the best of my Spanish ability (which so far consists of Hola, and Como Esta)! I will be blogging on this site for the duration of our trip so stay tuned if you want! See you all in a month and wish me luck!

Andrea