Halfway Through

Ultrasounds with Peter and Brenda

Day 6: Thursday

Another day at the Casa Materna.  Tom was able to spend a bit more time teaching ultrasound to Doctora Ana and a couple of the nurses, everyone worked hard to get through the line of patients, since there was an important lunch at Casa Materna in the afternoon. The leadership from PCI, San Diego was there, along with some important local health professionals. We were treated to marimba music and pollo pepian.  

Tom and Doctora Anna

Mamut bones

After lunch we got to go see a fascinating piece of local archeology, El mamut; a big pit in this old man’s back yard, where when he was going to dig a well many years ago happened upon some old bones, that turned out to be those of a wooly mammoth. So we got to hear his story and see the pit, and the little museum that accompanied it. All the more fascinating after hearing Peter’s story about people in japan trying to clone a mammoth and have it birthed out of an elephant.  Really cool! Then that evening, we got to go visit Suzy’s friend Manuel Saenz in his awesome penthouse apartment full of beautiful paintings, many of which he created  himself, and a nice liquor cabinet just full of surprises and history.  He served us tapas and we had a lovely evening of great conversation, laughter, and cultural education.

With Dr Jaime outside Hospital Nacional

Day 7: Friday

NICU at Hospital Nacional

The morning at Casa Materna, helping Doctora Ana with her Friday business as usual.  we were then able to take a break from work to go on a tour of the National Hospital next door.  It is one of only 3 public hospitals in the entire department of Huehuetenango, and the throngs or people in certain areas waiting for medical attention made an impression.  We visited the pediatric ICU, which was in the process of moving to another space, the delivery suite, the emergency room, the surgery wing, etc. Dr. Jaime, the new hospital director, was very hospitable and took an hour of his time to show us around and answer our questions.

And just like last year, we were introduced to and able to hold several sweet little babies who had been abandoned at birth or were in states custody and waiting for the legal processes to allow them to fiind a potential home.  The degree of suffering that one can witness and experience in the national hospital of a third world country such as Guatemala can be very sobering. 

Baby Holding

After a busy week, we decided we wanted a nice break, and the Lago Atitlan area was the consensus for us. Our faithful driver Josue insisted on giving us a lift, so we got to go in comfort and ease, through the mist and winding roads, knowing we were safe in his hands on the road.  We arrived in Panajachel on the late side and talked Josue into staying at our hotel for the night before driving back, and treated him to a nice dinner with us. 

WEEKEND: LAGO ATITLAN

Parasailing Lago Atitlan

Day 8: Saturday  

Panajachel.  Peter had floated out the idea a few days earlier that it would be a good idea to go parasailing over Lake Atitlan.  All three of us instantly responded, yes!  One of us was on the fence until the last minute when either he or she was running down the launch pad on the side of the mountain with the guide, waiting to see if the parachute would actually pick him/her up into the sky, or fail to open, causing said person to just roll pathetically off the cliff.  But at the last instant it worked!  It went up!  It was truly amazing to glide back and forth over the lake, taking in the villages and the three volcanoes surrounding it.  

Another game of Up and Down the River

The rest of the day was just relaxing after coming down from our adrenaline highs, and ended in a familiar fashion, with good food and a great game of cards while enjoying a genuine rainstorm in an open air restaurant as a handsome Argentinian guy sang in the background.  P.S  Alexis won again.  No one can beat her yet in up and down the river. Maybe we need to switch to a different game, one that Brenda doesn’t need to know how to pronounce the different suits correctly…..

Day 9:  Sunday

We wended our way to Quetzaltenango, or Xela as it is known in the native Mayan tongue, where we got to meet the family Alexis had lived with for 5 months in 2006. It was clear she had become a part of the family, as we watched everyone greet her with love and hugs.  While Alexis stayed to hang out with her people, the rest of us got a ride up the Fuentes Georginas, a gorgeous hot spring up in the mountains around Xela. It is a holiday weekend here, so many of the pools were packed, but not the really hot one that we tried out or the one you had to walk way way down to get to by the side of a rushing river.  Ah, lovely! Then came a sad moment when we had to say goodbye to Brenda, as she had to return to Portland after only one week. Now our team feels incomplete.....it will never be the same! 

Goodbye Brenda!

 NICKNAME QUIZ:  Last year Rachel Linder guessed everyone’s nickname correctly. However this year, they might be a little more obscure, and they aren’t birds. They have just arisen on their own through the course of the past week.  See if anyone can guess who is who:  La Tiburon, Mash (hint: it’s someone’s name in Aguateca, a local dialect), El Mamut, Spuds, and Santa______.  Whoever guesses correctly first gets a prize!