San Antonio Huista

San Antonio Huista is a small community in the foothills of the mountains of Guatemala near the western border with Mexico. We awoke at 5:30 and made the 3 hour drive to this picturesque and quaint village to a salon full with the most courageous midwives and nurses in this region
 for a

workshop on Obstetrical emergencies. It was an amazing day full of great stories and lessons, hand-on sessions and hugs and Gracias. The morning began with a fun dinamica led by Casa Materna's newest MD Susana that even got me dancing. Then we broke up into 4 small groups and led stations on Essential Newborn Care at Delivery (Dana), Shoulder Dystocia (Lisa), Maternal Complications (Susana) and Post-partum hemorrhage (Bob). The teaching session concluded with a"sociodrama" of a very odd looking pregnant character (me) dressed in indigenous garb presenting to the group with severe symptoms of pre-eclampsia and then having a full "ataque" or seizure. I owe much of my performance to the masteful Matthew Sperry who created this role a year ago. Unfortunately, the camera "broke" and no photos of this are currently available...que lastima!  After a "retroalimentation"-

feedback session and a massage treatment for each other, we treated the participants to a wonderfully prepared lunch of Pepiån and arroz by the owner of the salon, Else and her workers. We learned that many of these midwives have been providing safe in- home birth experiences for their patients for over 20 years and a number inherited the profression from their own grandmothers. After many hugs and prayers for a safe journey, the nurses left on their motorcycles and the co-madronas were provided transportation to their homes and communities.

While we waited for our very safe driver Eric to return, Dana and I explored the pueblocita while Lisa wrote, I believe, a Valentine to her esposo en Seattle! We were invited into a coffee purveyor's shop and given an education on Guatemala Coffee beans that were ready almost for export to the US, treated some horses to a massage and grass (not That Kind), danced in the street to Salsa music, met some Mormon missionaries from Las Vegas and had some wonderful roasted cafe tambien.

The 3 hour drive back to Abesiada and Arnoldo's house seemed to fly by and we enjoyed another fun evening with the Lopez-Guevarra familia. The tamales were awesome y muy rico and we seemed to come to agreement that all men who gather no matter from where can share a common interest of Sports, Women, Cars and Vices, but women do not have such a common consciousnesses and are more complicated! Well that is at least what I understood. I say, viva la differencîa.

I miss my sweetheart, Kim on this Valentines day and we wish all of you a wonderful Dia de Valentina! Tomorrow we travel to Santa Eulalia to spend two days with this community, we will be doing ultrasounds and consults all day tomorrow at 9000 feet. Amor a todos!


Roberto "El Loro Verde"