Only in Central America

Remember my last post about being flexible?

Well today my ability to be flexible was really, really tested.

Here is how the day went

We got up super early and walked to the bus terminal for our eight hour bus ride from Managua, Nicaragua to San Jose, Costa Rica

(Side Note: In our hotel room last night there was a spare door frame holding up one corner of the ceiling - No Joke)

After a couple of hours we finally arrived at the border. According to immigration Jill had overstayed her visa and would need to pay a fine for the extra days, plus a "gift" in order to make sure she wouldn't have problems getting back into the country.

(Side Note 2: Seriously, if anyone can figure out the visa stuff around here, please fill me in!)

After dealing with all the immigration hassles we got back and the bus and went on our way. For an hour.

And then what happened? Our bus broke down. Yup, dead as a door nail on the side of the road

So we did what all flexible travelers would do. Get real comfortable on the side of the road

Jill doing some reading

After about an hour or so a semi pulled up. We figured the driver was just there to see if he could help fix the engine.

But no, this was our tow truck.

We even got a police escort

Fortunately, they only towed us across the street to the next gas station but we did all get to ride in the bus as the semi pulled the bus.

Talk about a once in a lifetime story

After 13 hours of travel we finally arrived and got settled into our hostel.

Tomorrow we have another long bus ride to David, Panama.

Hopefully this one goes a bit smoother!

Just roll with it...

Flexible:
adjective 
1. capable of bending easily without breaking
2. able to be easily modified to respond to altered circumstances
3. ready and able to change so as to adapt to different circumstances

One of the biggest lessons of travel is that you must be flexible.

Like crazy flexible

After three days in Managua, Jill and I have decided to change our plans and head straight to Panama (Long story BUT if you can make sense of the abusurdly complicated C-4 regulations/visa extensions for this area let me know!)

What does this mean?

Tomorrow we are heading to Costa Rica so as not to overstay our visa in Nicaragua. We will spend a night in Costa Rica, and then head on to Panama first thing in the morning. 

Basically, it will be two days of long, long bus rides, and then a boat to Bocas del Toro, to spend the holidays there!.

If being flexible means accepting that you will spend Christmas on the beach than I am just fine with it!   

Off we go! 

All the photos!

One of my goals for my 27th year of life was learn to take good pictures

In order to do this, I am trying to take a lot more photos. I made a photobucket to share the ones I really like:

Erin Glesne-Smith's Photobucket

Enjoy! 

EDIT: Click the little arrow, on the left side, next to the phrase "Show Albums and Stories" to see all the albums and photos!

Update

So, this is a long overdue update!

However, since I'm fairly sure my parents make up about 50% of my blog audience, I didn't do any updating while they were in town.

It was a really great trip, and I loved showing them where I am living. We spent a week in Copan Ruinas, two days in Pico Bonito (an incredible National Park), and another week in Roatan. I got very very good at being on vacation!

Also, if you are looking for an amazing place to stay in Honduras you should have my mom do your travel plans. Both of the places we stayed were incredible!

For example, this was our dock in Roatan. Every night we watched the sunset out there:

 Doesn't get much better than that!

Now, Jill and I have started our adventure to Panama. We arrived in Managua, Nicaragua yesterday and head on to Grenada tomorrow!

Proof!

When I said the wheel fell off I was not exaggerating..

Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls

A few photos of Pulhapanzak Waterfall near the brewery

Enjoy!

An Vacation Begins!

I wrapped up my last brigade (University of Wyoming) of 2012 last week.

Do you know what that means? 

Vacation has officially begun! 

Okay, so life is pretty cushy on a daily basis but I am still really excited about this vacation!

So far our itinerary looks something like this

2 weeks of travel with my parents and Mollie

Copan Ruinas and Roatan - I'm so excited to see them!

San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua 

It is sea turtle season - #2 on my goals for my 27th year

Panama City - New Years Eve

Bocas del Toro, Panama

2 weeks at Palmer Tent Lodge - More on this later

Obviously, there will be lots of stuff in between but that is the plan so far!

Jill and I are kicking our travels off with a few nights here:

D & D Brewery! Good beer in Honduras - It is going to be hard to leave

Gotta love life in Honduras!

Giving thanks in Honduras

I made Pumpkin Pie!

Homemade pumpkin pie! From scratch!

This was an especially big deal because making pumpkin pie from scratch in Honduras is no easy task.

 Every single ingredient has to be tracked down at a different store. 

We had one tiny oven so we did everything in shifts

Add this to the fact we were making pie for 50 people! 

It was a serious, twelve hour long, task.

Step One

Track down a pumpkin or squash. 

We purchased two from our lovely neighbor at the clinic

Pie One

Pie Two: This made for a very very green pumpkin pie

 Step Two

Attempt to hack open the squash

Jill trying her best

 Step Three

Find Maria and have her do it

Don't mess with a Honduran woman. They are T.O.U.G.H.

Step Four

Clean out your squash

This is pie one. Squash here has very very green insides.

Step Five

Bake the squash to make "goop" for the pie insides

 

 

We only had one tiny oven. With one oven rack. This was a long process

Step Six

Scoop out all the insides

This was pie one. It actually looked like normal pie

 Step Seven

Blend up all the insides

Pie One: We realized about this point we were making WAY too much pumpkin goop

Pie Two: Yeah. yeah. Not an appetizing color

 Step Eight

Make the pie dough

Jill's grandma's dough recipe. I told you this was from scratch!

Step Nine

Fill the pies and bake

Jill filling pies! This was just one of the vats of pie goop

 Step 10

Enjoy so much pie!

Pie One! Probably some of the best pie I have ever eaten

Pie Two! This one came out very green!

 

 The green color did not go over well with some of the little kids at the bilingual school.

One child nearly cried when I tried to give him a slice.

In the end we made FIVE pies, though a few of them were crustless

And we still have all of this leftover

Pumpkin goop waiting in the freezer for future pies

There will be many more to come!

This one time...

Before last week I could never have said the following two things:

This one time, in Honduras, I had an ant crawl in my ear while I was sleeping.

This one time, in Honduras, the entire wheel fell off the truck I was in.

Yup. Both of these things happened. In the same week. 

Life is always an adventure here

just another weekend in Hondu!

I was going to write about my amazing weekend in Honduras...

Then Jill did it for me:

A weekend in Honduras

She even included pictures!

No reason to recreate the wheel.

Enjoy!

H. to the Opkins

The Johns Hopkins medical brigade is currently in town, so I have not had much of a chance for updates.  They are keeping my very busy, since I am the only one working this brigade, but it has been a lot of fun.

Everyday, we load about at 7:30 (really it ends up being 8:00 or so but we are operating on Honduran time), and head out to some new location to do field clinics.

So far this week we have seen:
- A possible case of Chagas
- A possible case of TB
- A woman whose knee cap has been firmly located in her thigh for the past four years
- Lots of pneumonia
- And absolutely EVERYTHING in between.

The Brigade Leader, Ed Zueroweste, has basically become my idol. He works for the Migrant Health Network, as the medical director as is a nationally recognized TB expert. Not to mention just an amazing person.

This has probably been one of the more educational weeks of my life... when it is over I am going to sleep for three days straight.

Lost in translation

Some things don't translate.

Last night I was informed that teensy weensy was the spider's name.

How do you go about explaining that one?

Skills

You pick up some interesting skills when living in another country.

I am great at scaling bathroom stalls after being locked in one in Bolivia

I know how to get a Honduran dog to stop chasing you.

I am great at buying snacks out of bus windows

And now, I know how to wash long hair with a bucket shower!

Camasca, where Jill just got a position, only has running water every other day. And even then, only for a few hours in the morning.

This means that time spent in Camasca is also time spent taking bucket showers.

At first, it was a bit of a task but, then last night I figured out I was going about it all wrong. 

Instead of bringing the bucket to me, I needed to go to the bucket! Just squat down and stick your whole head in.

Okay, so I look a bit like this dude

But it works! 

I'm going to start putting that on my resume!

I live here

A former Honduras Peace Corps Volunteer once told me it took her about 8 months to feel really comfortable, and at home in Honduras.

Well, over the past week or so, I have been realizing how true that statement really is.

It hit me this week that living in Honduras just feels so incredibly normal. I know that I am living in another country, but it no longer seems unusual or strange.

I live here. 

Simple as that. 

Now, here are a few photos from the sunrise hike this morning. Just to show off what an amazing place I live in.

Never Gets Old

I started my day off today watching a chubby little girl be born.

It was amazing.

Again.

This is the third birth I have seen in the past four days, and I am loving it.

I'm filming all the births for a study they are doing here. My roommate Kathryn normally does this, but she is in the US for six weeks, so I am stepping in.

I love it.

Maybe after twenty of these it gets boring and routine.

But, right now, it is amazing each and every time.

Saturday mornin'

I woke up in a bad mood this morning.

The power went out last night, and when I was awakened this morning, by the sound of a pig screaming, it was still out.

This meant I had to make coffee on the gas stove.

And that the milk I put on my cereal was of questionable safety.

And my plans to work on some application stuff online today were not going to happen.

It all just made me cranky.

Then someone called me to come downstairs,

And I watched a baby girl be born.

It was, in one word, incredible.

 Absolutely. Perfectly. Breathtakingly. Incredible

Cranky = GONE

That, my friends, is how Honduras works.

Out of the crappy moments, will always come the most amazing surprises.

Even when the power is out.

Book Updates

So, I have not been doing very good on book summaries as of late.

However, I have been ROCKING my goal of reading one book a week. I think I have maybe missed two weeks, and the following weeks I read an extra one to make up for it. This has probably ended up being my favorite goal on my 27 things to do in my 27th year list, and something I would like to keep going for many, many years.

Cutting for Stone – Amazing. Amazing. Amazing book. The author also wrote another book called In My Own Country, which I am hoping to read soon but it is not yet on Kindle.

The Glass Castle – A good quick read. It makes you appreciate how sane and normal your own family is.

A Time to Kill – I have decided John Grisham is going to be my new go-to, long distance travel author. I read this while Jill and I were taking nine million bus rides and it was the perfect travel book.

The Coming Plague – If you are interested in public health or infectious disease you will completely nerd out on this book.

Shades of Gray – Not. A. Fan. I’m sorry, but I don’t get what the hype is all about. I think that the author forgot that most good book have a plot. Or a point in general.

There have been others, but those are the most recent ones.

My book this week is The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. This is another one my mom recommended. She is a smart one, because I can’t put it down. If I had a required book list for all medical and public health students this one would probably be at the top.

Happy. Happy. Day.

Oh. My. Goodness. 

I have had the luckiest week of mail in my entire life.

I got back from vacation to not one but TWO letters. One from the lovely Ms. Eileen and one from my Grandma Smith (who has become, by far, my best pen pal)

Then, today, I found out I had a letter waiting for me at the front desk. 

But, this was no ordinary letter. This was a package containing Sour Patch kids and, wait for it...

PUMPKIN SPICE VIA PACKETS!

The wonderful, and amazing Jennifer Cox (who I worked with at NPH), sent me a care package. 

Jen and I spent a lot of time talking about the joy of Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes at the ranch. Usually over less than amazing coffee, 

I was so touched she sent them to me that I maybe had a little tear. 

Every now and then you are lucky enough to meet truly wonderful human beings. 

Jen Cox, I am so happy I was lucky enough to meet you! 

I miss you so much!

Also Important!

I can't believe I forgot to mention this:

My 27 when I'm 27 goals:

13. Learn to Scuba Dive

I can officially check that one off the list! Wahoo!

Boooo

Sadly, my two weeks of vacation are quickly coming to an end. Tomorrow morning I hop on a bus back to Santa Lucia.

Our trip is ending with a weekend in Copan Ruinas. Jill will be staying here for the next month to take Spanish classes.

I'm not going to lie, I am a bit jealous that she is staying here:
For one, I absolutely love taking Spanish classes when I'm in a Spanish speaking country, and I would happily sign up for a month of language classes.
Second, Copan is a great little town, and they have lots of the little things that you can't find in Santa Lucia. They even have yogurt in the stores!It is the little things.

That being said, I am really excited to get back to Santa Lucia, and get back to my projects. That has to be a good sign right? That I am actually looking forward to going back to work.

All in all, life is good. Really good.

Paradise Found!

I honestly didn't think life could get much better after a week of learning to scuba dive on Utila... Then we made it to Trujillo!

For Jill's Birthday we are staying at Banana Beach Resort for two night. The surprise was that we are literally the only people staying here.

Our life for the past two days has consisted of picking between this:

The amazing pool we had all to ourselves

or this:

The white sand beach we had all to ourselves

It has been really rough.

The best part is that they have an on-site bar and restaurant that makes amazing cinnamon rolls! Are you kidding me? Cinnamon rolls in Honduras!

There may be tears when we have to leave!

Gloating.

Just to rub it in a bit...

Utila

This is where I am.

From zero to sixty and back again

Life last week went from very relaxed and laid back, to very very busy.

For one, I have started the graduate school application process. Not. Fun.

On top of that, through a visit from two of our board members last week, I ended up with three new projects on my lap. I'm so so excited about them, but it is going to keep me really busy for the next few months. (More on the details later)

Luckily, all of this crazy busyness has been interrupted by a two week, beach vacation with Jill. In the coming days I will be getting scuba certified and hopefully very very tan. Rough life kids. Very, very rough life.

Thing One and Thing Two

This week, two things were not working at the clinic for very unexpected reasons:

Thing One: The oven. Why? There was a rat that had died inside and was somehow preventing the oven from turning on.

Thing Two: The internet. Why? A tree had started growing in front of our satellite. The tree is not ours, so we have to get special permission to chop the branch down.

Well, of course! Silly me! Why did I not think of that?

Remember that time...

Remember that time I said that power was back, and it looked like it was going to stay? Ha. Just kidding.

The power cycle has looked a little something like this.

We have power.

It rains and, for some mysterious reason, the power goes away.

Sometime the next day the power comes back on. Again, mysteriously

It rains, and the cycle repeats

I am beginning to have a love/hate relationship with rain. 

I love it because it means for the first time that day the temperature drops below ninety.

At the same time, I hate it, because it means I have to try and find my toothbrush in the dark.

And then there was light!

Wahoo! Ladies and Gentlemen, we have power!

The past week has been one long power outage. Granted, the power would come back from time to time. Just long enough to get your hopes up, and then away it would go again!

The clinic is lucky enough to be the only location in town with a generator, but it is only on when there are patients here. Weekends and evenings there are FAR fewer patients, which has been making for some very quiet nights!

Oh well, the power is back, and seems to be sticking around for a bit. 24 hours straight, to be exact!

It's getting hot in here

I looked at the temperature yesterday

Big Mistake.

Huge.

 

It read something like this:

Current temperature: 90 degrees

Feels Like: 113 degrees

This is the cooler part of the year.

January, according to folks from here is "like an oven"

Translation: I may not survive January. 

MAIL

I have an address now!

Erin Glesne-Smith
Clinica Hombro a Hombro
Santa Lucia, Intibicua, Honduras

Now the mail can start rolling in!

Life as of late

In case anyone was wondering what I do with my time, here was my schedule this week:

Monday: Shadowing in the Dental Clinic

Tuesday: Visit to Yo Puedo program in Magdalena

Wednesday: Shadowing in the main clinic (I helped cast a leg!)

Thursday: Visit to Santa Theresa, a nearby-ish community that Shoulder to Shoulder sends a doctor to once a week

Friday: Research for Yo Puedo, and the Neo-natal breathing project I am going to start helping with.

This week went fast!

I think I saw about 1,000 things this week that I have never seen before.

Book Reviews

So with all the power outages and internet issues, it has been really easy to keep up with my book a week plan

Actually, I think I am ahead by a few.

LOTS of reading time here.

However, I have not been so good at keeping up with my book reviews.

Anyway, here are the books I have read recently

The House on Mango Street: A really wonderful book of short stories. Told from the perspective of a young immigrant girl

Don’t be Afraid Gringo – A Honduran Woman Speaks: I think this a must read for anyone living in Honduras! Plus, the introduction provides a really sucint, but thorough history of Honduran land reform movement.

The Massacre at El Mozote: GAAAAH!!! How have I never heard about this! In 1981, a US trained branch of the El Salvadoran Army, entered a remote village (which is located just over the border from where I am now), and massacred over 700 people. Many of them children. In horrible, and violent ways. And the US government kept funding them!!! READ. THIS. BOOK.

Lesson Number 9 Million

This week I figured out a VERY important equation

Love of Children + Love of Public Health Projects ≠ Love of Child Malnutrition Campaigns

I always figured I would love working on projects aimed at ending malnutrition.

I love kids

I love Pubic Health

It just made sense

I was WRONG!

Now, I want to preface this story with this statement: I still believe that programs aimed at ending malnutrition are probably the most effective and critical public health initiatives in the world. The fact of the matter is, ending malnutrition in children has been proven to have long lasting positive impacts on the children, their families, and the future of communities. It works. Period.

But for me, there was something I had not figured into my little equation: Blood Draws

Tracking micronutrient deficiencies involves measuring iron levels. This, as anyone who has ever given blood knows, involves a finger prick.

And you know what?

It HURTS.

Baaaaaaaaaad.

I went out last week a few of the Health Promoters from the clinic, who work on a project called MANI. This program is aimed at treating micro-nutrient deficiencies in children under the age of five, through a supplement called Chispuditos.

So, they do a chat about the program, and then call the first kid up to the front to get weighed, and finger pricked.

Now, kids are not stupid. That kid took one look at the health promoter, who was trying to act like it was no big deal, and…

LOST IT

A full on tantrum. Screaming until I thought he was going to pass out.

And that is all it takes. One crying kid. From that point all the other kids (who are also not stupid), started crying the moment their mom brought them up to the front.

Here is the catch. I really hate watching kids cry. It breaks my heart.

After a few hours of this, I realized that what sounded like an incredibly fun way to be involved in public health, was in fact, not so glamorous. That job takes a real tough person.

Also, if I ever have kids, someone else is taking them to get vaccinated.

Radio Silence

The past two weeks have been one long internet issue. It has been great for my reading, but not so good for my blogging.

First, we used up too much of the bandwith

Then there was an issue with my access

Then, about three days ago, we lost power, and it still has not come back. We have a generator, but internet only works sometimes when it is on.

It is amazing how quickly you just get used to whatever.

Anyways, be prepared for a barrage of old posts I could not get up before!

Book Fate - Reviews 2 and 3

I firmly believe in book fate. When someone talks to me about a book and it magically appears in my life, I firmly believe the universe must really want me to read it.

Both of the books I read this week were book fate book

Enrique's Journey

This book was mentioned to me by Bryan, who works here at Shoulder to Shoulder while we were driving to the clinic on the first day.  I asked if I could borrow it, and then it was just sitting there on the shelf at the clinic. Book Fate.

Enrique's Journey was super interesting. It follows a 16 year-old's trip from Tegucigalpa, Honduras to the United States. I liked reading it actually in Honduras. I recognized different references to parts of Honduras and Tegus, and I think that made it seem more real to me.

Anyone who is interested in child migration, or even just Honduras in general (you know, the country I talk so much about), should read this.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

My mom has mentioned this book to me a number of times. She said, from a public health perspective, it was super interesting. So, I walked into the Concepcion Clinic, and there it was sitting on the book shelf. Book Fate for sure!

Henrietta Lacks was a black women, whose cancer cells were taken at John Hopkins hospital "colored ward" without her permission. Those cells ended up being the first cells that were able to be reproduced in a lab, and continue to be used around the world. People have made millions of dollars off of these cells, and yet her family continues to live in poverty. 

This is an interesting book for anyone, but I would say that for people going into the medical field, it should be required reading. It gets into all sorts of interesting issues around consent, and who has control of what happens with your body. Super nerdy, but super interesting.

Home. Sweet. Home.

I arrived in Santa Lucia on Tuesday.

It is so crazy to imagine that this will be home for the next year.

It feels perfect. Absolutely perfect.

Some things are just meant to be.

Gracias, Lempira

I spent the weekend visiting the town of Gracias, which is located north of Intibuca.

It was a great weekend away, but my favorite part BY FAR was visiting the Aguas Termales (hot springs) just outside of Gracias.

Wikipedia

We went at night, so it looked a little different when we were there.

 Even better, we got to ride one of these bad boys to the hot springs:

http://amor-siempre.livejournal.com

(I didn't have my camera this weekend, so I had to borrow these from the web)

And the winner is...

Santa Lucia!!

Yep, for the next year the Shoulder to Shoulder clinic in Santa Lucia, Intibuca Honduras is going to be my new home.

So where the heck is that? 

Luckily, I have this handy map to show you!

Apparently, I can walk to El Salvador in 30 minutes if I feel like it.

What is the town like?

Well, Wikipedia has LOTS (insert sarcastic tone here) to say about it.

Sadly, since the good ol'internet seems to be hardly aware of existence of Santa Lucia, I am going to have to fill you in on the details of the town when I arrive, next week.

What will you be doing?

So that is a three part description:

 Assistant Brigade Coordinator

 Basically, I act as a facilitator/translator/servant for visiting Medical Brigades

Dental Program Volunteer

I will work with the dental clinics in both Santa Lucia, and Concepcion on education initiatives, outreach and act as a liason between the US based dentists and Honduran staff.

You can read more about the Dental Program HERE.

Santa Lucia Education Volunteer

I will work on health education initiatives, which are primarily based out of the library project in Santa Lucia. As part of this, I will work with the Scholarship students in Santa Lucia on various projects.

You can read more about the Library Project HERE

And the Scholarship Program HERE

Okay, so I know that is real vague, but I am still learning the descriptions of my job etc.

How do you feel about all of this?

I think this photo just about sums it up:

I'm so freaking excited about ALL of it!