It's days like this that make us glad that were packing for America in two days. We've enjoyed working here but as the we near the end of the second week we are exhausted and very much ready to go home.

Today was quite the adventure to say the least. We began the day bright and early in order to leave for our new village by 7am. None of us slept well, but there was no time to be tired. Even though our poor doctor only got about 3 hours of sleep, it did not stop him from attending over 60 patients from 9am to 4pm.

After loading all people and supplies into our two vehicles, we struck out through the smoky fields to our destination. Halfway there, our driver discovered we had a flat tire, and we all piled out while the spare was installed. No sooner had we resumed our travel than the car started to overheat. There was no water to be found so we all surrendered our precious water bottles to the dry radiator. When we arrived safe and sound there was already a huge crowd waiting, and so our sixth clinic began.

My job is checking vital signs and I enjoy it for the opportunity to interact with people. Of the cross-section of the local culture I see every day, my favorite group is the vaqueros - Stocky old men in jeans, boots and cowboy hats, they look every bit the ancestors of the American cowboys that they are. Years of hard work and riding in the sun has left their faces tanned and wrinkled and their hands thick and calloused. But their demeanor, from their clothes they wear to the way they stand and walk, exudes confident dignity. They are a solemn bunch, quiet and expressionless as they unhurriedly saunter to my station and sit down with a discreet "Buenos Dias."

This is when the fun begins. My job is to check blood glucose, and I quickly learned that the little pinprick that is provided for the job does absolutely nothing on those swarthy, rock hard fingers. We inevitably spend a few minutes laughing and joking at my futile attempts at extracting the smallest drop of blood from their fingers. Once, the whole line waiting burst into laughter when I remarked we would need a machete to get anything out of the current victim.

Nothing is more fun than making a toil-worn, tough old vaquero laugh. Dark eyes twinkle, and toil-worn faces relax. The vast differences between our worlds disappear, the sun is less hot, my grumbling stomach and sore back more bearable.

The environment here literally knocks our immune system off its feet, but thankfully our many ailments are amply treated by the naturalists that are in our team. Every conceivable plant, oil and extract is pumped into us and is remarkably successful. However I would give anything to have a tube of that mouth sore stuff they you get at Walgreens! Thankfully we have moments of awesomeness that take our mind off our problems: Eating fresh lentil stew containing cooked bananas under a cool thatched roof, holding a little baby watching the sunset, or giving a way of relief to a 16-year old boy who is severely dehydrated with kidney stones.

It's been a rough two weeks in more ways than one, but as our departure nears, things are speeding up. We will be heading home soon, but I already look forward to our next adventure!