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It's been roughly a business week since we last recorded our adventures here. This is because we've been terribly busy saving lives, one mango at a time.
Tuesday: We flip flopped duties. Whitney saw chronic patients - really the family members of chronic patients and Jen counted to 15 at least 40 times in the pharmacy and listened to Richard say some things really fast. After work Whitney met all the children of La Casa de Paz. They hoped she would gift them her notebook. They were covered in dirt. Notable phrases: "Que llora que llora que llora"
Wednesday: Field trip! Stayson got to drive the truck lent to us by the guy making stone ovens across from the clinic as he had borrowed from some Austrians - the only stipulation is that we do not drive into the city as this would be betry the trust he had when he borrowed it originally. We visited the large clinic that is being rebuilt by some gringos from Tennessee. The head gringo wanted to do whatever Dr. Somarriba wanted but had financial constraints. Evenutally she will get some running water. We then went to visit some patients and ended up fourwheeling a steep hill into someone's yard. On the way out of this dead end route we went by a mango tree. We politely asked the head woman if she would like to gift us some mangoes. Then we took turns using a long stick to twist off the mangoes and paid for them in doctoring services.
s*** White People Say:
A teenage white girl to Nicole who is from Venezuela: "Is that your actual skin color?"
In response to the director of construction talking to Dr. Somarriba the head of the gringo group said, "Is he arguing with her or are they just having a conversation?" They were just talking.
Thursday: Dust storm started today. We went to clinic as normal and left with a list of 38 common medications and their doses for adults and kids on well-used, eroding papers. After consulting 3 parties for their opinion on the bus schedule we had a range from 12:30 to 3 but we were picked up without a problem at 1:40. The bus was full and not full at the same time because we were up by the front and were all touching and then people would come up front to get off the bus and could get through all of us without a problem. We caught the 4 o'clock bus (3:48) back to Chacraseca. Upon our return we did our laundry by hand for the first time and started copying the ancient scrolls.
Friday: David left us for another town. Clinic was slow because it was not a regular clinic day but we did not have a vehicle for field tripping. In clinic with an older patient we experienced an earthquake - Whitney's first - which originated in Managua and was a 5.2. It involved a little bit of shaking and that was it. Dr. Somarriba called a hotline to make sure that it was an earthquake and not a volcanic eruption. We did not go outside because the doctor said the lines could fall on us which trumped the tin roof above us. Surviving this, we were schooled by math in Spanish. Our weaknesses betrayed us. Once Whitney figured out the math behind calculating the percent of 800,000 units needed for a child she did not have the words to explain this like multiple (por) or divide (entre). We looked like the village idiots. After our schooling we packed our bags in shame and left for the city on the bus. To get there we had to travel in a dust storm that limited visibility at times. Jennifer wore her trusty blue wrap upon her head and Whitney wore a second shirt, looking out of the collar. People laughed at us but we met others also covered in cloth. There was no Friday rush hour bus traffic and it was fairly empty. Turns out having all the bodies in there makes it easier to stand upright.
In Leon we checked into our hotel and walked around the city where Jennifer took photographs secretly (Whitney thinks "secretly"). After bypassing the place that only serves pork we ate dinner and then walked the one block back to the hotel in the dark - but nobody had to choke a b****. We went swimming under stars in an outdoor pool. A giant cockroach Our room had air conditioning so we sat outside on our porch instead and then slept like royalty because there was no dust and we had our room cooled to 80 degrees.
Saturday:
Breakfast was included with our hotel stay. Que bueno! We had pancakes and Whitney had an omelet with vegetables. It came with rice and beans. This was the 14th serving of rice and beans for her since arriving. We walked 1.5 miles in our flip flops to catch the bus that goes to the beach. We arrived at the beach and rented a giant open shaded house with 8 benches and 3 hammocks for $2 USD. People freely solicited us to buy coconuts and fish. Dogs came to "guard" our house as did some birds. We went swimming and went to eat lunch nearby. Whitney ordered a fish and two were brought because it is a sickness to go to a restaurant and not order a meal. We caught the 2 o'clock bus to Leon - it left late and we arrived in Leon at 3:15 about 2 miles from the bus station where the last bus of the day for Chacraseca was leaving at 4 and with a mission of acquiring dinner to go. We took a $2 taxi to the store where we were held up by slow check out lines. We took a $1 taxi to the bus station at 3:52. We arrived at 4:02. Our first contact said that the bus had not yet arrived but the next 2 comparison contacts said it had already left. We took a $1 taxi as close to Chacraseca as he would go which was the entrance to the road to Chacraseca. One quarter mile into the walk we came across an older woman with her daughter and grandson and a hotdog stand. She assured us a bus would be along in 10 minutes at 4:30 and that we should sit down and wait. When her elderly husband arrived and said that the the bus had left we opted to walk with our last hour of light. Our $2 flip flops held up and we beheld a pig the size of a cow in a field. We arrived at La Casa de Paz around 6 pm as the sun was setting.
The day ended with avocado, cheese and tomato sandwiches. We met Phil and Jessie who work with David in H.O.L.A. and finished making the chart of medications to memorize.
Sunday:
We go to the sector Raul Cabeza to participate in a vaccination clinic. We primarily sat around and watched the nurse administer intermittent shots and drops to children while drinking cold soda. Apparently they are doing such a good job of vaccinating that there is not too much work to do. We did each get to stab people from a short distance without a wind-up. In the downtime we redeemed ourselves by presenting Dr. Somarriba the chart and by saving David's ass as she ran him through the gamut of doses (what is your first second and third choice from faringoamigadilitis and what doses would you give to a 4 year old child who weighed 8 kg?)
In the afternoon we went with the H.O.L.A. group to Leon to meet with a school teacher for 30 minutes (2 hours). Phil drove us to the beach so that he could learn to drive a manual car before he returns in May with a group of 30 people and drives them through fields in a big manual truck. At the beach we watched the sunset and the guys went surfing in the last hour of sunlight. We had dinner and they had drinks. Around 8 when it was time to leave it became apparent that they car keys were lost. After an hour of unsuccessful searching and attempts to track down the surf instructor to see if he had the keys we all resigned to the fact that the keys were probably in the ocean. The guys set about calling the car rental company and a taxi and Jennifer set about breaking into the car so that we could get the money and clothes the guys put in the trunk. Starting on the passenger side we were able to get a short thin stick wedged into the door and a long stick that became too wide too quickly. While Jennifer went to find an appropriately sized and shaped tool Whitney held down the set up. The man living in the house we were parked in front of offered his services to enter the door below the window and open the lock on the passenger side because he did not want to be seen from the road. Whitney said that yes we would want that help if it did not work. When Jen returned with a long thin stick we realized that there was no lock button on that side and moved to the driver side.
The guys showed up to help us and we all put our hands on the door to widen the gap. Jessie was able to unsuccessfully push the unlock button twice. By now neighbors are gathering in the dark. One woman is holding her phone light throught the front window. A pair on a motorcycle drive up to watch. A couple watch by and the guy tells us that we need to be going from underneath the car but he cannot show us because he does not want to be seen breaking into a car. A group of three men discuss what we should do next on the passenger side. Hermin, a neighbor, had gone down the street and returned with a large, curved, ribbed piece of thin metal and set about punching the unlock button for us. When this did not work he worked on increasing the curve in it and was able to unlock the door by hooking the door handle. We collected all of the belongings in the trunk and ate some celebratory oreo wafers. As we waited for the taxi Jen posited about the circumstances of the #1 worst event that has occurred in the history of H.O.L.A. in Nicaragua. This story deserves its own entry. The 5 of us took a taxi from the ocean to the entry of the short walk to La Casa de Paz. We were able to go to sleep by midnight.
Monday:
We went to clinic with short amounts of sleep. Whitney gets juice now for breakfast after a week of not drinking the coffee. Jen gets nothing (the sickness...) Jen did her first papanicolau in the clinic. When discussing how to read the results of pap tests Whitney asks Jennifer in hick English (for camoflage) "what does FROTIS mean?" which almost made Jen laugh in the presence of Dr. Somarriba which almost made Dr. Somarriba remove her head. Speaking of removing heads, ours will be lost next week if we have not committed the medication list completely to memory. We sat around, sweated and waited for Claudia to arrive. Alexandra arrived and hugs were had all along. Then we were informed that she has been sick with a virus for a day.
A boy brought three iguanas to La Casa to sell them. Janith purchased one to cook in a soup for her family. Claudia tells him she will buy them if he cannot sell them. He went away for 5 minutes (Jen says he tried to sell them to a goat) and then came back and said that he could not sell them. Claudia purchased two with the intent to eat them or free them or give them back to the boy for his family to eat. After she bought them the kid left us with two bound and sewn iguanas. The boy returned to tell us that he could cook them for us if we did not know how. We decided they would die if we let them go and we would probably get bit freeing their lips from their binding. We offered to give them to Janith and she said that she could cook them for us and we would put them in the empty, brick walled room where Jen and I stayed for our first week. Instead we gave them to Tulio, the gardener who lives nearby, alone, in a house with food stored in the oven. He was very happy and hugged us. Claudia took a nap. Jennifer, Whitney and David did interpretive dances of organs. Whitney took over the computer for many hours so that Jen could not work on her Hepatitis A presentation that she must give on Wednesday while Claudia and Whitney applause, like members of Congress, during the high points.
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