Day 3 - 5/1/10

Belizean fact of the day... down here, they write out their dats as day/month/year. Turns out just us "silly Americans" (as the resident Brits call us) write month/day/year.

Today marked the first day in the clinic and it was a slow one. I ran one EKG on a 91yo who looked incredible for her age and saw an infant with a little bit of an upset stomach, nothing too exciting. Afterwards, Nurse Betty offered to take another PA student (Adam) and myself out on a home visit up the road. I think this is the opportune moment to tell you that nobody has an address here, there are no street names, but somehow everyone manages to get around just fine and know where everyone lives. Here's how we got to this lady's hut... up the road, turn right, go down the dirt path and over the bridge, there will be a small dirt road so follow that to the right, go up the steep hill and there's her place. SO CRAZY but this is a very small village that we are in and everybody knows everybody. So... this home visit might have been the best part of the entire trip so far and to come, I was that amazed. I truly felt like I was out in the jungle trying to hike to this woman's hut. I'll put up pictures later when I can upload them but her hut was actually a decent size and extremely gorgeous from the outside. The inside is one large open room with multiple hammocks (those are their beds!! see, I would fit in PERFECTLY down here!). There is a large stove that had a delicious smell coming out of whatever was cooking on top of it and then random odds and ends. It is pretty bare with a few "tapestries" on the walls or their clothing. There were 2 of us students, one practicing PA, and Nurse Betty and we were a site to see. Anyone around that hut surrounded us to watch our every move. We tried to learn a little of their local language, Ketchi, but we gained a large laughter in response. Haha, can't hurt us for trying...

Here's a funny story for all you people who know how giddy I get about stupid little things... we're out walking the trail to this patient's house and we crossed a small little stream and I looked down only to notice a massive trail of ants and these floating green things on the path. Nurse Betty informed us that these are called "wi-wi's" (not sure of the spelling) and they are ants that go to a tree and devour all of the leaves and carry these pieces over to another area where they build their house. There were a few lone stragglers but man, these ants were dedicated! Who knew such little creatures existed in nature?!? Needless to say, I was amazed once again.

Okay.. quick heads up on what's going on around base here. There are 11 of us students total... Nicole & Sara (pharmacy students), Adam, Lindsey, Tracy, Emily (Marquette PA students), Val & myself (RFUMS), Ama, Natalie, and Cyndi who is my roommate (med students from London). Then, there is Dr. Peter DeWolf and his daughter Julie, Dave (a PA) and his son Andrew, Dan & Marie (the clinical coordinators), Ebbett (the coolest handyman ever), Alfia & Emilia (our interpreters and cleaning ladies), Andy (our crazy awesome driver), Nurse Betty (in-house nurse who is volunteering here for a year), and if I missed anyone else, I'll catch up with them later!

Every week there are two teams of us... one group travels out to the villages to see some 0f the locals and then the other group stays on clinic grounds and runs a full-functioning clinic for anyone who shows up Monday-Friday from 8am-12pm. In the afternoons we are trying to team up with the Peace Corps and do school physicals for every child in the surrounding districts (about 300-500 total). We also help Nurse Betty out on these home visits whenever a few of us have spare time. The weekends are ours to thorughly enjoy. So far, we've tossed around ideas of Guatemala, Sarshun (a small river tour on a river that borders Belize & Guatemala), adventure caving in San Ignacio or an island weekend getaway just off the coast of Punta Gorda. More information about those to come...

Other than that, it's crazy humid here.. nothing dries... there are ants everywhere. We've spotted a flying cockroach in one of the bedrooms last night and a lizard near the extra refrigerator today. Good thing I love bugs and critters huh? I'm in heaven out on the roads meeting locals... everyone waves at you, says hello (actually they prefer good morning, afternoon, or evening, or pleasure to meet you). It's just like being back in a small town and I just can't get over how friendly everyone is.

For my beer-lovers out there, Belize makes a dang good brew called Belikan! Find it, check it out, love it (otherwise I'll try to bring some home)... I definitely enjoyed a delicious stout while avoiding a serious downpour in PG (aka Punta Gorda) today AND I met another Brit!!!

Much love... belizean love of course!