Anytime, every time, all the time- Belize Visa Renewal Trip

Last week Katie and I traveled to Belize to renew our visas. Every three months we get to travel outside Honduras to renew our visas (not a bad deal). We left Teguc at 5:00am in the morning to catch a bus to San Pedro Sula. From San Pedro Sula we caught a chicken bus to Puerto Cortes, and from there we caught another chicken bus to the Honduras/Guatemalan border. Up until this point we had made perfect timing and arrived in each town just a few minutes before we needed to catch the next bus. Once we got to the border though our luck had ran out- or so we thought. While we were passing through customs the police officer told us that the bridge up ahead had been washed out due to the heavy rain they had received the past week. It had been out for the past three days and they were still working on fixing it. He said that it might be fixed in a few hours and that we should just wait at the border until it was fixed. No vehicles could get through so our only other option was to walk across the border and past the broken bridge and catch a bus from there. We were in a hurry to get to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala so we decided to walk. Luckily for us the situation wasn't near as bad as the police officer had made it seem. As soon as we made it across the bridge they open it up for cars to pass through. There was a ton of flooding still around the road though and I could now understand why the Honduran president had declared Honduras in a state of emergency.

Once we made it across the bridge we got in another bus that took us to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala. In order to get to Belize you have to take a boat from Puerto Barrios to Punta Gorda, Belize. We missed the last boat by 30 minutes so we ended up finding a cheap hotel and staying the night in Guatemala. I am so glad we stayed though because Puerto Barrios has the absolute best tortillas I have ever had and apparently they are the only town in Guatemala where you can find them. The next morning we woke up and took the earliest boat possible to Belize. It was about and hour and half boat ride an on the way we saw a school of dolphins and got to observe the beautiful beaches of Guatemala and Belize. The beaches that we passed had a mountain range right behind them- best of both worlds. 

Once we got to Punta Gorda we took yet another bus to Placencia, Belize. We stayed in Placencia for two days and spent both days on the beach. It has been rainy in Honduras so it was really nice to see some sun. It didn't rain a drop the entire time we were in Belize :) When then traveled to a small town called Hopkins and stayed the night there and then got up early in the morning to go to Dangria. That day we went cave tubing about 1 hour outside of Dangria. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever done. Tubing down a river,  inside a cave, in pitch darkness. Good thing our tour guide let us borrow some head lamps!

We went to dinner in Dangria and that night I got my hair braided by a local we had met. It was extremely painful but really fun to get to know a local better and learn about many of the Darifuna traditions. The next morning we woke up around 4:45 to catch the earliest Bus back to Punta Gorda. The trip was a great and relaxing vacation but by the end I was definitely ready to get back to Honduras. I hope to travel to as many Central American countries as possible while I am here in Honduras. I will keep you posted!

El Zarzal Community Health Workers Monthly Training

I went on my second community health worker visit on Thursday. The Community Health Worker (CHW) Program is an extremely important supplemental program that greatly contributes to the sustainability of the medical brigade program. The CHW program selects eligible community members and then teaches them an extensive course where they learn first aid, emergency medical procedures, how to recognizes and treat the prevalent diseases in their community and much more. After they complete the course they receive a certificate and are able to support their community's medical needs when there is not a medical brigade present in their community. Every community receives a medical brigade every 3-4 months but the communities need someone to go to when there is no brigade around. Our long term goal is for the communities that we work in to be self-sufficient in every aspect including medical. The CHW is the first step to making these communities medically self-sufficient. The community health workers (guardianes de salud) are given a 3 month supply of commonly needed medications. Community members can then go to the community health worker and get treatment. Every 3 months we follow up with the health worker, review their documentation and replenish the medications that they have run out of. If there is an emergency, the community health worker has been given a phone and they can call us for transportation to the closest health clinic. 

Yesterday we went to El Zarzal to meet with the community health workers that work and live in El Zarzal and the surrounding communities. The community health workers serve the community member's needs in between medical brigades. Since their certification, the in-country staff go back to El Zarzal at least once a month to follow up with the community health workers, re-fill their stock of medications if necessary, and cover a topic for review. Yesterday's topics were syphilis and chagas. Before getting into the topics however we completed an introductory activity called una rosa, un boton y una espina (a rose, a bud and a thorn). We went around the room and everyone stated something good that was going on their life (a rose), something that they were hoping for (a bud) and something bad that was going on in their life (a thorn). This was a great way to figure out what was going on in their lives, discuss any problems that they were having and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. Afterwards, the nurse of the clinic in El Zarzal reviewed syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease. She discussed the signs and symptoms, how it can be transferred to a fetus and the importance of always using protection. The community health workers will be able to relay this information back to their community. The nurse also discussed Chagas, a disease that is spread by bugs that can live in their adobe homes. She taught them about what the bugs look like, the signs and symptoms of the disease and what to do if they think someone has the disease. After all their questions were answered we played a review game to review material they learned during their certification class. The community health workers also consulted our medical program lead, Dr. Jenny, about common medical problems that were occurring in their community. Once the new Community Health Worker Program lead, Dr. Bruce,  starts, we will be going to El Zarzal often to follow up with the community health workers. 

I learned so much during the visit and I know the community health workers did too. I look forward to going back to El Zarzal in the future and getting to know these guardianes better :). 

Moving Day!!!

October is finally here! This past weekend we moved out of Tegucigalpa and into a house located about 30 minutes outside the city in a small town called Santa Lucia. I have mixed feelings about this move. Although I probably had a small case of cabin fever, I am going to miss the convenience of living in the city. But besides going out on brigades and community visits we haven't been able to get much fresh air living in the city. Santa Lucia is about 10 degrees cooler and has plenty of fresh air. It is definitely going to be adjustment figuring out how to live with 21 other people in the same house though. I am sure there will be a lot of good times to come

 

The actual move went very smoothly. We were able to move 22 people out of two different houses, all of their personal items as well as all of the common area furniture in a day and a half. Luckily for us it only rained when were either trying to load the truck or unload the truck :). We did come across a few challenges a long the way- like how to get a romperos (similar to armoires) out of the upstairs apartments when they wouldn't fit down the stairs. They must have been put together in the rooms. So instead of taking time to take them apart we lowered them down from the balcony.

Overall I really love living in Santa Lucia. I am now able to go running outside in the mornings and don't feel as confined anymore. However, it is a lot more logistically challenging to get to the city or anywhere for that matter. I do feel much safer here though and am relieved to now have a separation between the place I work and the place I live. 

Feliz dia de la Independencia a Honduras :)

Honduras became independent from Spain on this day in 1821. So to celebrate we all had the day off and this morning we headed to the parade that is held every year in the soccer stadium in the middle of Tegucigalpa. We arrived at the stadium a little before noon and before we went in to join the crowd we stopped by a vendor and bought Honduran soccer jerseys. We also enjoyed some local cuisine for lunch. I bought two baleadas sencillas ($6 Lempira each which is a little over $0.25 in US dollars), a slice of watermelon for 2 lempiras and some amazing passion fruit juice (maracuya). It took almost 15 minutes for us to make our way into the stadium due the crowd. The parade was very similar to a parade that you would find in the United States. However, it started very early in the morning and was still going on when we left around 3:00pm. They had marching bands, dancers, military men from all branches, rescue teams, firefighters, children's groups and many more that participated in the parade. They also had three flyovers and men that repelled out of helicopters. People from all over the country were there to celebrate the independence day of Honduras. It was truly an amazing cultural experience.

After the parade we all came back to relax for the rest of the day. We started Spanish lessons on Wednesday so I spent a few hours reviewing what we learned as well as memorizing some new vocabulary. Even though I live in Honduras I have to make a conscious effort to learn and practice Spanish. Since everyone I live and work with speaks English it is hard to surround myself with Spanish speakers all the time. Our Spanish teacher is really great and I am excited that I will get to break up the work days twice a week to improve my Spanish. One of my goals this year is to increase my confidence level in speaking with native speakers. I have studied Spanish since middle school and minored in Spanish during college. I should be able to speak much better than I do and so this year I am really going to make the most of every opportunity and speak Spanish whenever I can.

Kathleen, Frank and I then made one of the best home cooked meals I have had in a while. We made fried tilapia with corn, potatoes and onions and cheese biscuits. For desert we had double chocolate cookies :). Today has been a really good food day. After dinner we all watched Bridemades. This was the second time I have watched this movie here. It is pretty funny and I would recommend seeing it at least once. After the movie I began packing. A few of us took tomorrow off and are going to El Lago de Yojoa!! I am really fortunate to be able to go on all of these wonderful weekend trips. There is a ton to do at this beautiful lake. There is hiking, canoeing, waterfalls, zip lining, and American brewery and lots more. We don't have a set plan but I am sure there will be many adventures throughout the weekend. I will let you all know how the trip goes :).

Conference Video

Here is our introduction video that we played at the Student Leadership Conferences in Chicago and Seattle. The video overviews each of the 9 programs that Global Brigades currently has and the three countries (Honduras, Panama and Ghana) that we are currently working in. Watch it to learn more about the organization that I am currently working for!

Las Cuevas de Talgua

This past weekend I went on my first overnight adventure. Seven of us decided that we wanted to get out of the city but didn't want to spend too much money. We had heard about some extensive caves around Catacamas which is in the department of Olancho, a few hours northeast of Tegucigalpa. However, none of the Global Brigades staff had ever been there before so were not sure what to expect. Regardless, we woke up bright and early on Saturday morning to catch one of the Discovery buses to Catacamas. Although I have only been living in Honduras for a little over two months, I have learned to thoroughly enjoy bus rides. Not only is it extremely cheap to travel by bus, but no matter where you go there is always a magnificent view. For only 120 lempiras (about $6 USD), I was able to look out my window and see  the beautiful countryside of Francisco Morazan and Olancho. Although the bus had no air conditioning it didn't matter. The weather here in Honduras is absolutely perfect(in my warm weather loving opinion) and there is nothing better than having the wind blow in your face as you witness raw beauty unfold before your eyes. Since we took the direct bus it took around 3 hours to arrive at our final destination, Catacamas, with only one stop at Juticalpa.

As soon as we got off the bus we were greeted by one of the friendliest taxi drivers I met so far. Since it was almost noon we decided to get a ride to our hotel so we could drop off some of our things, grab a quick bite to eat and get started on our cave adventure. We decided to stay at Hotel Juan Carlos-about a 5 minute taxi ride away from the bus station. As financially conscious college grads, we were able to convince the manager to let us all squeeze into one room. Surprisingly, we fit 7 people quite comfortably into what was meant to be a maximum 4 person room. One of my favorite parts about my job is the people I work with. They are by far some of the most passionate, intelligent people I have ever been around and although I just met them a couple months ago I already consider them family. Needless to say, cramming 7 of us into a room was a huge part of our weekend adventure. It was quite actually quite enjoyable though and not to mention cheap. We each ended up paying 100 Lempiras which is about $5 USD for a night stay in a not too shabby hotel.

We planned on taking the bus that ran from our hotel to the caves right after we got done eating some PB&J sandwiches but we soon came to find out that the bus did not run on Saturdays (who knew?). Luckily for us we had gotten the taxi driver's number from earlier and he was more than happy to come pick us up and drive us to the park. We  crammed all 7 of us into his cab (quite a site to see) and only ended up having to pay 20 lemps a person ($1 USD) for the 20 minute cab ride up to Las Cuevas de Talgua. The entrance fee into the park was 120 lemps ($6 USD) and then we hired a cave tour guide that cost 10 lemps a person (50 cents). By the time we reached the first cave it was already 2 o'clock and the caves close at 4pm so we did not have much time. The cave that we went into was absolutely breath-taking. Although I only caught bits and pieces of what the tour guide was saying (he was speaking pretty fast Spanish), we learned that although these caves have been explored by locals for decades, it wasn't until 1994 when two explorers discovered a ancient burial site within the cave. After further investigation, they estimated that the bones were from people that lived in the area between 600 and 900 AD. The cave is often called "The Cave of the Glowing Skulls" because of the way light reflects quite remarkably off the calcite deposits found on the bones. There are many theories to why these bones were buried here. One of the most common theories is that the native groups believed caves were the entrance into the spiritual world. However, many theories are still being argued and the true history behind these bones may have been lost with time.

One of the "glowing skulls" found in the cave

After we spent about an hour and a half exploring the cave we followed the Talgua River out from the cave to the riverbank where we spent a couple hours swimming in the  cold but refreshing water. As we were swimming a group of Honduran campers also came to take a dip in the icy waters. We soon came to find out that one of the campers was Desiderio Reyes, one of the original explorers who first discover the "glowing skulls" in the cave. He is an archeology professor at a University here in Honduras and he was there with two other archeologists to continue their research of the caves. Too bad we couldn't convince them to take us through the restricted areas of the cave that were off limits to the public.

The group with Desiderio Reyes

Once we had our fill we decided to head back to get some dinner. On our way out of the park we noticed a very enticing restaurant called Restaurante El Pedral. Since we did not much about other restaurants in Catacamas we decided to stop here for dinner. This meal was the perfect end to our day. Not only was the food the best food I have ate so far in Honduras, but the atmosphere was very inviting and people working here were again some of the nicest people I have met. Not to mention the son of our waitress, Diego, had one of the cutest puppies I have ever seen. This puppy looked like it was taken straight from a Cottonelle commercial. I ordered the medium sized fried Tilapia fish- and when they say fish, they mean the whole fish. After dinner, the waitress brought us each a piece of chocolate/strawberry/vanilla mixed birthday cake (so delicious!) from the party that was happening in the gazebo next to ours.   By the time we got done eating it was dark outside and although our taxi driver offered to come pick us up, the people that owned the restaurant offered to drive us back into town. They lived in Catacamas and they assured us that it was not out of the way for them to drop us off. I am telling you that the people of Catacamas are extremely friendly, hospitable and helpful. So instead of cramming into a taxi can we were able to stretch out in the back of a pick up truck and feel the cool Honduran air blow through our hair as we traveled back to our hotel.

Restaurante El Pedral

Fried tilapia mmm mmm good

Cottonelle puppy

Once we got back to our hotel we all took showers and then went to explore the town. Much to our dismay pretty much everything in the town closes by 9:00pm so we went back to our "family- sized" hotel room and played cards until 11:00pm. By that time we were all exhausted and ended up going to bed.  The next morning we woke up around  8 and ate a French toast breakfast at the hotel and then headed back up to Talgua Park to explore more of the trails and to hopefully find one of the other caves that was further up the mountain. We were told that the second cave was about a 30 minute hike up the mountain and as long as we stayed on the trial we would find it. Easy enough right? Since we had a tour guide the day before we wanted to be able to explore this cave on our own so we opted out of hiring one. After two hours of hiking up some pretty steep hills, there were no caves in site. Although we stayed on the path, there were a couple forks where had to chose which way to go. We apparently chose the wrong way and ended up turning back before we found the second cave. All was not lost though. The hike was very satisfying - everywhere you looked there was another breath-taking view to soak up. I tried my best to capture the views on film, but pictures never can capture the complete beauty.

On our way down from the hike we found an even better swimming hole than the day before and spent a few hours soaking up the sun. We were told by many that the last bus to Tegucigalpa left at 5 so around 2:30 we headed back to our favorite restaurant to grab a bite to eat. The food was so good that most of us ordered the exact same thing we had eaten the night before. I ventured out though and got the garlic shrimp instead of the friend tilapia. It was also very tasty.

After lunch, we called our favorite taxi driver and crammed into his cab one last time. We arrived at the bus station around 4:40with plenty of time to spare. To our dismay the last direct bus departed at 4:15 and our only option was to take the last indirect bus that left at 5. Although the ticket was 40 lemps cheaper, the bus ride was two hours longer. Instead of making only one stop it made about 20 and what was supposed to be a 3 hour bus ride turned into a 5 hour bus ride. It was ok though because I was extremely tired and  was able to sleep almost the entire way back.

It was a really great two day vacation from the city. The entire trip cost around $35 including travel, lodging,  park entrance fees and food- pretty good right? And now that I have written down almost every detail of trip, I know I will never forget it :). 

Matasanos Medical Brigade

 August 16th-August 21st I had the opportunity to go on my first medical brigade as a Global Brigades staff member. It was a very different experience being on staff compared to brigading as a student but I really enjoyed the extra responsibility. It was also the biggest brigade I have ever been on. Students from Wake Forest University, Texas A&M, UT Texas and Texas Arlington were on this brigade- 64 students total! Because we had so many students on this brigade we were able to staff each station efficiently and increase the quality of care that we gave to each patient. I met some really amazing students on the brigade and learned so much more than I thought I would. It is my hope this year to not only impact the lives of the Hondurans that we work with but to also inspire as many students as possible. It is such a overwhelming feeling to see how much impact these students really are having on the lives of the patients they see as well as how much the students are being impacted throughout the week. One thing that I absolutely love about this job is that I am continuously learning something new each and every day and I hope that never changes. 

The community that we worked in this week is called Matasanos. Matasanos is in the municipality of Danli in the department of El Paraiso. Go here for more information about Matasanos. 

The first night that I was there I was able to teach the students all about the triage station. I taught them how to take all vital signs and what questions to ask the patients to obtain patient history. Since the brigade coordinator and other staff were busy organizing other stations of the brigade I stayed in the triage station almost all week. This is one of my favorite stations because the students are able to have direct contact with the patients, take vitals and obtain the patient history. Since you are directly communicating with patients in this station you connect with them on a deeper level. Being in this station most of the week also helped me see many health trends in this community which allowed me to ask better questions about the prevalent diseases in that community with the doctors after the brigade. The triage station really helps the doctor consultation run much more smoothly since the doctors can now spend more time diagnosing and less time obtaining the background information for each patient. The students on the brigade did an awesome job picking up on the responsibilities of this station which allowed me to help out at other stations later on in the week.

On the last day of the medical brigade a man from a nearby community cut a major artery in his foot with a machete while he was working in a field near our clinic. The machete was so sharp that it cut completely through the boot he was wearing and caused a very deep cut in the top of his foot. With the help of one of his relatives he was able to make it to our brigade and was sent directly to one of the doctors working with us, Dr. Walter. By the time he got there though he had already lost a significant amount of blood. Normally, we do not see many emergency situations during the brigade due to the fact that patients sometimes have to walk for hours to reach our clinic. Luckily, we always carry an emergency kit and Dr. Walter was able to manage his blood loss and give him an IV to control his dropping blood pressure. Because of instances like this Global Brigades has implemented a Patient Referral Program. Whenever patients have conditions that go beyond the scope of our clinic, the doctors are able to refer them to the nearest clinic and Global Brigades is able to cover the cost of further treatment. This program also works to be able to take any patients from the brigade to the nearest hospital if there is an emergency situation. Once the patient was stabilized one of the Global Brigades drivers was able to drive him to the nearest hospital which was over a 30 minute drive away. Without our brigade being there that day, the patient may have not been able to make it to that hospital. I truly believe everything happens for a reason and I am so happy that we were there that day to take him to the hospital. 

I could talk forever about everything that happened and everything I learned on the medical brigade this week but this post is getting pretty long so I am going to jump right to the last day of the week. I will make a few more posts about the other stations of the medical brigade in the next few weeks so that you have a better understanding of what exactly takes place on these brigades. Since we have started implementing our new medical model students go on a medical brigade for 3 days in the same community and on the fourth day they have the opportunity to go on a pilot brigade with 1 of 4 other Global Brigades programs. Depending on the availability they can choose to go on a water, public health, architecture or microfinance pilot brigade. This week the 4th day option was an architecture brigade. Since the school in Zurzular is almost complete, architecture brigades as began building another school in Santa Rosa I. On this brigade we were able to help finish 6 walls of one of the classrooms of the new school. Like Zurzular, students in this community are only able to go to school through 6th grade. Once this school is complete they will be able to attend school through 9th grade. More information about Santa Rosa I can be found here. The students really enjoyed being able to have a hands on project to work on during the week as well. Their work will greatly impact the lives of all the children in Santa Rosa. All of the students that went on the pilot brigade were very grateful that they were given the opportunity to help build a school rather than go to the tourist city Valle de los Angeles to buy souvenirs. One student said, "this is SO much better than tourism." You could really see the desire in each student to make as big as an impact as possible the week that they were there and a huge impact is what they made.