Jigsaw Falling Into Place

bloggedy blog...Oh my, I suck at this.

So Honduras!  It's been about a week since I arrived in Santa Lucia and it's been quite the little adventure thus far.  Still trying to wrap my brain around this project and finding more questions than answers on a daily bases.  One elephant bite at a time though I guess (thank you Ben).  The women's health program is in shambles, so before we can even begin to dive into our project, Beth and I will have to try and dissect/piece together what encompasses women's health in Intibuca, Honduras.  Easier said than done in the third poorest country in the western hemisphere.  Emotions range from ecstatic to questioning why I ever left such a great (ish) job back in Milwaukee.  It's just frustrating and things take so long to get done here.

I can barely hear myself think it's raining so hard, but it's so lovely.  It rains at least an hour each day during the rainy season.  Clouds roll in and bam* downpour.  It's awesome.  The landscape is gorgeous around where I'm living.  I wake up to jungle mountains with the tiny town of Santa Lucia nestled deep within.  A stretch and a good cup of joe at 6:45am! and I'm ready for another day.  

It can become a bit suffocating living/working/hanging with the same people in the same communal area day in and day out.  I took a trip with Beth and Dr. Rosebinda to San Antonio (small village about 2 hours away) and helped set up a clinic in a school.  We worked all afternoon and saw about 30-40 patients.  It felt great to get away for a bit.  The road to San Antonio is god-awful and makes for a comical drive.  I was literally airborne for most of the trip with all the rocks/holes/mud we had to drive through.  A trip that might take 2 hours in distance on a flat paved road can take up to 10 hours driving through these mountains.  4-wheel drive baby, my new best friend!  The views are completely worth every dizzying effect.  I'll have to post pictures soon...  

I got to see a birth!  These women are courageous to say the least.  Although it's a bit disheartening to see pregnant 15 year olds.  However, in such a machismo driven culture the women have little say.  The clinic is decent but still not ideal. The 18 year old who delivered sat on an examining chair that reclined with a garbage bag and towel underneath her.  That was it.  Very nat geo.  She smiled shyly at us throughout the entire labor, embarrassed, almost as if she felt herself an inconvenience to us.  Her baby girl appeared a bit premature, although we had nothing to base it off of because she couldn't remember the last time she had visited a doctor.  The baby also had club feet...I'm assuming she wouldn't have much access to future surgical procedures.

I painted part of the clinic yesterday, quite relaxing.

The people that I live with are all pretty cool.  Interesting backgrounds.  I'm beginning to gather that the longer you live here though the more jaded you become.  Beth and I arrived with bright little eyes and eager hearts (ha), quickly crushed and then rebuilt with more of the reality of what's going on down here.  It's going to take time, so much time, and not enough time.

I became raging ill last night.  Blah, first of many to come I'm sure.  I unfortunately missed most of our Friday Night Lights marathon that we've started nightly.  Alex's lasagna was more of what I stared at for most of the evening.  Feeling a wee bit better today.  Oh!  Had a fantastic party on Friday with the medical director (Juan) and the gang--lots of music and dancing.  It's time to get back into salsa!

Much more to come...I apologize for the random structure of this entry

Hope all is well back in the states!  Miss you all!

las