EWH - Central America 2010: Another short update + Roatan

Work

Work is still going well, and we found some things to work on this week. On Wednesday, we even had a brief training session for nurses in the maternity ward on how to use the incubators we found in the bodega. (During the last week in Costa Rica, we wrote some 'quick start' training guides for some other kinds of equipment. I never thought we would actually do that sort of thing at the hospital. But, as with most of my assumptions this trip, I was clearly incorrect. Hi ho.) It was pretty hectic, as it seemed as though something that should have taken 5 minutes took an hour. There were points where it seemed as though everyone was talking loudly at once, and nothing was really getting accomplished. I think we eventually got everything ironed out though, but we told them to give us a call if they have any trouble with either one of the machines. I guess we will see what happens.

Hanging out with the nurses after the training session.

Some of the equipment we fixed this week: two suction pumps and a surgical lamp.

The Food

Let me first say that on the whole, the food here has been very good. I hate to sound ungrateful, though, but there have definitely been times this week where I have been less than happy that it was time to eat. It is sometimes difficult to look forward to the same kind of food over and over (particularly when it is so unhealthy). I went into the trip with the mindset that I would eat whatever was put in front of me, and I was doing great until I encountered 'chicharron'. I didn't know what it was when we got it, but I only took one bite and couldn't go any farther. (We had it at home and at the hospital, on consecutive days no less.) I checked into it later on, and I think chicharron is basically an even less healthy version of pork rinds, sometimes served in soup form. So yeah, I don't think that is going to happen.

Roatan

Last weekend we went to Roatan, the largest of the three Bay Islands off the north coast of Honduras. All of the guidebooks said that it was one of the most touristic and expensive places in Honduras, but also had some of the best beaches and snorkeling in the world. I had never been snorkeling before, so I was really looking forward to that, but just kind of figured that the beach would be like the ones we had seen in Costa Rica (kind of a 'you see one, you have seen them all' kind of thing). Apparently, though, Caribbean beaches are a different breed. We went over to the island on a ferry, and then took a water taxi over to the West Bay area. The water was a color that I had never seen before, a very clear, very deep blue. It was very warm, but in a good way, and there were virtually no waves. It really felt like I was swimming in a massive pool, along with some very brightly colored fish of course.

This picture was not taken from a website. I promise, it actually looks like this.

Seriously.

Anyways, we managed to get in 2 snorkeling trips, and that is something I need to do again. We caught a boat that took us out to a huge reef, where we were free to swim in any direction for about an hour. The reef and fish looked like something straight out of an aquarium. The reef was not very brightly colored, but was really impressive to just look at. It went as far as I could see in almost every direction, which was pretty far in that water. There was a large trench that ran down the middle, which was the favorite area for the more intrepid snorkelers. The fish were everywhere, every size, and every color. In each hour we were down there, I think we might have seen 1000 fish. It was really very cool, and fascinating to see fish in their natural environment. But the thing that really caught me off guard was the noise. Whenever I wasn't breathing in or out, I could hear the fish nibbling on the reef. It was not a loud sound, but one that was ubiquitous and definitely unexpected.

On Saturday night, we found a very nice bar that had a couple of couches lined up on the beach between the palm trees. We were able to watch the sunset over the water, had some dinner, and enjoyed the nightlife :) All in all it was a great weekend.