Centro de Salud

Side note: I spelled Guillermo about ten different ways! Sorry typing fast!
Can not figure out how to put the pictures on the bottom! Grr technology

Loaded down with the bags
The blue box hanging down is the vaccinations
Look how huge I am compared to the actual bike...Yea

Rodolfo! A farmer in Hermano Pedro

Cocha and Me at one of the higher elevation houses!

3 kids in the picture and 2 more inside and this mother only sells tortillas for a living

My delicious lunch!
Now look at the small bowl in front of my plate, it has carrots in it..
Do not be fooled this vegetable mix is absurdly spicy! 

Daniel (the nurse) and me
I am wearing Cocha's head outfit

Switch!

Beyonce Booty! It is literally just a pillow

Yesterday was my second internship day! The week before, one of the nurses had asked if every once in awhile I would want to travel with him to some of the surrounding towns. Of course I said no... Ha yea right I was so excited he asked me! So yesterday we met at Centro de Salud and packed our ice box full of vaccinations and  a couple medications. I grabbed both of his bags and was ready to walk out the door. It was fuuny he bent down to grab his stuff and realized I had it all. He was slightly shocked. We walked to the front of the clinic and he said ok wait here. In my head I'm thinking ok he is probably going to get the car... Never make assumptions. He rode up on a dirt bike that looked like it was from the 70s. There was no shocks left and well its from the 70s, get the visual. So reluctantly I hopped on and we were off. He took all the back roads of Antigua in order to get to the town we were going to, Santa Ana. I felt every rock the road had to offer, small and large it jarred the whole bike. My "lethargic" self, and all the bags weighed that poor bike down. It took us about ten minutes to get to the town. We arrived at a very small house and dropped all of our stuff off and proceeded up the hill to another town called Hermano Pedro. This was a tiny, tiny town situated on the side of the mountain. We met an older man named Rodolfo, who was the main farmer and health coordinator for the town. He told us the town did not have their papers ready so we were to come back another day. Yes, everything is still on papers. No central system to organize health records. On our way back down to Santa Ana, the nurse, Daniel was asking me about school and life and I told him I was taking a Mayan language course. Turns out he speaks Kaq'chikel! What a blessing, I now have a new tutor! But after our visit to Hermano Pedro, we went back to the small clinic owned by a guy named Cocha. For the rest of the morning we did paper work for the women and children. We had to mark down which women needed Hierro and Folico and which kids needed their DTAP and polio. After we sorted out all the paper work we loaded all our supplies and set out on foot. Yes, on foot. We went to about 15 homes all with children. Its interesting, when you walk up to a house all the front doors and walls are the same. However, once you enter you will either see a dirt floor and card board walls or an actual foundation, with tile floors and concrete walls. Some people invite you in and others make you wait outside. If we had to wait in the street, we would administer the vaccination in the street. There is no formal form of health record, just a piece of paper that I (a person of no medical qualifications) can fill out. All the mothers had a little booklet that told them when their child would need their next vaccination. One child we saw was a year behind on all her vaccinations. Some of the children looked like they did not have a bath in about a week. One child had a large scrape in between his eyes from falling in the street. By no means am I discrediting the care of the mothers, however the idea of hygiene and safety is very different. Hard to take in. I never felt uncomfortable or unsafe in any home but rather shocked and amazed at the conditions of some of the homes. Daniel was great he explained everything to me. I have no idea how he did it but somehow I understood everything. Or maybe it was an understanding that we were helping this community and that was all I needed to know. I took a liking to him. Sorry I had to say that it just felt so appropriate and well "Little House on the Prairie" like. After the 15 homes we headed back to the clinic slash house and Cocha made us a delicious lunch of chicken and tortillas! Daniel insisted on having me try all the salsas and even the jalapeno vegetable mix. He insisted. So I tried them and my mouth was on fire. Daniel and the doctor got a kick out of that. They laughed at my pain (ironic right). But both in good character. After lunch we were packing our things up and of course like clock work it started to pour (remember our mode of transportation). We decided to wait it out. In the meantime I asked Cocha to show me pictures of his family etc. He showed me all his immediate family and then his extended family that consisted of about 100 more photos and then he showed me a picture of a man and woman in cowboy outfits... I said "Oh that's nice who is that?". He goes, oh that's me (pointing to the woman)! What????? I was at a loss for words. I just said wow that is a great outfit... Really Courtney... I don't care what his sexual orientation was but I was just caught without words. He was a very pretty woman though. So we talked about that for awhile and then he got out his outfits. He had a whole bag of them. High heels, dresses, skirts the whole shebang. More clothes than I have probably. I told him to put one on so he disappeared for awhile then came back with a long skirt on and a wig. He turned around and had a FAKE butt! It was hysterical. He had a "Beyonce" butt or a Sheniqua butt! He was so open with me and I could tell he appreciated the fact that I did not judge him or even look at him different. After our little rendezvous with outfits the rain held up a little and Daniel and I made a dash for it. I had all the bags again and I strapped my rain coat on over everything. As I walked outside a car drove by and soaked the backside of me. Thanks alot buddy. So now my butt was soaked and I had to ride on an outdated, no shock motorcycle back to town. We hit so many puddles it just drenched my shoes and my pants. The only part that was dry on me was my mid section. As we were cruising back Daniel asked me if I was ok. I said "DUH! Es una adventura!". In his head he was saying crazy American girl. But we made it safely back to the clinic in Antigua and I proceeded to smash my thumb in the gate that let us into the parking lot. Cold, wet and a pinched finger. Daniel looked at me soaked from head to toe and we just started laughing hysterically. We looked like drowned rats. It was a sight to see. But, he invited me on all his future small town excursions! I would consider this day a huge success. I walked home wet, was splashed by another car, but I was so happy and felt that I had really experienced something that can not be explained but simply appreciated.