Internship and Random Thoughts

Yesterday I went to Buena Vista which is a small town about 20 minutes away from Antigua. I again rode on the back of Daniel's moto bike (he is the travel nurse) this time with a huge box of vaccinations and we had to go up a hill... Yea I think we had to stay in 1st or 2nd gear the whole way. At one point I kind of just giggled to myself and Daniel leans over and says "Courtney... Tu pesas mucho!" Translation: "Courtney... You weigh alot!" I must say I laughed pretty hard. He was completely joking but earlier I had told him I am "gorda" or heavy because I have been eating so many tortillas. He is a jokester. We pulled into a small alley and walked into a room that was about 6ft by 30 ft. It had concrete walls and was just baren. This is the "clinic" we were working in. I could not believe it. In the front of the room there was a small table where Daniel and I would check each patient in and then they would sit on a wooden bench next to me and we would give them their shots. Mostly children received vaccinations but a couple of mothers had a complete check up. The women would go into the back of the clinic where a small medicine cabinet stood and a single cloth divider quarded them from the rest of us. Through the course of the day small children, dogs and even a couple chickens ran through the clinic. Have you ever heard of ANY type of animal in a clinic in the US?? I think not, the only animals I have seen in the US clinics are the screaming children haha. At the beginning of the day we gave vaccinations to babies and towards lunch we gave dogs rabbi vaccinations. I actually gave some dogs the vaccinations but when a dog looked suspicious to Daniel he'd say no no I ll do it. He was afraid of a dog biting me so he took the naughty ones. For lunch I learned how to make tortillas!!! It was soooo hard. The girl that showed me how was only 16 years old and she probably made 16 tortillas to my one! How embarrassing. I just did not have the proper hand clap down right to flatten out the dough! But to get the dough I sifted through corn kernels that had been soaking in water, drained them and then took them to a grinder or mill that literally ground the semi wet corn into dough right in front of me. From there she kneaded the dough and then we made small balls and started "clapping" the dough into circular forms. The only two I made were disfigured and had holes. Fail. They were the "special" ones out of the group. After lunch I was waiting outside the clinic and saw a woman maybe 4 ft tall and had a small child with her not more than a year old and she had this huge jug of water she had filled up at the local water faucet. She started walking away so I asked her if I could help. She looked at me funny and reluctantly gave me the water. Oh I failed to mention she had been carrying it on her HEAD!  She lifted it off hers and placed it on my head. HOLY CRAP. It was so heavy. I could not help but laugh and neither could she. She saw me sway a little bit with the weight and thought I was crazy for wanting to help. She tried to take it back and I insisted I would take it to her house. She was amazed I even made it! It was an incredible to see how grateful and shocked she was I wanted to help. It's the little things right. After that Daniel asked me if I wanted to meet his friend Rufino. Without hesitation I said yes and he proceeded to warn me that he had a "sickness" of the skin. I still wanted to go so we bought Rufino a couple cookies and juice. We had to walk maybe about 5 minutes up part of a hill and we finally came to his small little property. Daniel called out for him and Rufino came out. I have no words or emotions to describe the health condition of Rufino. His entire body was taken over by his health condition. I can not even put into words how horrible Rufino's condition is and is getting. His mother apparently left and he is only 21 years old. He has been living like this for most of his life and has never been seen by any medical professional besides Daniel. He has 3 of his little cousins living with him (all around 3 to 5 years old) and his dad works somewhere close to the house. I am not kidding when I say if I was 3 years old and I saw Rufino I would think he was some kind of "monster". As horrible as that sounds, I am not exaggerating when I say his body is deformed because of his condition. I completely lost my appetite and just was in utter shock. How could someone go so long without medical attention. It broke my heart and made me feel guilty for ever feeling sorry for myself about anything for that matter. I talked with my friend Lisa about things I could do to help Rulfino, so right now we are in the process of contacting organizations in the area that could get help for Rulfino. Keep Rulfino in your prayers and hearts, for now we are in limbo. We left Rulfino and walked in silence back to the clinic. We gathered up all our gear and headed back to Antigua. Daniel asked if I was ok and in my best Spanish I told him I was just in shock. He gave me a hug and we were off. I did not sleep as well last night, one: I was thinking about Rufino and two: I was so SORE from that stupid water jug... How pathetic. Early signs of obesity from tortilla intake!

On a lighter note here are some observations I have made:

1. My Mayan Kaq'chikel teacher, Osbilda is an indigenous Mayab woman. She has taking a liking to me since I am the worst spanish speaker in her class and yet maybe one of the better Kag'chikel speakers. The other day I had made a small "chiste" (joke) about something and she had the deepest belly laugh I have ever heard. I couldn't help but laugh harder. Her whole body kind of shook with her laugh it was great!
2. Outside of Antigua there are many small towns that are situated in the valley and some in the mountains. Every town I have been to outside of Antigua alot of the women walk around barefoot. Barefoot. My feet hurt from walking on the concrete floors in our house. These women are a complete different kind of tough.
3. The gardening done in Antigua is done with a machete. A couple mornings ago I was walking in the street and saw a man just carrying a machete in a holster on his belt. UHH woaaah dude. Before I saw what he was doing I made sure to cross the road... Like a street would stop someone with a machete but you know. I kept watching him and he came up to a couple of bushes and went to work.
4. If you ever see a woman carrying a babe here is the amount of clothing the baby is wearing:
      -A diaper
      -A light onezy (think I spelled that one wrong)
      -A sweater
      -A pair of pants
      -Socks
      -Sometimes shoes
      -A beanie
     -And finally a blanket
     -Sometimes two blankets
Poor kids they can barely breath or move!
5. I saw a little boy wearing a U of A sweatshirt in the street two mornings ago! How ridiculous!
6. I have noticed a lot of children are semi abusive to animals here. It breaks my heart, the other day I saw a little boy no older than 4 kick a puppy because the dog was in his way. It wasn't my place to tell him no, but I almost wanted to kick him back and see how he liked it. ( Ok not really but kind of).

One of the more vicious ones!

One of the chicken visitors 

Puppy in the clinic :(

Our tiny clinic

The three little boys that live Rulfino

Giant water jug... Look at the tiny woman in front of me!

My first animal vaccination!

Trying to make tortillas! Failed attempt about 2 secs later I dropped the dough

Ok that is all for now! Love to all
Abrazos!