(Dennis)
Friday was fairly busy - with 71 patients in the morning - but only 20 in the afternoon. It gave us time to go over how to treat common diseases - so that they would understand our Spanish and they would understand ours. Mostly it was headaches from dehydration, muscle aches and upper respiratory infections. There were some skin problems - either from bites over over washing. Dental caries or missing teeth were common. The days at this altitude are fairly exhausting and so after another fabulous meal we all went to bed at 8 again.
The Saturday it started raining and in fact the rain kept coming right through Tuesday morning when we left early because of the muddy roads and the mountains. The heavy bus might not get through if we waited longer.
Saturday was a fairly light day with a few people coming from Rio Colorado, Las Crucitas, El Cacao, San Nicholas and Belen. Unfortunately 2 of our team members can down with the GI bug and slept so we rearranged teams and came through alright. That evening the leader of the community Ruhino discussed the history of the community and its relationship with Heifer International. I have noticed considerable improvements over the 10 years Duke has been coming to the community. There are now block houses with tin roofs instead of mud and wattle. And we supplied 10 more eco-stoves for the community this year so that every family now has an eco-stove.
Sunday was a busy day and most everyone took an hour off to participate in the palm Sunday service. Many of the visitors to attend the church service stayed to be seen in the clinic. WE were busy right up til dinner. And once again we had a fabulous meal for dinner but this evening several people stayed up to talk and discuss the trip and humorous escapades in their lives.
Monday - oh yes Monday - We started at 8 and finished at 12:30 and saw 135 patients in the morning - we had to create a fifth team just to be able to see all the patients. The max we had seen all day before was 100 so 135 in the morning was quite a triumph. In fact so many people came that we began to run out of some of our common supplies like toothbrushes and toothpaste. The afternoon was busy also so we ended up seeing 180 patients for the day and 453 patients total in the 4 days. Because the rain would not stop and we were out of supplies we decided to leave the next morning for Copan. That would give us an extra day in Copan which we could use to spread out some of our planned activities. We said good-bye to Ruhino who came to wish us well. They had planned a farewell ceremony for us on Tuesday but we would miss it.
Tuesday am we packed up the bus had breakfast and left for Copan waving to all the local people who gathered to wish us well. WE then spent and hour in Las Esperanza touring the city center with its beautiful church and ice cream bar. Then off once again to Copan, travelling the Central American Highway for part of the time, stopping to purchase basket goods and hats at Santa Barbara and then on to Copan. The traffic n the road from San Pedro Sula to La Entrada was crazy busy with traffic and we spent an extra hour on the road because of it - Semana Santa (holy week) the entire country seems to have as a holiday and everyone is travelling. Finally at 5:30 pm we made it to the Hotel Buena Vista in Copan and Ricardo Agurcia, our good archeologist friend was there to meet us with a cooler of cold beverages. A very long day.
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