Back to Tegucigalpa

Hello again from TegucigalpaWe had a really good week here with the medical team, which was hosted by two wonderful Catholic sisters who work here. The team worked for four days and this time I felt well and energetic (most of the time) and was even able to help them, seeing patients and doing nursing procedure (lots of dirty ears to syringe... yuck). As in La Ceiba I found I didn't have much time to do interviews- these teams work very hard- but gots lots of information anyway, and will follow up with questionairres.
The team left last Friday, however we stayed around for a few days to talk to patients and to the sisters. We have come to really admire these nuns over the past week, between the 2 of them and some local help they have set up and run a sewing school, carpentry school, nutritional centre for malnourished children (unfortunately theres a lot of that here), and a health clinic staffed by a local nurse, as well as assisting people to improve thier houses and construct latrines. They are now building an emergency hospital here, and are looking for staff for that. Sulaco is a poor rural town (there are more horses and donkeys than cars!) and around it in the mountains are much poorer villages. Health services here are completely inadequate- we saw patients with goitre, breast cancer and other conditions that have never been treated. Sad. A small group from the team (not including us) went up to an indigenous village- 4 hours in a 4WD up the mountain. Some people came to them from settlements further on- 2-3 hours walk- some of whom had never seen a doctor in thier lives.
During the week 5 team members came down with a nasty respiratory bug... and the day they left Luis got hit hard- chest tightness, nasty cough, fever and sinus congestion. The next day I came down with it also- I didn't get the fevers but have been pretty miserable just the same. We stayed a couple of extra days in Sulaco thinking we may feel better but left yesterday deciding we were probably better off in the city where we could get decongestants and cough medicine and better food! Unfortunately the bus trip back was a bit if a nightmare- the first bus never turned up, we ended up in a tightly packed bus which stopped very frequently. A couple of policement were on board- apparently the day before buses on that route had been held up and passengers robbed. And just when we thought we were nearly there our bus stopped to pick up passengers from another bus whose brakes had failed (a very scary thought on those roads)... they were packed into the aisle, there must have been 150 on a bus designed to take half that!
Despite all this baby has been behaving- only had one morning last week with a bit of nausea- probably because I overdid it a bit working long days with the team. My energy levels are almost normal again, and my appetite certainly is... I feel like I'm eating all the time! The local ladies who did the cooking at the retreat centre made it thier personal mission to make sure I got plenty to eat including regular snacks! We will be here in Teguc for a week or so- we are planning to visit my mums sponsored child tomorrow (Friday), have a quiet weekend, then get some more work done next week- visit the Dept. of Health and get into those research notes!

Checking out the brigade photos with Sister Fatima, Sulaco 

Welcome to Sulaco!

Downtown cowboy, Sulcao. 

Transport around town- Sulaco style. 

An audience of neighbourhood children, Sulaco. 

The team with Luis & I (far left) and the sisters (middle row, far right), Sulaco. 

Luis gets some exercise grinding coffee. Sulaco. 

The clinic where the medical brigade worked in Sulaco. 

Keeping up those nursing skills! Sulaco. (note the little belly- I think it´s time to buy new clothes!) 

A parrot in the pharmacy! Sulaco. 

Sister Joan (right) keeps an eye on waiting patients, Sulaco. 

Dentists at work, Sulaco 

Belly photo- week 16 and starting to grow! 

The road to El Jikarito 

La Luz de Jesucristo church in El Jikarito (we stayed here with the pastor and his family, whose home is behind the church) 

The old and the new(ish) in Valle de Angeles 

The Catholic Church by the square, Valle de Angeles 

Inside the Catholic Church, Valle de Angeles 

Tegucigalpa

We are finally back in Tegucigalpa- briefly! We spent most of the last week in a very small town called El Jikarito, in the Zamorano Valley near Tegucigalpa- staying with very good friends of Luis. The idea was to meet with a research contact in Zamorano (where there is a large agricultural college with a strong development focus) and spend some time reviewing notes. Well, the meeting worked out well, and some other work got done, but much of the time was spent socialising- catching up with friends, and, uh, shopping (in Tegucigalpa and in Valle de Angeles, a town famous here for its crafts and touristy souviners). However it's now time to get serious again. Tomorrow we are off to a small town called Sulaco- 2 hours on good roads, 2 hours on dirt roads and probably in a chicken bus. And we just saw the weather report, with heavy rain warnings for much of the country. I guess one has to be a bit of an adventurer to do this type of thing!
We will be in Sulaco approximately 2 weeks working with a medical team from Texas. This time I shouldn´t be struggling with nausea and fatigue like I did during the last time (morning sickness and research in a developing country do not go particularily well together!). I´m not sure about internet connections there but will do my best to update this site if I can.

Back to Danli, Honduras

Apologies for the relative silence on this website over the past week or two. We spent the past week in Diriamba, Nicaragua where internet access was a little more difficult. However we are back in Honduras now and I have my laptop and dialup back so no more excuses!The week in Diriamba was wonderful. We stayed on the mission base where Luis worked for three years before joining Mercy Ships. It was great for him to catch up with old friends, and for me to finally put faces to the names he often mentions.
We spent much of our time there relaxing, however we did manage to make it to the beach at La Boquita (Pacific Coast this time!) on Sunday and shopping at the markets in Masaya on Monday.We had the scariest moment of the trip yet as we crossed the border back into Honduras. Not problems with officials (although we are quite sure the Honduras immegration official over-charged us) but there was a large religious fesitval on the Nicaraguan side of the border and as with all celebrations here they had fireworks... large rocket type fireworks which they we lighting right next to two large tankers loaded with petrol. Needless to say we got across the border and away from there as quickly as we could!We are back here in Danli for the day, and plan to travel to Zamorano (near Tugucigalpa) this afternoon- more friends to catch up with, along with research contacts... it's back to work time!

Baby belly- week 14 

The YWAM base, Diriamba, Nicaragua 

BBQ and dining area, YWAM Diriamba 

With base directors Don & Barbara Johnson 

Late night in the YWAM kitchen- Jairo & Nelson 

La Boquita, Nicaragua 

Luis relaxes on the beach, La Boquita