Honduras 2013 Second Blog

Sunday we drove three hours to the mountain town of Olanchito, where the clinic is located.  Fairly rural town of 40,000 but with the surrounding mountains and valley there is a population of 120,000 altogether.  Only about 10-15 roads in town are paved, so travel, even by car, is slow once you get here.

We went to the hall that will be our clinic and unpacked the boxes (some sent by us and some left here) to setup the clinic.  Our rooms are basically poles that we put together and sheets from the polls.  This all took about 3 hours. You can see from the pictures here that we start with a bare room and end up with a clinic.  Plus getting all the supplies that go in the rooms organized (syringes, needle, sharps containers, tables, sheets, etc.) to be prepared for the am.  Afterwards, we went to an open air restaurant for a good meal and then back to the hotel for a much needed rest.

Honduras 2013 First Blog

Leaving my practice for two weeks is always hectic.  Not only am I gone for the two weeks, but the office gets very busy prior to that.  Anyhow, after an overnight flight to Miami, I arrived to receive a hug from my mom. I could fly directly thru Dallas, but choose to go via Miami just so I can see my mom. She lives about half an hour from the airport. At 87 she is still very 'young' and vibrant. She swims or walks six days a week in the pool for 30-40 minutes.  And volunteers at hospital (22 years+) one day a week.  And plays bridge four times a week at a Bridge Club. And more. I guess I get my energy from her.

The pictures here are of me and my mom and brother. My brother lives in Florida and drove her to the airport. All three of us had a nice leisurely breakfast at the airport hotel overlooking the runways.  Then it was on to Honduras.  I arrived on time at 3pm but my luggage was an another story.  After taking a short flight to LA Ceiba (our headquarter town), I met up with the group.  It is always nice getting together with colleagues that I have not seen in a year and meeting the new doc too.  My bags arrived at midnight, which was a relief. This morning I was able to go down to the water and go for a swim in the 80 degree ocean.  At 1pm today, Sunday the 24th, the Olanchito (my clinic town) group will leave for the three hour drive up to this mountain town.  More later.