Another day of clinic today - a full day in one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen - truly, truly beautiful. I only hope that the pictures can capture a glimpse of that beauty. Huge palms and fresh coconut - glorious! What a privilege it has been to be a part of this journey - part of this medical team. It has been humbling and I have so much to learn. I need to start learning about tropical diseases and conditions seen in developing nations, like TB, malaria, scabies, head lice, dysentery, malnutrition. Common things here: gastric intestinal issues, respiratory problems, dehydration, malnourishment. So much to learn.
The children are so great! They truly do just stare at us and giggle and they think we're so funny. They are completely fascinated by the camera and seeing their pictures. At one point, I had about 20-25 children surrounding me, looking over my shoulder. With each picture they would name the child or "casa de" so & so (who's home it was). They also helped me with learning new words, such as vaca (cow), caballo (horse), aqua jal - which is a grouping of large palms that have a lot of water at the base of the cluster. Levi tells me there are many snakes there - glad I wasn't close to it!
It has been such a privilege working with the local Peruvians, such as Gema, Tito, Geyner, Laura and Levi. What an answer to prayer that Levi and Laura got stuck in Yuri, due to the stike! Incredible. They are truly beautiful people. Levi has been helping me learn Spanish and he is a very good teacher. He wrote out a whole lesson on the chalk board in the school to try and teach me how to roll my "r's". It has become quite the joke around here, me overheard at various times trying to roll my r's. I'm horrible at it and everyone else can do it just fine.
I can't begin to describe how disgusting I feel - my hair has been wet every day and it's not because I showered (: It's pure sweat! Imagine how sweaty you are after a good work out, then double or triple that and imagine being like that perpetually for 3 days. Ah! I'm stinky, sticky and can not WAIT for a clean baño and a running shower, even though it will be cold. Clean and running - that's my wish! Soon, soon, soon! It really does strike you when you suddenly have no access to clean water. We have drinking water with us that we brought from Yurimaguas but you don't want to waste drinking water by washing with it. It's astonishing to me to realize that these people have no access to clean drinking water...that's a basic need in life...the most basic and they don't have it.
It feels like we've been gone from Yuri for much longer than we have. The strike is still on and in fact has gotten stronger from what we hear. Lord, open the gates to get us back in and then back out, I pray. You are in control of all things and we trust you implicitly.
10:35 p.m. in the jungle and the night sounds are alive and well: cricket-like sounds, some distant barking, wood pecker-like sounds and tonight I can hear small animals scurrying around our room - likely rats.
Must sleep. Goodnight.
A few other memories from today:
The children are so great! They truly do just stare at us and giggle and they think we're so funny. They are completely fascinated by the camera and seeing their pictures. At one point, I had about 20-25 children surrounding me, looking over my shoulder. With each picture they would name the child or "casa de" so & so (who's home it was). They also helped me with learning new words, such as vaca (cow), caballo (horse), aqua jal - which is a grouping of large palms that have a lot of water at the base of the cluster. Levi tells me there are many snakes there - glad I wasn't close to it!
It has been such a privilege working with the local Peruvians, such as Gema, Tito, Geyner, Laura and Levi. What an answer to prayer that Levi and Laura got stuck in Yuri, due to the stike! Incredible. They are truly beautiful people. Levi has been helping me learn Spanish and he is a very good teacher. He wrote out a whole lesson on the chalk board in the school to try and teach me how to roll my "r's". It has become quite the joke around here, me overheard at various times trying to roll my r's. I'm horrible at it and everyone else can do it just fine.
I can't begin to describe how disgusting I feel - my hair has been wet every day and it's not because I showered (: It's pure sweat! Imagine how sweaty you are after a good work out, then double or triple that and imagine being like that perpetually for 3 days. Ah! I'm stinky, sticky and can not WAIT for a clean baño and a running shower, even though it will be cold. Clean and running - that's my wish! Soon, soon, soon! It really does strike you when you suddenly have no access to clean water. We have drinking water with us that we brought from Yurimaguas but you don't want to waste drinking water by washing with it. It's astonishing to me to realize that these people have no access to clean drinking water...that's a basic need in life...the most basic and they don't have it.
It feels like we've been gone from Yuri for much longer than we have. The strike is still on and in fact has gotten stronger from what we hear. Lord, open the gates to get us back in and then back out, I pray. You are in control of all things and we trust you implicitly.
10:35 p.m. in the jungle and the night sounds are alive and well: cricket-like sounds, some distant barking, wood pecker-like sounds and tonight I can hear small animals scurrying around our room - likely rats.
Must sleep. Goodnight.
A few other memories from today:
- Geyner always needing to lock the door to the school room where we sleep! For the life of us, we can't seem to do it ourselves! Everytime we have to leave it to go somewhere in the morning we have to call for Geyner. Thank God for Geyner!
- Whistling. It seems that whistling is a major form of communication around here. I've heard whistling back and forth across Centro America and our boat driver whistles from the boat to people on land as well. I suppose the whistle carries across the water well.
- killing mosquitos in the tent tonight with Vicky! We were determined not to sleep until those pesky little skitters that found their way in were all dead!
- my Spanish grammar lesson tonight from Levi: contrary to english where vowels can be pronounced in more than one way, in Spanish they are only pronounced ONE way! Nice! So "a" is pronounced like "ah". "e" is pronounced like "eh". "i" is pronounced like "ee". "o" is pronounced like "oh". "u" is pronounced like "oo". This has made it much easier to spell people's names when I hear them now.
- the fireflies! Huge, bright ones...I mean HUGE! I love to lay in the tent at night and watch them out the skylight.
- the night sky is brilliant..so abundant with stars. It's absolutely critical every night to stand in the midst of the village and turn off my head lamp and just take in the sky for all its glory.
p.s. just got some shots from Sam and Corrine in the mail! This is a wonderful shot of Geyner (with Levi)! I didn't have a great one so I'm so happy for this one...such a great smile. Note his "Canada" hat!
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