I will have one scoop of Neopolitian please....(posting from the road)

My final clinic days were the best and the worst of our clinic days. The third was back in the town of Jocotan that we visited last year. Here the people have access to the vices that the mountain folk do not have. As one of the clinicians this presents a problem...no longer are we treating the aches and pains of hard work – rather the traditional North American ailments of high blood pressure, depression and type II diabetes. The people are more impatient, demanding and far less thankful. And if that wasn’t enough...the set up is in a church that does not promote airflow. It is a cement building with a tin roof (the same design as the average Guatemalan oven), with pharmacy being banished to the choir loft...absorbing all the extra heat. (I actually did extra clinician time here because they got to sit in front of fans).

The last day was in a teeny village of Poshaba just over the summit of one of the towering mountains in the area. The drive was one of the most stunning I have ever taken in this area. We set up in a school again and able to bring the school a giant bag of supplies – one of the teachers actually shed a tear. (The kids in this school were in the process of making globes out of paper)

All day long, our entire team (split day so there were only about 16 of us here) was treated to handshakes and hugs from all our visitors. We still suffered some disappointing moments – diagnosing permanent blindness in a 9 y.o. boy and telling another lady that she will be blind soon – but even they thanked us for helping. Leila and the children’s team worked frantically to make hundreds of balloon creations for the young and old – balloon hats being the most popular by far. The best balloon of the day however was a gift for me! Leila made me a Poncha balloon!! (Poncha is the spider monkey that lives at the Ministry center – yes, the one that bit me). Utilizing only four balloons, Leila made a monkey on a palm tree. It is absolutely the best balloon animal ever.

The bizarre highlight of this day came while I was talking to someone about her GERD and I stopped listening because I started to hear the ‘ice cream truck’ song. I just assumed that I was finally going crazy when I definitely noted the sound getting louder. I popped outside to see a beat up old jeep pull up, the load speaker blaring ‘ ice cream truck’ song while someone sat in the back of the jeep, scooping out homemade ice cream. When the few customers that stepped up had been satisfied, the truck bumped away up the rocky mountain road. I know this doesn’t sound that unusual...but we were ABSOLUTELY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NOWHERE in a poor mountain village, in the Guatemalan heat and someone was selling ice cream from a jeep – and more then that – he was playing the ‘ice cream truck’ song. It was so amazingly unusual that I had to state it twice.

It was with a heavy heart that, after listening to a little speech thanking us for coming to their village, I climbed into the back of the pick-up truck and bounced down the mountain. It was nice to be thanked and appreciated, but these people will never truly know how much my time there has meant. It has been a humbling experience that has left me thankful for everything I have, proud to be part of an amazing team and once again, in absolute awe of the Guatemalan people. Their ability to flourish under harsh circumstances, and to do it with a smile and a wave – there is a lesson in there for all of us.