Wednesday, June 19, 2013

La Isla de Ometepe

This past weekend we went to the big island in the middle of the lake called Ometepe. It is made up of two volcanos, one of which is active. 
How cool?! So first we had to get there, which meant a bus, a taxi, and a ferry. So when we got there Saturday night we just got a place to stay, went to dinner, then went out for a little while. Just a small group of us went out and we went to this super colorful and maybe slightly hippie-ish bar/hostel. Rumor is that it's owned by a cult leader who does some pretty sketchy stuff. And then when we were there the power went out and we had candlelight covos for part of the night. I had a ton of fun because I went with some people that I haven't really spent much time with, and so some serious bonding occurred. I also got to see the more human and less coordinator side of Alex which was so fun! He's great. No surprise there. So then we went back to the hostel and slept. 

The next morning Allie and I stayed behind as the others biked or hiked. We talked to Robinson, the hostel guy, and asked for suggestions of amazing things to do on the island for the morning while the others were gone. So we settled it: we would get an amazing breakfast....
And then rent an ATV to ride across the island...
So we strapped our belongings to the front and headed to the other side of the island where the best beaches are. If you check out the map up top: we rode from Moyogalpa on the northwest coast, to Santa Cruz on the eastern coast between the two volcanos. And we saw some of the most amazing sights of my life: 



And Allie driving us: 

So then we checked into a hostel at Santa Cruz and met the bikers for lunch and then headed to the beach. And obviously we played with the ATV on the beach and all the love for crazy driving came back quickly. In about half a second I was fish-tailing and spinning out and jumping and driving through the water. Classic. 
Me riding off across the beach. This doesn't even seem real. 

Then the rest of the hikers arrived to the beach and Graham lived his life per usual: 
Then eventually we decided it was time for dinner. So a group of us decided to walk to Balgüe (also on the map) and found a great restaurant that served amazing non-Nicaraguan food. So I had guacamole and a bruschetta-like salad. Then we headed home and sat around with most of the group and just talked and goofed off. People singing and Allie and I confessing our crushes on one of the guys there. Again, the usual evening.

Then Sunday, another fun packed day! First six of us impulse decided to rent horses for an hour and ride along the beach.
Then we were going to visit a natural cool spring called Ojo de Agua. It was about a 4 km walk though and after riding the horses we were all hot and tired. The rest had already left and were walking, so the six of us decided we would start walking but try to hitchhike at least part of the way. So by some incredible luck, we flagged down the first vehicle with an open cab and ended up in a truck bed with a bunch of Australians who work at a hostel near ours and they were going to Ojo de Agua as well! They were so cool and invited us to hang out with them later too! So so lucky! So our hour and a half walk turned into a 10 min car ride with some really cool people. Here is Akshay with our new bro Jack.  
 Upon arrival, Ojo de Agua was breathtaking. 


So amazing!! Then we got a ride back with our new amigos and got ready for dinner. We obviously walked to Balgüe to the same place again, which was about a 40 min walk. The guacamole alone was worth it though. Then some of us went to Little Morgan's Hostel (where our amigos worked) and hung out for a few hours. Got to hang with the other coordinator Kevin plus a few of the guys I usually kick it with. It was really nice to get to know Alex and Kevin on a personal level this weekend! Kevin is wonderful as well, again...no surprise there. Everyone here is actually pretty great! 

Then Monday was travel home day. Two busses to get back to Moyogalpa, then a ferry to San Jose, then a bus to Rivas, then a bus to Granada, then walk from the bus stop to mi casa. Only like 6 hours of travel, but it actually went by pretty quickly. 

The weekend was clearly a success. Here are a few more photos: 
Me and Allie in the truck headed home from Ojo de Agua. 

Allie and I in front of one of the volcanos. 

Matt Malick and I looking like best friends. He is the one who Allie and I crush on daily. 

And Akshay living the life. 

And lastly- the volcano as we left the island. 

This place rocks. Nicaragua is one of the most beautiful places I've been, easily. 

Mood de Quotes

Here are some inspiring quotes for your viewing pleasure. (Some photo cred to EWinbur) 













Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Cue week three.

I absolutely cannot believe how time is flying! We have only 5 more days of Spanish and tech class until we move to our hospitals! I don't know that I fell 100 percent ready, but I don't think we ever will. There's only a limited amount of knowledge that we can obtain in a month. But what we have learned so far, will definitely help us to make some vital repairs in the hospital. 

For example today we went on a tour of the hospital in Granada and the tech guys let us mess around with a few pieces of broken equipment- because what do they really have to lose? So Dan, Lucas, Evan and I decided to tackle a broken ultrasound machine. So we realized right off the bat that the chord had broken and so there was just a short stub of exposed wire showing. So we got a chord from another machine and planned to strip the wires, solder them to the respective wire on the machine (which posed some problems because the wires were all different colors). So we started away and I had slaved over this tiny short stub leftover and tried to get a good connection and finally had one of the 3 wires repaired! 

Then....Ron (our teacher) came up and was like "can I give you some advice?"....first thought: oh dang!! 

I was right. He was coming to tell us that we could open the machine and take out the old wire and use the one we had and rethread it through. This was great news because that is so much easier- but it was a little heartbreaking after I had worked so hard already. 

But it's okay..it gets better. So then my group went to tour the hospital and I explained (with Ron's help) to Chas what we had done and why and what needed to be done next and him and some others took over. Then we got back and they were almost done with the wire!! So we plugged it in....AND IT WORKED! A handful of guys looked at ultrasounds of their hearts and kidneys and stuff! It was so cool!  

So that was our first fix! And I know we are all super proud of it! It definitely made all the classes and reading worth it! I can't wait to do that all next month! Obviously not all of the repairs will be that simple, or even possible at all. But just being able to help fix a few critical pieces will be so exciting. 

Here's some photos from the week. The rest of the week was just classes and the usual day to day life. 

Actually this is from last weekend at San Juan. But look how cute we are! #friends 

Lucas and Dan climbing the water towers at the hospital. 

The ultrasound working! This is Akshay's heart showing. 

Here's my friend Jack trying the ultrasound too! Take notes friends. Jack is the coolest! And Charlotte and Graham looking super interested. Love it! 

Now we are on the bus (public transit is a blast!) to Rivas. Then from there we will take a taxi to the docks where the ferries take off from to go to LA ISLA DE OMETEPE! Which is a huge island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua made up of the top of two volcanos. We are staying in the main port city of the island tonight. Then in the morning some people are hiking the volcano, some are biking the island, but Allie and I are headed to the beach! There's apparently a beautiful beach that has some white and some black sand and I can't wait! There is also a pool of really clear water, maybe a spring or something, called Ojo de Agua which we want to visit. And there are also some really cool Eco- Farms on the island that would be fun to go see. Maybe get some fresh veggies or hummus? We also have the day off Monday so we get to stay extra long on the island! Fun will be had for sure. 

And as Hillary Claire would say: 

Duces and Smooches! ✌😘

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Vamos a la playa, a mi me gusta bailar!

So this past weekend a group of 13 of us went down to a surfing/tourist beach town called San Juan Del Sur. It was absolutely beautiful and we had a crazy incredible time. We got there Friday after the hospital and checked into our hostal. We had 13 people staying in two rooms of 6. So that meant someone would be cuddling. So basically we pushed two of the twin beds together and 3 of us slept there the first night. Friday we ate and went to the beach and went out at night. Then the next day basically consisted of the same but we decided to go on a two hour, sunset boat ride as well. Then Sunday we came back home. We bonded so much as a group this weekend, which makes leaving each other in two weeks really upsetting. Its amazing how quickly you can bond with people when you are thrown into such a new, different experience. Its so wonderful!!
And here is the beach (instagramed)

And Jack and Lucas after they won Rum playing cornhole.

And looking out before we left for our boat ride.

The shore from the boat.

The water again.

And the tiny cat that lived at our hotel.

Classes Resume

Wow! I am so behind on blogging.

Last week (June 3-7) in class we did a lot of really cool things. My Spanish is still lacking in a major way, but hopefully something will click soon. In the tech classes and labs we have learned about a ton of different things. We basically go over one or two different medical equipment pieces a day.

Then Friday we went to the hospital in Rivas to tour it and get to see some of the broken equipment. We got to take apart a few things and it was really an eye opening experience. The hospital was apparently “too nice” to need someone from EWH to go there this year, and it was still in such bad shape compared to our hospitals in America. Given this is a public hospital, funded by the government that provides free healthcare. There was broken equipment piled against any free wall or closet or corner. Basically anything that we saw on our tour was “working, but…”. So the respirator works but only for two hours and then it shuts off. Which we could easily guess that it was probably overheating, but this was news to the technician. ICU was 6 beds in one room, separated by torn and dirty shower curtains. One of which was splattered with blood. It was truly incredible.

There is also a mindset here to just make do. Basically if something halfway works, sometimes, if the conditions are perfect, then it’s a victory. And if something is broken, you keep it in case you need a part from it. It makes so much sense, but its new for someone coming from a nice university and a very developed country to think like this.

I am really excited to be able to try to help in these hospitals, but I am also really nervous. We don’t know much about anything before it happens. For example, I had no idea where or with whom or with what kind of family I was living with until I was about 10 min from arriving. So I'm afraid the next month will be the same setup. If I could go back and do it again, I would have tried to prepare so much for this trip. Learning Spanish, researching things to do, where we would be, asking more questions. But if there’s anything I have learned from development work, it’s that you just have to bite your tongue and go with the flow.


Other than a few minor setbacks, it has really been a great week. We are a full two weeks in and only have 2.5 more. This is halfway to moving to my hospital. Can’t even believe it.

Monday, June 3, 2013

The Weeknd

Well where to even start! This was a weekend for the books! 

I guess first I will explain my week highlights. We had Spanish class all morning and tech classes all afternoon. Spanish classes have been dull and pretty unhelpful, but hopefully they will improve. The tech classes are really helpful! We have learned a handful of medical equipment so far and it's only the first week! The labs are also pretty great. It's a nice change from the rest of the day of sitting and listening. We have made extension cords, learned to solder different things and worked with some basic electrical measurements and calculations. 

And...Back to The Weeknd

Friday we had a guest speaker come in and talk about this history of Nicaragua. It was pretty interesting and the lady was so smart! She really knew her stuff. But then we were done with class around 9:30 and really had no plans on what to do. We decided to walk around the market and the city and just to kind of explore. We ended up finding a few cool places and eventually heading home to go eat lunch with our family. I am eventually going to post about some different typical food here, but that will come later. So then we hung around with the family for most of the afternoon. They are so great! Then after dinner we went to this really awesome art exhibit! They had four artists who focus on this island in the middle of lake Nicaragua. We even got to speak to one of the artists! 
The little lady is the artist and Charlotte is the ginger on the right and Allie is the one on the left. 

Then we went to the main tourist street of bars and restaurants for a while. We always get approached by people trying to sell stuff, but we still end up having a wonderful time! Here are a few fun pics from that evening: 
 Silly selfies with my friend Dan! 
Then Chas and Charlotte joined in!
Chas and Akshay with this guy who always tries to sell us things. 

Then after that we ended up walking down to check out a place that had dancing so Chas could show off some of his moves. It was a pretty interesting time. Then Charlotte and I and some guys took a cab home and we headed to bed. 

Saturday we woke up pretty early and went met up to go to the Laguna Apoyo which is a huge lake inside of a volcano that is still considered active. There are a ton of hot spring in it so it was so warm! We paid a hotel to use their amenities (docks, wifi, kayaks..) for the day. I mostly spent time in the water but we also ate lunch there and I laid out a bit. I have really gotten pretty tan which is a nice change from last summer. 

Here's a picture of the Laguna on the 3D altitude map. 

And the view from my chair..

And this is from a lookout as we left the Laguna. Is this not spectacular?! 

Then we headed home around dinner time and ate when we got home. After dinner I met up with two of my friends that I have made since I got down here. Travis, who is working an internship with Viva Nicaragua doing marketing for the Laguna, and Brando, who was down to help with a kids camp. Saturday was Brando's last night here so we all hung out one last time. Charlotte joined and we just mainly sat outside on the same main street away from the noise and talked. We actually had some pretty stimulating conversations about a wide variety of things. From religion to life goals. It was really great. We also had some amazing gelato about halfway through the night! So good! 
We also saw a fire dancer. 
And Akshay took some cute selfies with my phone when we stopped by to talk to the group. 

Overall an A+ evening. Really relaxing and great to see Travis and Brando. 

The Sunday, Charlotte went to a mountain town for the day and I hung around Granada. Dan and I went to the market and I spent some time researching some plans for the weekend in the Cafe and got to FaceTime the lovely Emily Nicole. Also one of the really cute Cafe employees came to strike up a conversation with me as I was waiting on my lunch. But with my Spanish skills and his lack of English, the conversation was pretty brief. It left me feeling pretty embarrassed and ready for my Spanish classes to kick in! I don't think I've learned a single thing yet. It's really frustrating to be in a country and taking language classes and not moving forward. I have been trying to study topics on the side that I come into contact with daily. Like talking about the weather, learning different tenses and stuff. I hope that things will be better soon. 

Today is Monday- and we were back at it with the classes. Today we learned about irregular verbs in Spanish, pulse oximeters in tech class, and did a lab on voltage, resistance and current measurements. After class I went to the cafe for a bit to work on some plans again for the next weekend. We are planning on going to San Juan Del Sur, the main surfing beach, to spend the weekend and hopefully watch a surfing competition! 

On the to do list is laundry. I haven't done it yet and need to make that happen asap. I am running out of clothes that still smell decent. Struggles of living nearer to the equator. I think I am going to drop them off tomorrow with a lady who runs a flower shop with a laundry service on the side. What an interesting combo. 

Overall this experience has really been such a blessing and a true growing experience. A weeks ago I was in a new country with new people and no knowledge regarding medical technology. 10 days later and I have amazing friends, an even better family and could probably realistically diagnose problems on 6-8 different types of medical equipment and potentially fix them. I can't imagine what it will be like after the entire summer. There aren't even words for how this experience makes me feel.  

One last note- I didn't spell the title wrong, it's a band name.