Keep going and remember, love life --Joe D
The last three days in Guatemala have been exciting, inspiring and productive! Saturday morning we woke up bright and early for a downhill mountain bike ride through the mountains for 4 hours. It was just as intense and scary as it sounds--you should see the bruises all over my legs. The worst part was riding back to Antigua over the cobblestone uphill for about an hour. BUT it was an awesome time and I am so glad I was able to be pushed outside of my comfort zone by some really great people. We had a bit if time to run to Rony's Taco's on the corner by our home stay for the best 9 tacos for 35 Quetzales (~$5) I'll ever eat. Then we were off to hike Volcan de Pacaya! Pacaya erupted violently in 1965 and has been active (not technically an eruption) daily ever since. It took about an hour and a half to get to the top where we spent some time taking photos before heading down into a crater to roast marshmallows on the rocks still hot from the most recent eruption's lava. The sun was setting over 3 other volcanoes as we were making our way back down... what a dream! Yet again, hiking is something I have never done before but will ABSOLUTELY try again. Also, I have never been so dirty in my life. All clean now :)
Sunday we planned a trip to Lago de Atitlan but I was just not really feeling doing anything touristy. One of the girls on the trip, Laura, had some connections to an orphanage to a neighboring town near the lake and was visiting on Sunday. A group of 6 of us decided to go with her and I think it was one of the best decisions of my life. This orphanage was absolutely phenomenal! The woman we met, Dawn, is only 23 years old and yet has already established an amazing life in Guatemala working (and living) with abused teenage girls and their babies. Dawn started in Guatemala working at the orphanage across the street that currently houses 30 young children, a young couple and their 3 biological children. Dawn lives across the street with her biological parents, her 3 kids and 3 or 4 young teenage girls with their babies. Dawn operates under the the organization established by the other couple's parents many years ago. She is currently trying to expand by purchasing land, building a home and taking in more children. I was so inspired by her happy-go-lucky demeanor and willpower to be so influential at the age of 23. There is so much more to say about this day that I cannot put into words that will mean even half of what I am feeling. Love is all you need. Thank you Laura for the amazing experience!!! But not for the most insane boat ride of my life...
Today at the hospital was quite successful in my opinion. I was able to help (first blow a couple fuses) repair a photo machine for the Gynecology ward by replacing the broken switch that was NOT easy to get to. We were also able to return a fully functional ESU to the floor and make some advancements on the other 2. We will get them back into use soon!! The centrifuge we are working on seems to need a bit more attention until we can fully diagnose a problem.
Then we started working on an infant warmer that looks so so bad and is so dusty it smells like it is burning when we turn it on.. yikes! I will post before and after pictures tomorrow after we get it all cleaned up. The problem seems to be with the temperature probe of the heater. We came to this conclusion because an alarm keeps sounding when the skin probe reads a temperature increasing too fast even though it is not yet at baby cooking temperature of 40 degree C (haha). I am very excited about this one! I love to be a part of diagnosing the problems. One of the boys on the team and I did some snooping around and found a lot of other equipment in the hallways that is probably not of use and needs to be repaired. We will have plenty of work these next 2 weeks!
Shout out to my dad (Joe D) for giving me some inspiration and reminding me why I do what I do--to love life.
xox
Sunday we planned a trip to Lago de Atitlan but I was just not really feeling doing anything touristy. One of the girls on the trip, Laura, had some connections to an orphanage to a neighboring town near the lake and was visiting on Sunday. A group of 6 of us decided to go with her and I think it was one of the best decisions of my life. This orphanage was absolutely phenomenal! The woman we met, Dawn, is only 23 years old and yet has already established an amazing life in Guatemala working (and living) with abused teenage girls and their babies. Dawn started in Guatemala working at the orphanage across the street that currently houses 30 young children, a young couple and their 3 biological children. Dawn lives across the street with her biological parents, her 3 kids and 3 or 4 young teenage girls with their babies. Dawn operates under the the organization established by the other couple's parents many years ago. She is currently trying to expand by purchasing land, building a home and taking in more children. I was so inspired by her happy-go-lucky demeanor and willpower to be so influential at the age of 23. There is so much more to say about this day that I cannot put into words that will mean even half of what I am feeling. Love is all you need. Thank you Laura for the amazing experience!!! But not for the most insane boat ride of my life...
Today at the hospital was quite successful in my opinion. I was able to help (first blow a couple fuses) repair a photo machine for the Gynecology ward by replacing the broken switch that was NOT easy to get to. We were also able to return a fully functional ESU to the floor and make some advancements on the other 2. We will get them back into use soon!! The centrifuge we are working on seems to need a bit more attention until we can fully diagnose a problem.
Then we started working on an infant warmer that looks so so bad and is so dusty it smells like it is burning when we turn it on.. yikes! I will post before and after pictures tomorrow after we get it all cleaned up. The problem seems to be with the temperature probe of the heater. We came to this conclusion because an alarm keeps sounding when the skin probe reads a temperature increasing too fast even though it is not yet at baby cooking temperature of 40 degree C (haha). I am very excited about this one! I love to be a part of diagnosing the problems. One of the boys on the team and I did some snooping around and found a lot of other equipment in the hallways that is probably not of use and needs to be repaired. We will have plenty of work these next 2 weeks!
Shout out to my dad (Joe D) for giving me some inspiration and reminding me why I do what I do--to love life.
xox