Esteli i Matagalpa, Nikaragua
Marsz 18-26 2006

cześć. Jestem w stanie w końcu trochę czasu, aby usiąść przy komputerze i opisują perypetie tego ostatniego tygodnia. Teraz siedzę w holu hotelu Las Mercedes po drugiej stronie ulicy od lotniska w Managua, Nikaragua. Jest wcześnie w niedzielę rano i jestem w trybie odzyskiwania. Grupa 16 of us VOSH volunteers arrived here last Saturday afternoon and met up with the other half of our group, making it a total of 29 people on this mission. I had only met 2 of them before, from our previous mission to Peru last year. The youngest in our group is 18 lat, the daughter of Dr. Roth, an Optometrist from Miami. I can only guess the age of our oldest volunteer, but I can guarantee you he will probably out live us all! These kind of trips are not for whimps, so you can imagine the determination and fortitude it takes to make several per year after retirement age. This was the first mission trip for several in our group, włączając 13 students from Illinois College of Optometry. They are from all over the USA and Canada. Most of the others are from Florida.

We were greeted at the airport by the smiling and familiar face of Sergio Romero, our friend and translator from previous missions. All of the students and I loaded into his Toyota pickup truck and explored the city sights that first evening. We saw the old dilapidated but impressive cathedral in the main plaza across from the President’s Palace and the Royal Palace which houses the cultural museum and national library. These buildings have never fully recovered from the earthquake in 1972 and hurricanes that hit so often here, so are virtually unusable. They are trying to raise money to renovate the church and improve the historic center for tourism. A few blocks away lies the vibrant sea wall and park along Lake Managua. There is a huge amphitheater here in the shape of a shell of some sort. Personally, I think it looked like an upside down pair of ears. There were vendors selling all sorts of local delicacies, including tostones (crispy fried plantains), ring shaped cookies, watermelon, candy, and even ice cream. Horse drawn carriages, rowery i motocykle przybliżać i oddalać od tłumów w parku. Muzyka na głośniki to mieszanka salsy i tańca muzyki techno i lubią grać bardzo głośno!!! Okazało się, że aby być prawdziwym wszędzie poszedł. Liczne pomniki i rzeźby dot okolicę i złapaliśmy wspaniały widok na otaczające góry, wulkany i jeziora od wzgórzu. Sergio potem zabrał nas do lokalnej restauracji na świeżym powietrzu z przewiewnego rodzimych potraw towarzyszy muzyka na żywo na scenie. Szczególnie podobał mi się smażone słodkie banany, szaszłyki z aromatyczne mięsa i kawałki sera smażonego. Nie chciałbym, aby zmierzyć mojego cholesterolu po tym tygodniu!!!

Wróciliśmy do hotelu i udał się do baru przy basenie, podczas gdy garstka uczniów wybrałem się do Disco Bar i salsy Sergio aż do późnych godzin nocnych. To było wspaniałe wprowadzenie do zabytków i kultury tego dumnego i pięknego kraju rozwijającego. Następnego ranka wsiedliśmy nasz sprawdzony biały (nie żółty) Blue Bird school bus and headed towards the mountains and the town of Matagalpa. The road is surprisingly good for the first 2 hours because it is part of the PanAmerican highway. jednak, once we turned off of it, we bounced along the curvy narrow road for the last hour to our hotel. The countryside is dry and dusty, with few trees taller than maybe 30 stóp. We saw several cattle ranches, coffee plantations and factories. The homes varied in their level of construction, with the simplest made of corrugated tin panels and wood beams. Ładniejsze domy mają kamienne lub ceglane ściany z barwnie malowanych sztukaterie i płytek dachowych. Niektórzy mieli piękną okuciem nad oknami i drzwiami. Prawie wszyscy obronny ściany lub ogrodzenia wokół nich, aby chronić to, co mało ludzi zrobić własny. Zwierzęta wędrują po ulicach i wzgórza i nie przeszkadza im intensywne słońce i ograniczonych zasobów wodnych. Przeszliśmy przez wiele suche, skaliste koryta rzek. Weszliśmy do miasta Matagalpa i zatrzymał się na Tip Top Pollo, Sieć lokalna pieczonego kurczaka przylega do stacji gazowej Shell. They served up excellent chicken dinners and the place was packed. The bus almost got stuck trying to get up the VERY steep hill to our beautiful hotel, but it was worth the trouble because the view of the town and hills was spectacular. We walked down and explored the streets and mixed with the locals who were all hanging out in the streets socializing on a Sunday afternoon. We caught the end of mass at the cathedral and then headed up the opposite hill to our clinic site, a convent and school. We unloaded the 20 plus duffle bags full of glasses and equipment and set up in 4 rooms of the school. The rooms were small, so it was always warm and crowded while we worked with he patients. Local middle school girls helped us out with registration outside the gates. Once inside, each patient had their visual acuites checked at distance and near by the determined volunteers and translators. Communication barriers and the noisy environment made this area a real challenge. Next stop was triage, with doctors and students determining each individual’s needs and then them out with eyedrops or to the refraction area and the dispensary for glasses. We handed out and adjusted tons of recycled single visions, bifocals, readers and sunglasses. We saw just under 200 patients per day, which was less than we hoped for and ended up turning several away. The crowd did get unruly at the end of the day but we had to pack up the clinic in the dark. Imagine the guilt you feel knowing that you could help if you only had more time and resources.

Part of the group headed to Esteli on Tuesday night and the rest arrived the next morning. After the 2 hour drive, we checked in to our Hotel Panorama on the main highway. The rooms were tiny and very simple. No hot water was available and no running water at all for several hours on Wednesday. This was a reality check for many in the group, but we dealt with it and the water finally came back on late that night. We visited Sergio’s family farm for a lunch of wonderful chicken soup and met his mother, sister, wife and children. His daughter Mary, a college student studying to be a lawyer, stayed with us and helped out with the mission too.

We set up our clinic in a spacious new auditorium at a local school and the logistics turned out to be much more favorable for efficiency. We had the Lions club members helping out with registration and acuities this time and were able to double our patient numbers to almost 400 per day. All total we saw over a thousand patients in 4 days and made friends with some interesting and passionate people. We treated infections, removed foreign bodies, educated people and donated our leftover supplies. We saw eye diseases only seen in textbooks in the US, and referred several people for surgery by local Ophthalmologists. We helped a lot of people see better and taught them how to protect their eyes and their vision.

The trip back to Managua late Friday night was a time for reflection and celebration. The stories, beer and rum drinks flowed freely on the bus and the pool felt great to the exhausted group. Our last day in Nicaragua was spent as tourists. We visited the Masaya Volcano National Park where a steaming crater and unique vegetation overlooked a lagoon. Next we shopped in the Mercado in the town of Masaya where we found a fantastic selection of hand crafted items, including clothes, leather bags, shoes, wooden boxes, pottery, paintings and soapstone sculptures. I was tempted to buy so many things, ale musiał przypomnieć sobie o ograniczonej przestrzeni w moich torbach. Urgh!

Następnie odwiedził brzegi jeziora Nikaragua i kolonialnym mieście Granada. Mieliśmy relaksujący i porywający jazdę godziny długo statkiem wśród Isletas (mini wyspy każdy z domu i ogrodami) i widziałem setki unikalnych ptaków, a nawet kilka małp wesoło zwisające z drzew. Chłopiec nie lubią się popisywać! The sun set as we munched on ice cream walking the colorful and vibrant streets of Granada which prides itself on it’s architecture and hospitality. I definitely want to return and spend more time exploring this area. Jest tak wiele do zobaczenia i do zrobienia i to jest bardzo przystępne, a ludzie przyjaźni. Mam nadzieję, że cieszył się ten raport długo zdyszany i odpowie na wszelkie komentarze i pytania.

Cała moja miłość,
Mary