First things first – sorry for such a late update.
I've been gone about two weeks – time has felt like it was crawling at times and racing at others. I've seen so many interesting medical cases – some incredibly sad, some disheartening, and some happy. I have felt alone, isolated, frustrated, and useless – but also excited, welcomed, helpful, and hopeful. This much in two weeks.. I can't wait to see what the next few months will bring.
Yesterday I hiked to the river to swim, about a 3 ½ mile walk, and part of it is through jungle terrain. While dodging spiny trees, muddy sinkholes, and other fun obstacles, I was able to see my first wild monkey (and 2nd, 3rd, and 4th as well!). Tiny, white faced ones – they stared curiously at me and Daniel, another volunteer doctor from Austria, for about 10 seconds, then swung off into deeper territory away from our path. So cool!
Things that are becoming more and more normal: seeing dogs and chickens walk through the hospital hallway. Being woken up by a cacophony of sounds coming from dogs, roosters, parrots, vultures...and God knows what else is outside of my house. Seeing free-range cattle roam anywhere they want (from what I am told, people in Ahuas buy them as an investment – very little cost to maintain, reproducing=an increased return on investment, and when the family needs money, they simply butcher it and sell the meat). Taking cold showers. Being hopelessly lost when anyone is speaking Miskito (although almost everyone in Ahuas is fluent in Spanish, Miskito is the language everyone uses, unless I am being spoken to). Hearing all the teens blasting music from their cellphones – a mix of reggaeton, other Latin American music, and American pop – I have heard Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber quite a bit. Eating rice and beans at every meal. Having miskito people say I look much younger than I am (I've been told anywhere from 16 to 18 in the past several days), and I'm sure I'll think of more.
I'm learning so much...way too much to boil down to a small blog post. To those of you who are praying for me, thank you, so much. There have been many times where I've felt very alone in a very foreign place, and the knowledge that I have support coming from home is invaluable. It gives me strength to push through the times when I feel most isolated.
I would love to hear from you guys! Unfortunately, mail is pretty out of the question – a postcard from the states once took 8 months to arrive – so if you want to drop me a short note, e-mail is by far the best: david.t.schrock@gmail.com. Otherwise, please continue to pray for me and that I be useful to the clinic and doctors during my stay here.
I figured out how to reduce the size of pictures so I can upload one every once in a while – here is a picture taken on the path that I use for running (and also to get to the river) – this terrain is very typical of the La Moskita region of Honduras, and strikes me as very similar to the African Savannah. Needless to say, it's beautiful.. so peaceful. Hope you enjoy it.
Location:Honduras
