The trip to Conce...

Never a dull moment here. That is a phrase definitely said multiple times this weekend. I’ve been saying that it still hasn’t hit me that I live here, but as the days go by, the feeling that I’m a visitor subsides- though weekends like this past one still make me realize that this is quite the experience.
I want to note how things with the study are going-very well. I've gotten about 35 patients since I've been here. While it is busy for me on most days, but not so much on others, I always find ways to stay occupied. I'm getting to know the people that work in the lab- we chat (read: they laugh at my attempts to pronounce any word with rr) when I'm in there aliquoting the samples and as of this week, we are working on English words and phrases after work. Two things happened last week that got me excited- one being that a mother of one of the children I saw asked me why I was doing the study, what I was studying, if I was in school, etc. Not only was it great for her to be interested, but the fact that I could actually tell her, and speak without much hesitation was awesome. The other thing that happened was after doing a rapid flu test (for Influenza A and B) on a particularly sick boy, I took the mother aside and told her that I had done the test, and her son didn't have influenza. She genuinely thanked me. Really, she was thanking me? I didn't do much, but it was a small thing, and it made me happy. It really is the little things...
Oh, and we made pina coladas on Thursday night using the pinas Maria bought that day- good times for sure.
Now for this weekend-I’ll start from the beginning.
Saturday morning Ashley and I woke up around 5:30 in order to make the 6am bus to Conce. It stops near the center of town, as well as in front of the clinic, so we decided to walk towards it then hopped on midway between the two points. This bus ride was a blast—serious club music for the first hour, then some slow Mexican tunes at the end. According to my new friend on the bus, Roberto, the person singing was the Michael Jackson of Mexico- good to know. The head rest kept falling on me and Ashley, so naturally I removed it and stuck it in the corner—that did not go over well. Eventually a guy came back and shoved it back in- only to have it continually fall on us for the remainder of the drive. We also were given some pamphlets about the origin of life from a Jehovah’s witness on the bus, who then later refused to talk to us. After roughly an hour and a half (and a serious concern that we had missed our stop) we made it to the clinic in Conce in time for breakfast with the crew that was there:Yuan, Karla, Beth, Alan, and Alex. The view from the porch where you eat is absolutely unreal.It’s just untouched, lush, peaceful greenery (for now) as far as you can see and you could gaze off into it for hours just thinking about everything. The more I take those moments, the more I realize how short my stay is here. I would love to find a way to extend my stay- perhaps take on another project? Vamos a ver.
The clinic in Conce is so much nicer than the one in Santa Lucia. Not that SL’s is bad, just that the one in Conce is newer and layed out differently.

The downside is the living areas- they are much less homey than those in SL and there isn’t really a place where everyone can gather to hang out- but we made it work. After breakfast the girls headed into town to check out the market and buy soda for the night and for the lunch at Delmi’s the following day (more about that later). We stopped at Delmi’s before hitting up the market- she lives in town in a house that is pink giraffe print- it’s awesome. Conce has such a different feel than SL. It has a very friendly vibe and unlike SL, houses are kind of lined up in a row and appear much more welcoming. We told her we would buy drinks and a cake for the lunch party, as well as got ourselves (Ashley and me) an invite. The market was great- tarps set up everywhere with people selling food, CDs, clothes, shoes, and all other sorts of things. Naturally, I had to buy a bracelet and naturally, it took me forever to decide which one.
After the market was lunch (which doesn’t come close to the cooking of the Marias’; I am so spoiled living in SL), and after lunch was the waterfall. We all piled into the S2S truck and made it there in about 20 minutes. After a short hike down to the bottom, we all immediately jumped in to play. It was incredible to just sit in the water and watch the waterfall.
Because it’s rainy season, we weren’t able to swim up to get behind it; the water was too strong. Later, a few of us hiked up farther to see more of the waterfall- so incredibly beautiful.
On another note, it’s amazing to think about the group that’s here- we all decided to take time off from whatever we were doing in the US to come here and work. I’d like to think that we all want more than just a trip to enjoy a foreign country; that we want to experience so much more and learn a ton about life in general. I don’t exactly know how to put into words why I am here. Numerous people have asked me that, and I can never find an answer that really captures my motives for coming here. Yes, I wanted to be exposed to more medicine, yes, I wanted to live abroad, completely away from everything and everyone I know, and yes I wanted to gain experience working for the kind of organization that S2S is, but that still doesn’t explain it. Not sure I ever will be able to, but maybe in time it’ll be easier for me to explain.
We finally decided to head back- this time Beth and I rode in the truck-bed, but I can’t complain, because it’s a great way to take in the sights. The rest of the evening was pretty lazy. We mostly sat on the cottage porch and watched the sunset. Incredible. It was after dinner that we all got together and played corn hole while drinking. Though it may sound tame, we all had a blast. Alan and I were running the game for a while, but then lost the title to Yuan and Alex—not what you want. Stayed up late hanging out and attempting to star-gaze, though they aren’t visible this time of year, so we watched lightening bugs instead…stars soon enough.

Sunday:
After enjoying a lazy Sunday morning, Yuan, Ashley and I headed out to help Delmi prepare lunch for the crew. Seriously, one of the greatest experiences for so many reasons. I’m still not super confident in my Spanish, but it was so much easier to talk with her. We all hung out in her kitchen, helped her cook and clean while just talking about whatever came to mind. Outside her niece was frying the plantains over the fire, while her mother was roasting and drying her coffee beans. She got the beans from a nearby town, dried them, and roasted them with sugar over the fire before she used the machine next to the fire to grind the beans which moments later would become delicious coffee. The outside part of the house where this was going on, of course, had an incredible view and a hammock from which you can enjoy it. The family was so incredibly kind and welcoming and I enjoyed every moment- especially when Delmi kept having us try the food as she was cooking. The rest of the gringo crew came around 12:30 and we all hung around before the lunch feast. It’s incredible that the volunteers/workers here were all so welcomed into her home because we work with S2S. It’s amazing how being here long term really does make you a part of the community here. I really can’t wrap my mind around it all—just the scene of all of us coming together to enjoy each other’s company and share a delicious meal in the house of a friend. Perhaps it’s the complete cheeseball in me, but it was great. After hours of food and fun, we made the trek back to the clinic in the pouring rain. Which didn’t phase any of us; we were excited to enjoy the rainy season. We were also under the impression that the bus was close, so we rushed to pack everything up, only to find out that we actually had about 40 minutes. We were all soaking wet when we finally got on the bus—it was absolutely packed, so we stood in the aisles. Later, people would just hang on to the sides, or climb on the roof- buses here are impressive, especially how they handle the roads here during the rainy season when the roads are mudslides and lakes. Again, it was a blast. I can only imagine the sight- 5 gringas with their packs and soaking wet clothes crammed in the aisle laughing hysterically at each other. We made friends with some of the people around us- Ashley especially because, being that she is nearly 6 ft, she had to hunch over in order to fit. A man was kind enough to give her his seat and the rest of them enjoyed watching us joke around. Definitely had another one of those moments where I thought to myself, “is this my life?” and a huge smile came across my face. I won’t go into the random things that happened, but after 2 or 3 hours we made it back to SL and it was pouring. We jumped off the bus and because it was raining so hard, Karla lost her shoes to the river that had been formed on the side of the road. We made it back into the clinic, and the power went out- like I said, never a dull moment. Generator kicked in, so we all sat down and enjoyed the dinner Janell made; it was great to catch up and share stories.
I could write a ton more about things, but I’ve rambled enough…I’ll post more pictures after the clinic this afternoon. I may be having an English class after clinic hours...should be fun.
Oh and I'm posting a pic of "plato tipico"- which we have for breakfast a lot here, for those of you who ask me about the (delicious) food