Machaca Hill Lodge at Laughing Falcon Reserve Punta Gorda

... in providing lodging and great meals. The one interesting feature here is the security system. The nuns have two dogs. The dogs are big, mean and vicious. During the day, they're locked safely away in their dog houses. But after we finish dinner, and the cook leaves, the dogs are set loose. From that point, nobody can leave the building, unless they would like to be attacked! Somewhere around 5:30, when it gets light again, the dogs are ...

... at me with hopeful eyes and asked me what was wrong with him! I told him that his ECG was normal and he should take it to the doctors who requested it. Oh well.

The power went off mid morning and came back on at 9pm…. (which provoked a lot of cheers because we were roasting without the fans!) It also meant ANwen and I had to hand wash all of our clothes in the showers – not sure how clean they are, and we are really really hoping that they’ ...

Clinic at Hillside today and the change to see our own patients again (although not for me this am since I was scheduled to be in the pharmacy dispensing and councelling about medications. After our lunch we went on a visit to a traditional birth attendant's house. These women or men are the people in the villages who will delivery babies. Although they are supposed to send primips and anyone having their 5th or above child to go to the hospital ...

... but there are no special schools around here and she is deemed to physically disabled to attend a normal school. Carol had bought her some shoes in the hope that she will be able to get some support for her feet to help her try and stand one day (currently she weight bears on her medical malleolus and the head of her first metatarsal when held in an upright position. The problem is with no permanent PT out here their care is intermittent and it is up to their very ...

We started today with our weekly market trip – stocking up on the usual mangos, papayas, pinapples, etc (funny how these are now the usuals…! Man I'm gonna really miss these fruits back home!!!!) Clinic this morning was really busy, but in a good way. I didn’t feel that I had to rush any consultations and at Hillside we know that we have most of the drugs which we’re going to want. I did a fair bit of PT referrals (Carole joked that in ...

... 8217; no ‘a headache’ no ‘a sore throat’ no ‘an earache’ no …… er basically he has a runny nose?!!!! Turns out he has this all summer every summer so we called it allergic rhinitis and gave some zirtec! Still smuaed me slightly though.

This evening Anwen and I did an hour cycle lap around to PG and back – good fun to scout the area and drink in the scenery… got very very sweaty however!!! (pretty standard now though!)

... own wheat tortilla's and I had a very fresh lime juice (we saw the boy cut the limes off the tree!). The gave us some interesting Bukut wine to drink (it's made of a fruit which we've tried off the market) which was interesting - but in the end we were all too tired to stay out and got a taxi back home at 8ish. We'll definitely be heading back there though for some more humus and wheat tortilla's before long - it'd be rude not ensure that the other two girls get to go too....

... language barriers but nothing major and I managed to get through today without prescribing any antibiotics (considering yesterday I was quite impressed!!!)

The clinic is a primary care facility. We have 3 consulting areas with examination couches, opthalma/otoscopes, sphygomanometers and other basic equipment. We can do blood sugars and urinalisis, and we have an ECG machine (one of the very few around.. today a doctor from the A&E of the hospital ...

... passports and we were already way past the border. I was relived to see the small writing saying Immigration on the little building he ran into. It was a nice ride, even if there were about 25 people packed into the van and hanging out the side of the door. The road goes through a bunch of pineapple and banana plantations and, since the van was too full to close the door, there was an awesome breeze!

We arrived in Puerto Barrios, a tiny port town that doesn´t ...

... than Spanish (not to mention the French or Dutch elements), than they are of the Guatemalan. Ever seen the Guatemalan navy? Neither have I, but I suspect what there is of one is stationed mostly on the Pacific coast. I can’t imagine them going through the Panama Canal just so they can get together for joint exercises. Puerto Cortes down the road and over the line in ...