Traveling Clinic: Guatemala City, Santa Rosa, Jutiapa
Our team met officially Saturday (Feb 8th), at Hotel Barcelo in Guatemala City for dinner. Introductions were had. For some, it was their first trip to Guatemala and to FIP, while others were seasoned volunteers and said familiar hellos. The hotel was situated close to the airport, had two restaurants, a gym, and even a pool. The weather was nice and cool, in the 70’s.
Sunday-
Our mission for the day? Travel to the department of Santa Rosa, set-up a clinic, get to our hotel (another city), and there educate ourselves on iPads to intake patients for Monday, the following day. Distance traveled, nearly 100 miles. Let’s go!!
Breakfast consisted of fruit, assorted bread, and an omelet station inside Hotel Barcelo at 6 am. Around 7: 45 am, we headed to our buses just outside the hotel and met our Guatemalan team of translators, but mostly our companions who will travel with us. In total, we had 86 team members, and two buses.
Around 8:30 a.m., two buses and two teams departed the Hotel Barcelo for the department of Santa Rosa, a two-hour trek from the capital. Mid-way we stopped for coffee, bathrooms, and group shots. With our fellow Guatemalan police following us, we felt sure we would arrive safely to all our destinations.
As we arrived at Las Cabezas, Santa Rosa, a few things became clear: this is a small and remote village, situated one hour from the border of El Salvador, and it was very humid. As I asked around about its locality, a Guatemalan named, Wolfgang, reported that Guatemalans were told about this clinic’s location for over one year, allowing word to spread to rural towns nearby. A huge undertaking it seemed, and quite necessary as many have no access to healthcare in these parts of Guatemala.
Inside a massive building colored lime-green at the center of town, we greeted the locals of the town who had a hand in making our clinic possible, the Guatemalan translators who traveled with us, and they us. For everyone, the occasion seemed monumentous.
After introductions, everyone formed a line at the entrance of the clinic’s building and unload boxes, fans, tables, and gear from a large moving-sized truck, which lasted about 1 hour. Inside, people were busy organizing the individual clinics, gynecology, optometry, general, ultrasound, mobility, pediatrics, and the pharmacy. Each clinic will rely on the other to deliver much needed medicine, and aid to those who have never seen a doctor before in their lives. Every so often, the local villagers would drive by on scooters, and tuk-tuks ( a small red car with no doors) to peer in and see how things were going.
Lunch was neatly packed by our private, local chef who traveled with us and who would stay for the duration of our trip. For our first meal on the road, a beef sandwich, salad, and a chocolate dessert.
Once the clinic was set-up, we met outside the clinic’s building for a group shot which consisted of 100 people.
We departed Santa Rosa for another municipality, Jutipia, which was two hours and 82 kilometers away, and at a much higher elevation.
The hotel, Hotel Del Sol, is painted bright yellow (yup). We arrived around 4 pm, a few hours before sunset.
Once situated in our hotel rooms, we met for an educational meeting at the bottom floor from 5 pm to 7 pm, which consisted of coffee, tea, and lots of PowerPoint slides on how to do triage each day at the clinic in Santa Rosa using iPads. Dear me, I think I was only there for the coffee and the photo-op.
Our long, and arduous day ended with the Final Super Bowl game broadcasted on clear flat-screen T.V. ‘s in the hotel’s main restaurant. Served for dinner was salad and toppings, steak, mashed potatoes, pasta, pasta sauce, veggies, and spicy hot sauce that left your mouth burning. Dessert, a local favorite, thres leches. We ate as we watched Kendrick Lamar perform his halftime show. Truly epic times. Not a bad way to end our first day.
Eleanor
Team Blogger
