Copan! Thanks Jess

VIAVIA

Probably one of the best international weekends I've had thus far on my journey. Honduran Independence Day was when we left on the ferry to La Ceiba later in the afternoon and arrived at Michael and Sarah's house to stay the night. We had an amazing spaghetti dinner with fresh avocados, cucumbers, bean soup, chocolate cake and horchata. We decided to hit the town and ended up at a karaoke bar filled with discoballs and a sweet dance floor. Harry sang some Enrique Inglesias, the girlies sang Beyonce and Zach sang Coolio. Very typical. Slept on some yoga mats until our alarms rang at 4am.



We walked through some sketchy woods to the highway and then to the bus station. Boarded our bus to Copan. Layover in San Pedro Sula. Decided to check out the city. Language barriers and misunderstanding lead our taxi driver to believe that we wanted to go to the "supermercado" instead of the market downtown. We ended up grocery shopping and drinking coffee and eating smoothies during our time in San Pedro. I couldn't stop laughing. Arrived to Copan around 5 and checked into our hostel, Carrillo, located about 2 blocks from central park. For $5 a day, it was very nice with HOT SHOWERS. WHATTTT!!! We ordered 4 pizzas at a place called Milo's between the 7 of us and finished every last piece. We found a nice coffee shop/book exchange and then meandered over to a wine bar down the street. We met some travelers, played hacky sack, and invited them along for the ride. We ended up dancing the night away and learning how to "punta" from some of the local Hondurans. We chatted on the roof of our hostel with candles since the power was out.



Woke up on Friday morning and headed over to the Mayan Ruins where we hiked around for a few hours and of course, played hacky sack in the casa court. The ruins were phenomenal, some dating back to 300 BC.  We were starving and found a cheap local place called Tipicos where we ordered like kings for about $1 each. Nachos, HUGE burritos, quesadillas, fried plantains with beans and queso, and strawberry juice. We immediately decided to take a 3 hour horse riding tour of Copan which, was not the best idea after indulging in copious amounts of comida. Trekked up the mountain to a mud hut village where we were swarmed by children selling corn husk flower bouquets and dolls.



The guides Margarito and Juan Carlos were in extremely good shape; they ran beside the horses with us for the entirety of our trip. We headed back to shower before the power went out again, made our way to central park to eat dessert and tacos for dinner. We found a restaurant and bar called ViaVia, mostly with gringos and a bartender from Oregon. We wandered to another place down the street, listened to some guitar playing, some of us went home, some of us decided to keep exploring the beautiful quaint city of Copan.


The discoteca we found, was not so quaint. It was phenomenal and loud and full of lights and dancing Hondurans. We had a blast in the fog machine, jumping into the pool at the end of the night and walking back to our hostel, making it in time to catch the bus at 4am back to La Ceiba.


We made it to Ceiba around 1pm on Saturday, jumped off some cliffs and took it easy playing spanish catch phrase and meeting fellow travelers who were there to hike waterfalls and white water raft at Jungle River. All 7 of us slept in one room, it was fabulous. Started the rafting trip around 9:30, took a midway hike to a gorgeous waterfall and jumped into it's surrounding pool.



We took the ferry back to Roatan and got back on Sunday around 6:30, utterly exhausted yet feeling so accomplished and cultured after the fun filled and adventurous weekend. Can't wait to go back.

First Month

Crystal clear snorkeling, ancient Mayan ruins, parrots that are tame enough to feed, cliff jumping, class III-IV white-water rafting, tropical forest excursions, learning medicinal uses of rainforest flora, horseback riding through mountains, working in a medical clinic, teaching a class of kids and adults English, coaching a high school boy's soccer team, learning the Punta, singing karaoke in the Zona Vida, visiting 5 different churches on a hunt for mass, meeting some of the nicest and coolest people, attempting to master Spanish, tasting new fruits, discotecing till 4 AM, eating some of the richest food, and many other events have all encompassed my stay thus far in Honduras.

  

I have wanted to study abroad for several years now and have been waiting for the right time.  Through a handful of factors I was unable to study internationally my Freshman through Junior year at the College of Charleston but finally managed some time Fall semester of my Senior year.  My qualifications for a place to  live were simple: master spanish, work in the medical field, and help others.  Easy.  Through lots of prayers, help from several supporting friends and family, and a little bit of work/luck I am at one of the world's most gorgeous islands, Roatan.  Roatan is one of the Bay Islands that is 37 miles long and about 45 miles north of mainland Honduras.  Honduras is sandwiched between Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.  Roatan has the world's second largest barrier reef and is covered in tropical forests.  Despite the beauty of the area the island is littered with poverty and there is a constant need for assistance.

This brings me to what I'm doing on the island.  I volunteer in a Medical Clinic called Clinica Esperanza (http://clinicaesperanza.homestead.com/).  The clinic provides primary medical care as well as dental care to thousands of Hondurans each year.  Each visit is roughly 2 and half dollars and is completely free if they cannot afford it.  On any typical visit where a patient is coming for a refill on meds (blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, or some other chronic issue) they tend to walk out with six to eight hundred dollars of medicine.  About thirty percent of the clinic's budget is generated from the patient's payment; whereas, over 70 percent of the costs are strictly generated from generous donors.  Unfortunately, this is not the most reliable nor most consistent form of guaranteeing healthcare to thousands of residents in need.  It gives added stress to Ms. Peggy.  However, through Faith and Divine Providence they always end up receiving what they need right in the nick of time. Nevertheless, there is a constant need for more meds as supplies decrease.  If you would like to donate any meds please email me at jmcapell@edisto.cofc.edu or you can donate monetarily at http://clinicaesperanza.homestead.com/index.html.  They are also always looking for volunteers with or without medical experience to stay a minimum of a month.

The first couple of weeks there I did triage.  I took pressure, weight, height, blood sugar, and asked them why they were there.  All in all, triage was pretty sweet because I got to meet tons of people and work on my Spanish.  For the last week I have been working in the pharmacy.  I have learned so many different drugs and have been organizing them in my head.

The coolest part in the clinic (and jungle) thus far, though, is learning different tricks on how to fix issues when you don't have the right medicine.  For example:

1. Crushed aspirin mixed with vaseline = wart remover
2. Aspirin taken with Diphenahydramine (Benadryl) intensifies the pain killing effect of aspirin in patients with migraines without putting the liver at a risk of aspirin toxicity.
3. Pharmaceutical company's reasoning for expiration dates.
4. The anti-inflammatory effect of floradenrum (?) vines.
5. A plant that is so acidic it can be used to cauterize open wounds, yet, can at the same time make you blind if dropped in your eye.
6. A plant that numbs the mouth, which has a strong, nasty, bitter taste.
7. Crushed antibiotics used as a topical antiseptic.


Well that is enough for now.  The first paragraph sums up the majority of what I've gotten into and there are stories behind them all.  I have been slack about updating the first month so if you would like to know any details they can be viewed at my friend Jessica's page (http://jessicasitler.blogspot.com/2010/09/viavia.html#comments).  I hope to make updates at least once a week and will try to add some of what I've done the last few weeks when I get a chance.

All in all though, I LOVE IT HERE.

Also, friends and family are welcome to Roatan anytime this semester.  Would love to see you all.