Jet Leg

I am suffering from the common traveler’s ailment. Mis piernas están cansadas! My legs are tired! The day of sitting still on a plane made my legs as tired as a day of walking. The great thing was that yesterday we hiked to the Ecological Park at the top of the mountain Magdalena is at the base of. It took about an hour and a half to get to the top. There were some pretty steep parts that were made more difficult by the loose footing and altitude. My lazy legs were promptly pushed to the limit. Today I can feel all my leg muscles quite distinctly:) Nevertheless, the view and the rope swing at the top made the work worth it! As it is with most hikes. The Park was a Peace Corps project a while back. They made the trail up to the top and built some playground elements and places to sit at the summit.

Last night I slept with three pairs of pants, a tank top, a long sleeve shirt, a sweatshirt, a zip up fleece, and socks! I would have worn a winter hat if I had one! I was still pretty cold, but warmer than the night before. Greta and I woke up to breakfast of eggs scrambled with tomatoes, red peppers, and some other unknown spice or sauce of sorts, bread, and coffee. Everyone drinks coffee here, from my five-year-old brother Justin to my dad José! They make their coffee significantly weaker than we do in the US and it has a lot of sugar in it.

Today was the first day at ministry sites in El Gorrión for us all. El Gorrión is a more rural impoverished village about a 20 min walk from Magdalena. I think we were all a bit unsure of what to expect but excited to get started. SI built a brand new Community Center for El Gorrión called Centro de Capacitación Integral where the clinic is located. They also have a new doctor, Doctora Sara Romero. Today was a new experience for us all at the clinic site as it was the very first day in the new clinic and with the new doctor. It went perfectly – except for spending the entire day on my feet. Doctora Sara let me listen to heart and lung sounds and palpate a stomach for amoebas. In the words of Doctora Sara, amoebas make the intestines “feel like a bag of rice.” No amoebas found today:) My site leader is a wonderful woman named Maureen. She’s a nurse originally from California. She and her husband Nick are on staff with SI. Nick works at the school in El Gorrión. They live in Antigua and work mostly in El Gorrión.

 Here is the clinic! The closed door is where the clinic is. The hallway leads to meeting rooms and storage and the roof and the bathrooms. There is also a kitchen to the right of the hallway.

A day of sitting followed by a day of hiking followed by a day of standing…I think the worst of the jet leg is passed.