It was a good week here in the community of Los Angeles, Nicaragua. It began with a wet pile of cow poop on the patio outside my bedroom door and ended with a scrawny little dog jumping out in front of our moving vehicle to "do his business" in the middle of the local highway, with no regard to the possibility of losing his life. Thankfully, we swerved to miss him. I guess when you gotta go, you gotta go. It seems I've stepped in a lot of animal poop this week so it seems to be on my mind. Many animals frequent our yard, including pigs that the dogs like to chase away, an increasing number of grazing horses, chickens, the young frolicking cow that leaps around, loud and commanding blue birds with long tail feathers in the papaya trees and this morning, a big lizard with a bright yellow belly. While riding on the back of a motorcycle going into Moyogalpa, we ran into "traffic" on the rural island highway. This consisted of a farmer and his herd of cattle casually sauntering down the road while trucks, bicycles and motor bikes were trying to pass. We had to slowly navigate a path between them all while trying to keep enough speed to steer and stay upright.
Work in the clinic went well this week. Mostly we saw the regular... kids with the flu and adults with urinary tract infections, intestinal parasites, diabetes and hypertension. I saw an interesting case at the local hospital, a teenage boy with Dengue Fever. He was immediately admitted for IV rehydration and because this condition can become severe and life-threatening, isolating him in a bed with a mosquito net as Dengue is transmitted by mosquito bites. My Spanish is slowly improving and I have had numerous requests to teach English to everyone's children. The parents really want their children to be at the top of their class and feel learning English from an American is an unsurpassable opportunity. I am going to try to get a small class started.
I am feeling pretty healthy overall. I think my stomach has finally adapted to the heat and my appetite has come back. I am looking forward to eating some of the many fruits we have on the NDI property here once they are ripe. Check out the Farming tab on this website for more on what we are growing and doing on the land. The other day I was admiring a beautiful handmade palapa structure on the land here that we use for teaching the Brigade groups that come down from the US. I thought I'd share a few photos of it.
Thanks everyone for your prayers. Please keep praying that my health remains strong (and that the small Dengue outbreak doesn't spread), that my language skills improve especially for better communication with my patients and for restful sleep. Feel free to stay in touch and share any prayer requests or what is going on in your life...the info is on the contact me tab of this website. Many thanks!
Work in the clinic went well this week. Mostly we saw the regular... kids with the flu and adults with urinary tract infections, intestinal parasites, diabetes and hypertension. I saw an interesting case at the local hospital, a teenage boy with Dengue Fever. He was immediately admitted for IV rehydration and because this condition can become severe and life-threatening, isolating him in a bed with a mosquito net as Dengue is transmitted by mosquito bites. My Spanish is slowly improving and I have had numerous requests to teach English to everyone's children. The parents really want their children to be at the top of their class and feel learning English from an American is an unsurpassable opportunity. I am going to try to get a small class started.
I am feeling pretty healthy overall. I think my stomach has finally adapted to the heat and my appetite has come back. I am looking forward to eating some of the many fruits we have on the NDI property here once they are ripe. Check out the Farming tab on this website for more on what we are growing and doing on the land. The other day I was admiring a beautiful handmade palapa structure on the land here that we use for teaching the Brigade groups that come down from the US. I thought I'd share a few photos of it.
Thanks everyone for your prayers. Please keep praying that my health remains strong (and that the small Dengue outbreak doesn't spread), that my language skills improve especially for better communication with my patients and for restful sleep. Feel free to stay in touch and share any prayer requests or what is going on in your life...the info is on the contact me tab of this website. Many thanks!