Jinotega, Nicaragua: Second Clinic Day

This farmer must be well off. He has a cow and a satellite dish.

I cannot recommend blog-spot.com to anyone wishing to create a blog. It is extremely difficult to work with. I have spent the last hour writing a narrative about today's clinic, and without any rhyme or reason the words jumped to another position as did some of the photographs. I finally had to delete every word I had written and let the photos stay where they jumped. I give up. I'm going to just write captions under the photos and let the pictures be worth a thousand words each.
Well, maybe I will try to tell a few things about today and see if the words stay where I put them. We had a good breakfast of boiled eggs, red beans, cantaloupe, tortillas, and coffee.
Then we rode on the bus to our clinic location about a half-hour away. The mountain roads are very rough, and at one point we had to ford a stream. Beside where we drove through the water there was a foot-bridge for pedestrian traffic.

This photo jumped WAY out of position! Here Fran Tatum takes blood pressure.

This photo just jumped to a position above the bridge photo. This is where today's clinic was held.

There was a walking bridge here, but vehicles had to ford

 the stream.

Julia Estrada and Becky Hewitt with 2 patients.

Sharon Swartz working with a patient in one of the clinic rooms

We arrived to find a line waiting outside the fence for us (THAT photo totally disappeared), so we unloaded the bus and got set up. We did our jobs with a break for sandwiches at lunchtime, and at about 4:00 we finished and left for our home base--the orphanage at Jinotega. We had served 135 patients, and Alan and I had given out 119 portraits. Part of the group did a hike up the mountain for a spectacular view of Lake Apanas while the rest of us took a ride on the bus into Jinotega to do a little shopping. On the way a little shower came up and we saw a great rainbow. Most of us bought snack foods at Pali and some bought fresh produce at an open-air marked, and then we went to the little coffee shot to have Flor de Jinotega coffee. I had a cafe mocha--better than a Starbucks--for about $1.25 in US money.
While the blog-site is allowing me to write without shifting my text, I'm going to try identifying the clinic photos.





 

Donna Schaad, Debbie Greene, Kim Auth, and Stephanie Estrada at pharmacy counter

Donya (translator) and Dr. Tim White; in background is Nilda (translator) and Barbara Fikes-Maki

Seen on the way home today: mule in a typical Nicaraguan farmyard. The pile in the foreground is coffee bean hulls.

Also taken on bus ride home: an island in Lake Apanas. The mountain-hikers of our group got an even more spectacular view.

Fran Tatum, Bob Hoy, and Sharon Swartz relaxing after work

Full rainbow en-route to shopping trip in Jinotega

We bought a few things in this Pali market.

Interesting conveyance seen passing Pali market.

Jane Romack was among the group who enjoyed a drink in the coffee house.