Hola, everybody!  I'm back!  Ready for Part 2?

This was taken Wednesday morning, August 10th, as we made our way to the clinic.  The crowds were already tremendous.  As we walked along, we waved and shouted "Buenos Dias!" to our patients, who smiled and called back.  It was slightly overwhelming to realize that we'd probably be treating all these people (and many more) over the course of the day!

Another me-an-Gwen pic!  She got to assist a nurse, Glenda Camper, that day, while I worked in lab. 

Our lab team for the day!  (L to R) Dorcas, Rachel, Naomi, me and Veronica.  Dorcas is an LPN in S. Dakota; Rachel is a senior nursing student at BJU; Naomi is also a senior nursing student at BJU; and Veronica works at a hospital currently and is planning on starting pre-med classes soon.

For this group photo we just grabbed everyone in sight! (L to R, back row) Lucas is a pre-med student at BJU; Pam (in green) is an RN; Savannah is a senior nursing student at BJU.  (Front row) Summer is a senior nursing student at BJU (and is going to get married next year--congrats!); Sandy is a volunteer from NYC; and Estevan was our translator. 

Here, Veronica is checking our knowledge of reading a urinalysis test.  We had a limited number of gloves, so we could only use one per test. 

A little girl receiving a breathing treatment.  And no, she didn't care for the whole thing in general; I caught her at a resigned moment.

Yes, I am going to explain this photo!  That Wednesday, we treated over 800 people once again, and we came back to the hotel ready to shower and eat.  Gwendolyn was given this dress by her mother and decided to try it on; she ended up hating it but there wasn't time to change.  I decided it was a Kodak moment, but she had different ideas, and this picture is the result.  Can you tell we had fun?!  P.S. That dress will not be making a reappearance in the States, as it is now residing in the hotel closet in Guatemala. :)

Last day in Retalhuleu!  We walked 6 blocks to get to the clinic every day, and this is a small slice of the street scenery. 

The number of people waiting in line each morning was staggering!  And this is only part of the line for the vision department; there was an entirely different line for medical concerns.

This picture is not for the squeamish!  Oh, whoops--you already looked.  This patient had a run-in with a barbed wire fence 9 years ago, and the wound was never properly taken care of, resulting in this.  She probably needs an amputation; unfortunately, we didn't have any surgeons along on the trip, so that was not an option. 

We closed up the clinic at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, since we had to leave for Antigua during the afternoon.  It was heartbreaking that we had to turn away hundreds of people who were desperate to receive medical care, but we could have been there for 3 months and still been seeing hundreds of people each day.  This is our whole group, plus local church people (who handled the evangelistic part of the clinic) and translators from local schools.  Gwendolyn and I are at the very back, against the wall, in our pink and lavender scrubs.

So, after a 3 1/2 hour bus ride to Antigua, we arrived at the historic Hotel Candelaria.  It was absolutely GORGEOUS!  Everything was handmade by local people, from doors to paintings to textiles to tiles. 

This was the view from our room door!  I didn't take a picture of the courtyard below, but there was a garden with a fountain, as well as a swanky dining area.  And above...

...the roof!  Yes, the entire roof was a terrace, with lots of tables and chairs and views.  Gwendolyn and I spent a lot of time up here over the next day.

Me on roof, looking down meditatively on the courtyard below.  Behind me is a dormant volcano--Gwendolyn and I christened it Hat Mountain, because it always wore a little hat of clouds.  Don't worry--the last time it erupted was 200 years ago, so I felt pretty safe.

This picture will always make me smile!  The whole week, I had been giving Gwendolyn a hard time about the fact that she doesn't like having her picture taken, and she definitely doesn't show any teeth when she smiles.  Consequently, she tends to look a little like the Mona Lisa.  I was trying to do a lovely photo here, and she was making faces and wouldn't look at the camera.  I told her, "You feel pretty, oh so pretty" and some of the ladies in our team started singing the song in 3-part harmony!  Which made her laugh, which produced this charming picture.

And then there's this one, which you've already seen.  Our buddy Eunice took this on Friday morning, as we were about to set off on a day of sight-seeing in the mountainous town of Antigua. 

And this breath-taking mountain is the first place we went!  That's some of Antigua behind us, with Hat Mountain looming in the back.

This butterfly totally photo-bombed this picture!  There were so many butterflies, though, that it was bound to happen.

I was happy that I reached the top of this mountain without having to once stop and take a break!  I thought my lungs were going to burst as we mounted the hundreds of steps that snaked their way up the hill, but we did it!  Not sure how old this cross is, but I'm guessing...pretty old. :)

We walked the streets of Antigua for quite a while before going to lunch and then preparing to...shop!  Yes, it was time to souvenir-shop our hearts out. :)

This photo does not do the shops of Antigua justice!  There are over 200 in the space of just a couple of city blocks, and the tradespeople are very...aggressive.  If you stop for more than 3 seconds to look at something, you're probably going to have to buy it.  And they barter.  I'm not very good at it, so Gwendolyn would give me a hand and shake her head if she thought the shopkeeper would go lower.  They always did. :)

That night, after a fabulous meal at the Texas BBQ place I spoke of in the last post (don't get me started!), our whole group trekked out to the town square.  We wanted to have a picture with Walter and Peggy Edmondson, with whom we'd really bonded over the course of the trip.  Gwendolyn and Walter, especially, were hilarious together, and the couple thought we two were pretty funny as well.  We're laughing in this shot because Walter had just told our photographer, "Take your time; I'm holding beautiful women!" which made us all crack up.
And then we came home.
And the adventure ended.
Well, sort of.
Both Gwendolyn and I had a great time on this trip; it really opened up my eyes to the needs that I might encounter in a 3rd world country, and makes me more determined than ever to knock out my last year of school and get to work. 
We both would like to go on another trip with MMO sometime.  Hopefully, though, I'll blog again before that time comes! ;)
Adios!  Thanks for reading!

Yes, it's a pretty bad pun, I'll admit it--but it got your attention, didn't it?
For those of you who noticed, I also updated my 'Hello!' picture on the right; it's a selfie I took on my first morning in Guatemala.  Since the previous one was taken in 2014, I thought it high time for a change!
Okay, down to business.
First of all, we left on...
Wait a minute--I just realized you're probably wondering who 'we' is (unless I'm talking like the Queen, which I can assure you I'm not, though I like the idea).  Let it be known that I had a traveling buddy!
I'd better introduce you.
This....is Gwendolyn, my BFF.

(Note: This pic was actually taken in a Texas BBQ place in Guatemala on our last day there, but it's so cute that I just had to put it up here.  This sequencing explains my sunburn in the photo. :)  )
Backstory (because everyone loves a good backstory):  Gwendolyn and I met in UAkron's nursing school around November of 2014.  We both have similar tastes in literature, movies and wound care, as well as traveling.  She and I are pretty direct opposites other than that--between background, personality, religion and thought process you probably couldn't get much more different than the two of us.  But, in spite of that, we have a tremendous friendship that has now stood the test of an international medical missions trip and 8 days of being roommates!
Brief Description:  Gwendolyn is 26.  She's smart, ambitious, sarcastic, guarded, resourceful, dedicated and always wears part of her hair in an asymmetrical braid.  She is a nursing student, works as a cook/server in a Mediterranean restaurant, and lives near Akron.  There it is in a nutshell.
More Backstory:  We had been wanting to go on a medical trip to Ghana that was being sponsored by our school, but the program ended up getting canceled.  When I found out about Medical Missions Outreach (the organization through which we went to Guatemala), I broached the subject while Gwendolyn and I were having lunch in the hospital while having our clinical rotation.  I told her I was going to Guatemala for a medical missions trip and asked if she wanted to come.  Her response?  "Where do I sign up?"  And we did, and we went.
So, now that you understand the 'we' part, I'll proceed.
We left Akron/Canton airport very early on August 5th.  Both Gwendolyn and I had so much to talk about on the flights and in the Atlanta airport--we hadn't seen each other in two whole days! :)  I was kind of nervous about meeting the rest of our group; 51 other people were part of our missions team, with qualifications ranging from MD to LPN and professions from teacher to policemen.  We met the founder of MMO, Bradley Edmondson, at the Atlanta airport, and I felt better instantly; he is a godly and humble man with a sincere desire to serve the Lord and help people around the world.  This was his 10th missions trip this year!
Once we reached Guatemala City, our team was split in two and sent to two different hostels.  Gwendolyn and I shared a room at the Villa Toscana.

Me on my bed in the Villa Toscana!  We got one of the nicest rooms, for some reason.  The beds were very comfortable, the bathroom was great and the decor was on point.

This was the view from my bed!  Looked out on a gorgeous courtyard filled with flowers, manicured grass and fountains. 

The streets of Guatemala City, right outside our hotel.  Not very prepossessing, I'll admit.  Thank goodness it was far better on the inside!

Look at all this luggage!  We had to fit all this and much, much more on the bus and a small truck bound for the city of Retahuleu--about 4 hours of driving time.  A shout-out to everyone who helped load this stuff up!  We then boarded the bus and proceeded through the mountains, plains and more mountains to Retahuleu. 

Myself and Gwendolyn on the bus.  It was actually very comfortable--until the AC broke and we began sweltering!  My black jacket came off in a hurry at that point, especially as I had the window seat!

This was the lobby area of the Hotel Astor, our hotel in Retahuleu.  As you can see, we ate many of our meals here.  In this photo, Gwendolyn is chatting with Laura Petek, another Ohioan.  This was right after our Sunday morning church service, I believe.  The service was mostly in Spanish, but the message was translated by....

...this man!  David and Beth Lott have been missionaries in Guatemala for many years and are both fluent in Spanish and the culture.  They helped organize the trip and the clinic down to the tiniest detail.  They translated at the clinic, managed the meals, arranged for transportation, and, on top of all that, David Lott fixed Gwendolyn's suitcase after both zippers broke!  Is there nothing this couple can't do?!

While Gwen was chatting, I was up to my ankles in the pool, along with these lovely ladies: Sarah, Rachel and Maria.  Sarah and Maria were some of our skilled interpreters.  Rachel is from Alaska and is a sister to one of the ladies at our church.  It is a small world!
So, that Sunday afternoon, we were told to put on a scrub top and go down to the school that would serve as our clinic, as we were going to have a meeting about how the clinic would be run.  Well, it turned out that we were having more than just a meeting--there were people waiting outside and it was decided to open the clinic then and there!  We treated 245 people in the space of 4 hours!

Gwendolyn and I ended up working in triage.  We got people's blood pressure, oxygen saturation and pulse.  When there were children, we took their weight in kilograms.  Here, along with Jimmy Burleson from Baltimore, we're recording all that necessary info before sending the patient on to see a nurse or doctor.  Serious business!

This was one of the young men who got saved during the Sunday service!  And what better way to top off your spiritual birthday than getting your blood pressure taken?! :)

After each patient was seen by a provider (an MD, NP or RN), and while their prescriptions were being filled in the makeshift pharmacy, a team from the local church sat down with them and shared the Romans Road.  It was an incredible and exhausting start--we went back to the hotel and crashed big time.

And this is what greeted us the next morning when we reached the clinic at 7:15 a.m.!  Wall to wall people waiting for us to open the clinic doors.

Monday morning (and every morning thereafter) Bradley Edmondson led us in a challenging devotion--some of the best I've ever heard.  He encouraged us to live our lives for the Lord and others, reminding us that every soul is priceless in the eyes of God.  Put some pep in our step!

Since I'm a nursing student, and there were about 10 others, including Gwendolyn, who were medical students as well, we were assigned to rotate through various facets of the clinic.  On the official first day of the clinic, I was back in triage while Gwendolyn worked in pharmacy.  Here I am with my triage crew--(L to R) Me, Lucas, Naomi, Rachel (in front), Jimmy, Sandy and Eunice.  Naomi is Guatemalan by heritage, and, since she speaks Spanish fluently, was soon called away to translate.

This was pharmacy that day! (L to R) Gwendolyn, April, Miss Peggy and Bradley.  They did a tremendous job of filling prescriptions with our relatively limited supplies.  A praise: When our supply of Metformin (a diabetes medication) was stolen on the trip up, someone in the town volunteered to buy us more!  A great answer to prayer.

We worked from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. that day, and went back to the hotel ready to eat the wallpaper!  What we ate was this--fresh fish, with the eyeballs.  Gwendolyn (whose plate is pictured here) actually ate the eyeballs, but, in spite of her double-dog-dares, I did not follow her example. :)

The next day, I got to assist a nurse practitioner, Tammy Canfield, all day.  This was our group--me, Tammy and our interpreter, Kari, who lives in the area.  Oh, and a patient. 

Me and one of our smaller patients!

Here was a typical scene in the provider area--a nurse (Pam here), an interpreter and a family with many small children!  There were 9 or so nurses, 2 doctors and a nurse practitioner.  That day, we saw over 800 patients!  Kept us busy.  There was every malady known to man, including scabies, colds, rashes, fevers, infections, warts, and parasites.  Every patient got a chewable antiparasitic tablet, and I learned how to say "This is for parasites; please chew it" in Spanish as I gave out the medication.  You never know where this kind of stuff may come in handy!
And the fun was only just beginning....
I'll try to post Part 2 soon!  Hope to get some great comments from you all!
P.S. If you look up Medical Missions Outreach on Facebook, there are a lot of great pictures, plus a couple movies, one giving a little tour of the clinic and the other of our whole group.  Also, if MMO gets 10,000 likes on Facebook, a business will donate money for medications and supplies, so be sure to hit that 'like' button!  Thanks.