Almost two weeks in!

My luggage has arrived! I feel like a little piece of myself was missing and now I finally have the shampoo, slippers and jeans piece of the Kelly puzzle. I was giddy to open it, since the first thing I wanted to take out was Wally (my stuffed penguin), the stuffy that Geoff bought for me before I left. He will be the guardian of my room while I am away on clinic days! My luggage also carried some important items for the clinic such as non-latex gloves, swabs, baby blankets, baby hats, astragalus root (better than Echinacea!) and hawthorn berries for tinctures. Hannah makes all her own tinctures and I am excited to help her make some in the near future.

I have had only a few clinic days so far and I have been present for many procedures that I never thought I would see before I was in the third year of midwifery school. First off, I have already observed several ultrasounds (abdominal and vaginal), helped type blood, witness pre and postnatal consults and run around like a chicken with my head cut off performing random tasks around the clinic. Two days in and I have been thrown in the deep end….just the way I like it!

When I have days off, I plan to visit coffee farms, macadamia plantations, hike the volcanoes, get a tan by the ocean on the black sand beaches, do some more horseback riding and become familiar with both Ciudad Vieja and Antigua. I will keep you updated on how that goes!

Last night I thought I was off to my first birth in Xela (pronounced shay-la) which is at least a three hour drive away from Ciudad Vieja. The mother was having contractions and all was going well, until we arrived. Then they stopped entirely! No contractions, not even a tug! We were treated to hibiscus tea and empanadas, but nothing changed while we chatted and ate. Unfortunately, this meant we were not needed and drove all the way back to Ciudad Vieja. I look at this as a dry run, I had forgotten a few things I may have needed (snacks, spare shirt, etc) so now I know for next time. Speaking of next time, I believe we have three expecting mothers on deck for the next few weeks so perhaps I will be able to document my first birth very soon!

Hannah spends her time unwinding at the horse stables with two of her beautiful horses, which affords me some riding time. There is more than just horses at the stables, for example I was checked out by the ‘head honcho’ of the stables…a rooster! He is involved in the cock fights that take place at the stables and he sure looked the part as he strutted around like a great Spanish conquistador (see above)! There are also dogs (a mama with her 8 puppies pictured at top of entry), foals (below is an orphan that was raised by people), coffee trees (a half eaten coffee fruit pictured at top of entry) and many other horses. Here I am pictured on Jack.

I had the pleasure of eating supper in Antigua with Hannah, her boyfriend and a few of her friends at a place called Hector’s. It was right along the main stretch and unknown to us, that was the evening of a great procession (movie to come...hopefully!). It went right past the restaurant so all I had to do was point and shoot!

It’s bedtime (9pm) as people start the day much earlier here, so I better hit the hay!