Day-9, July 11, 2009

Not all days are rewarding. Not all partnerships with sponsors are smooth.

On Saturday the Santa Cruz teams departed at 0500 for a length journey into the hills to offer two clinics in remote villages outside of San Julian. Unfortunately our bus had missed a pick-up of our sponsors - Ron and Violet Firestone - and other volunteers and we had to return to fetch them. It was the begining of mis-steps and misadventures.

The next surprise came with a loud bang. We had a flat tire. While we waited at a nearby rest stop playing cards the bus suddenly departed with our valuables on board. We had no idea what was happening.As it turned out the driver was missing a wrench and had gone in search of the tool - flat tire and all. Eventually another bus retrieved us and we were told our valuables were safe.

We arrived late at the first clinic site - a church under construction - to find chaos. As team leader Dr. Trudy Poggemiller described the scene "terrible infection control; no coordination; no place to see people - one patient for example needs a pelvic exam." Tensions were building and one team member lashed out. The dental team leader Dr. Evelyn Elsey and Dr.Hardy Limeback were dismayed at the lack of sterilization facilities so the dental team decided to pack up and move to the next site with Violet Firestone. Shortly after Ron announced "(medical) consultations are closed." And after a mere half hour visit, the medical team also packed up.

Rain from the previous night was to blame for the next mis-adventure. The dental team's bus became stuck in mud. Twice. It proved to be the dirtiest extraction of their mission.

The voyage to our second clinic was a rollercoaster ride through deep muddy grooves. We survived that - some would say barely - but we nearly didn't survive the tarantula. It popped out of the dental equipment. A villager captured it in a container and I was given the container to dispose of our threat. (My Spanglish is lacking so when I delegated the disposal to a Bolivian he promptly put the container in our bus thinking this "loco gringo" intended to keep the tarantula as a pet. I still wonder what happened to that tarantula because it had disappeared by the time I later took my seat on the bus).

The tarantula threat eradicated, our dental team was at the ready. Unfortunately the patients were not. As we would later learn, a mandatory community meeting had drawn some of them elsewhere. As well, word had somehow travelled that we had experienced vehicle trouble and might not arrive. We rang the village bell several times to attract attention and finally some villagers came. All in we treated a little more than a dozen dental patients and two dozen or so medical patients. It was the lowest turnout so far.

Again we boarded the bus - with nary a sign of the tarantula. However the last of the nasty surprises came with another big bang. A second tire was flat.The bus limped along the last half hour of the trek into Concepcion - a beautiful community established by the Jesuits.

Finally our mis-adventures came to an end. Gran Hotel Concepcion is an oasis. An open concept with beautiful ceramic tile floors, white walls, ceiling fans, brimming with tropical plants and spiral wooden columns typical of the area. A good dinner to end the day. And a good night's sleep...

...for those of us with rooms away from the disco....

Here is a link that you can click to a see the mission photo gallery. http://gallery.me.com/davidhillock