Two of my recent favorite videos...

I thought I would post two videos that I really like a lot. Both of these guys don't typically use the best language in the world - though both of these videos are clean - and I'm not that familiar with much of their work.  But I really like what they have to say here and hopefully you get a kick out of them too.

   

This first video is an interview by Conan O'Brian with Louis CK.  A lot of people may already have seen this, but if you haven't, it's great.  As a pilot, I especially appreciate his take on commercial travel. 

The second video os a personal video/opinion by Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller fame. It is a very interesting view on Christianity from a self-proclaimed atheist that really seems to come from the heart. I hope this gets some people that need a little nudging to share their faith more...

Language School

We have several things to do before leaving for Honduras.  We have to haul some of our possessions down to Mississippi where a container is shipped to the hospital once a year.  We also need to attend the Samaritan's Purse Post-Residency Program orientation in North Carolina sometime in August.  Somewhere in between, though, we need to improve our Spanish speaking skills - a.k.a. attending a Spanish language school.

It has been strongly recommended to us that we spend as much time as we can in a full immersion school. That means attending a language school that is located in a Spanish speaking country and living with a host family so we don't speak any English the entire time we're there.  Our tentative plan is to attend a school in July and August after my residency graduation on June 25th.  

We're still looking for a good Spanish language school.  Since it will cost roughly $1000/mo. per person, we are looking for some recommendations for which school to attend.  So far we'd heard about The Spanish Language Institute in Costa Rica and Guacamaya in Honduras.  

Since there are a million schools out there, we'd like to narrow our choices down.  If you or someone you know has attended a Spanish language school we want to know!  It would be very helpful to hear from you!

Usually when you travel to Latin America one of the first things you are told is, "Don't drink the tap water." "When you take a shower or brush your teeth, don't swallow any water." Remember Montezuma's Revenge? Anyway, we were pretty amazed when we first arrived at Hospital Loma de Luz and were told, "go ahead and drink the tap water - it's totally safe!" Our hosts went on to describe how the hospital had gone up into the mountains, tapped the source of a natural spring, and used it to fill up their water towers.

There the water goes through a filtration and chlorination process much like our city water in the States, and is then disseminated to the hospital and staff housing. When you see the infrastructure (most of it is underground) that went into all this, it really is quite amazing. The water tanks are a nice walk up a winding hill and if you're brave enough to climb to the top, you are treated to a great view of the ocean.

The view from the top - click on the picture to make it bigger:

Another quick and slightly interesting thing is where you put all you trash. As we've said before, the hospital is located quite some distance from the nearest large town and the trash has to go somewhere.   Dumping it in a pit is not really the greatest idea and having a bunch of fires everywhere from everyone burning their own garbage won't really work either. So everyone takes their trash to the hospital's community furnace, where everything than can be burned is incinerated. It works great!

 

Club Feet

This little girl was born with club feet - also known as Congenital Talipes Equinovarus.  It's a congenital (born that way) deformity found in about 1:1000 births and twice as likely in boys than girls.  What causes this is the inner ankle tendons are contracted and do not allow the foot to straighten. It also makes the ankle quite rigid, not allowing the child to walk properly, if at all.  This little girl was waiting until Dr. Greg Duncan, an orthopedic surgeon from the States, arrived to do her surgery.  The surgery, called a posteromedial release, involves partially cutting the tendon twice, once on each side of the tendon, each cut just above the other.  This 'Z' pattern allows the tendon to lengthen and then the child's feet are gently casted and wrapped just like a broken leg.  The cast is removed and recasted each week for over 6-8 weeks until they assume a normal position.  This child was casted with pink fiberglass casting material that was generously donated by 3M Products.  3M donated 150lbs of casting material that Rimas and I were able to bring down to the hospital in our checked bags.

The important part of this surgery is the amazing witness it is to this child's family and friends.  Without this surgery she would otherwise not be able to walk which would mean a very different and difficult life for both her and her family.  She wouldn't be able to go to work and would be financially and physically dependent on her family.  Getting around - even if she had a wheelchair - would be very difficult since there aren't sidewalks and only rutted muddy paths and roads.  A simple surgery and several weeks of recasting her feet will dramatically change this girl's life.  Actions speak louder than words and it is exciting to see the compassionate and intense witness Hospital Loma de Luz has with the people they serve.

Creepy Crawlies of Honduras!

This may be a little different than the things we usually talk about, but we thought a lot of people would find these pictures interesting. Honduras has a lot of little things to watch out for and while they had Abby on her toes a little bit, I thought it made life just a little more interesting.

This Praying Mantis was hiding out in the bushes waiting for bees or flies to come within reach. When you get close to them (like to take its picture), they watch you and follow your every movement and seem to be very intelligent as far as insects go.

This 6-inch millipede was crawling across the path when we were on a walk in the jungle/forest. 

We did not see any live scorpions when we were in Honduras. We did find a dead one in one of the drawers in the apartment we were staying in. Though the sting is very painful, it has no lasting effects. This picture was shamelessly taken from Louis Lundsford's blog at http://perspectives-from-a-hammock.blogspot.com/

This tarantula was hanging out right outside the door of our apartment one evening.

Tarantulas are usually not aggressive at all and this one is not as big as it looks as you can see from this picture.

Hope you enjoyed these. Just remember, shake out your shoes and slippers before putting them on!

Merry Christmas!

A night in La Ceiba

The nearest airport to Loma de Luz is in La Ceiba.  The hospital is typically about an hour drive east but can be much longer since it's on a dirt road which can be full of the unexpected . . . herds of cattle, swollen rivers, etc.  If you come to visit and arrive late in the afternoon or after dark, you'll usually stay the night at a hotel in La Ceiba.  There are a few good ones to choose from but most stay at Gran Hotel Paris because it's clean, has AC, a pool, serves breakfast and most of all because it's inexpensive - about $35-40/night.

We flew in on the missionary Cessna 206 and arrived around 6pm, just after dark.  We piled all our luggage and ourselves into a cab that drove us the 10-15 mins. to the hotel for about $15.  After we checked in we found a place to eat dinner.  I was expecting to find some little local joint but La Ceiba is the 3rd largest city in Honduras.  It is complete with a mall, Apple Bees, Pizza Hut, etc.  So we walked to the closest restaurant which happened to be Pizza Hut.  I know . . . how boring - but it was late and we were hungry.

(View from our hotel room)

The next morning we had breakfast poolside.  We each had a big breakfast complete with toast, bacon, eggs, fried plantains, fresh local fruit and freshly squeezed pineapple juice.  The fresh pineapple juice was by far my favorite.  Look at the foam on top!

Before we arrived in Honduras, we were told we'd be staying in one of the staff housing units, which are small apartments complete with a small kitchen, and we'd have to get groceries before we arrived at the hospital. There is a grocery store about 2 blocks away from the hotel so after breakfast we went shopping for the week.  It was fun and we had to do a lot of math to figure out how much everything was.  The exchange rate was 18 lempiras to $1.

New Website

Our Website Debut!

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