Introduction

This blog will follow me through my travels and experiences working at a clinic in Quetzaltenango (Xela), Guatemala. The clinic sees primarily indigenous (Mayan) patients in a rural mountain community. More than half of the patients are children, and the clinic is expanding its population even more to include more adults. Much of my struggles actually come from the rather universal theme of being a new healthcare provider, in my case, a new nurse practitioner. I'll also try to post plenty of travel stories to keep people entertained, and share some more cheerful stories. I apologize if there's an overkill of clinic stories. Sometimes it helps to tell the stories, even if only for my own sake.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Transportation

Any transportation in Guatemala is an adventure. The bus up to the clinic every day bounces around potholes and ditches, so severely that I sometimes close my eyes. The other day we were passed on a washed out dirt mountain road by a dump truck! I didn't even know that two vehicles of that size could fit!

I thought taxis should be generally pretty straightforward. This morning I got into a cab that shook so hard you could hardly hear conversation over the rumbling. Even my seat was vibrating with the muffler. The interior was taped together but still tearing apart. The windshield not only had huge cracks all over, but actually had holes in it! The back door of the stationwagon part didn't close all the way, so the filthy exhaust came right into the cab itself. The driver then decided to stop for gas along the 2 mile journey, which only made the car smell worse! By the time I got out, my head was spinning! Oh, and on my way out, I learned the door latch doesn't work, you just have to push. And no, there were no seatbelts.

Just another day riding around in Guatemala...
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