Kalya and I spent this morning at the clinic observing adult and pediatric doctor visits. I saw relatively crazy things given the short amount of time I was observing (HPV-1, nail fungus, lots of gastritis). Kalya got her first taste of physical diagnosis today, while I refrained because I seem pretty intimidating to 11 year old Guatemalans. Maybe the beard scares them.
After lunch we decided to wander Xela, and pretty soon I was hooked on the idea of climbing one of the many hills which surround the city. There were lots of interesting views on our way up, but the best was when we arrived at the top. There were several homes, fields of crops, wildflowers, and puppies!
As we approached the houses, Kalya suddenly froze on the path. She claimed to see a baby bear next to the trail. It took me several seconds to reassure myself that black bears do not live in Guatemala, then a few more to convince Kalya. By the time we approached, we discovered a delightful black dog with puppies in tow. So much for the bear.
The view over Xela was great, and the families were endearingly warm and bemused by our excitement over things like puppies and chickens. Today's photo of the day comes from Kalya, who courageously snapped an amazing picture of one of the women we met heading back down the path towards Xela. So as not to be discovered, she discreetly snapped the picture as I coughed loudly, drowning out the shutter sound.
All in all it's been a great day, and there's way too much to include here. Other pictures from the hike are up on Picasa. Thanks for all the emails and comments. Hasta mañana...
1 comment:
Wow! Sounds like the trip is off to a great start. The land around there looks beautiful. Good luck as the project gets underway.
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