must be some kind of record...

I might even squeeze one more in!

; o)

The Pastoral Team and I were talking a lot about the health of the people here. I was so saddened by all that the people were telling us. All their pains, illnesses, and needs seem so chronic and without relief.

The most common complaints over the four days were headaches, back aches, sinus problems (a cold), lots of bug bites that create problems, a variety of infections, anemia, foot and leg pain, joint pain, muscular pain, diarrhea, gastric issues, parasites, and STDs.

The physical aches and pains are mostly a result of the difficult work that the men and women do here. The heavy lifting, the bending, the walking great distances on rough terrain with very inadequate shoes…

Most people have cold symptoms… it’s the rainy season. And in the dry season they have respiratory issues due to the dust and dirt.

Almost everyone said they had a headache.

The delegation did the best they could. I have no idea how they could possibly diagnose anything with so little information… some of the people that came had more serious problems and needed referrals to go to a real clinic. I hope they actually are able to go.

A few people and memories that stand out:

There was a woman who has been suffering from a yeast infection for over two years. You guys out there may not be able to relate to this, but ladies… if you have ever endured one of these … the burning and itching in parts most private…well, suffice to say, it’s horrible. TWO years!!!!

I had to go into the more private room where they did mini-exams when a man was getting checked for possible hemorrhoids. When he started unbuckling, I quickly turned my back… and I did need to translate a little so I guess it was a good thing I was in there. But good grief - how embarrassing! I’m not a medical person!!!

And I had to go in to two vaginal exams. I turned my back on those, too.

There was a young girl who had lots of thoughts of death and was hearing voices. We referred her to the one doctor who had some psychiatric background. He said he saw signs of schizophrenia. Wow.

There was a pregnant woman with obvious thyroid problems. Her doctor had told her that nothing was wrong. Even I could see her bulging neck.

There was a woman with a breast infection.

There were lots of pee pee and poo poo problems. (We giggled over my lack of ‘adult’ words for some of these things. But some of the words like ‘defecation’ – no one knows what that means. So really, poo poo was the better choice of words. Everyone knew what I was talking about.

I did learn lots of new words for body parts though. Very interesting.

Enough of that…

A funny moment with the group: there were actually many fun and/or funny moments. On the way back from the canton La Peña on the last day, I was taking Saúl (one of the translators) back to Alegria on my way back to Berlín. There were 2 trucks and an ambulance full of people and stuff from the day’s work behind us. Up ahead there was a police check point. I joked with Saúl that I ALWAYS got stopped. And sure enough… the 3 cars ahead of me passed right by them, but when they saw my face they waved me to the side. Good grief. I showed them my license and the license for the truck… in the meantime, the two trucks that were behind me went by and their eyes got all big as they saw me pulled over… I smiled and waved them on. The policeman was asking way more questions than normal. He wanted to see my documents. I told him my real passport was safe at the Pastoral House in Berlín but I had a copy if he wanted to see it … He asked me how long I was to be in the county… what I was doing … and he wanted to see my stamp for entry into the country. In the meantime, the ambulance went by and they got all ‘big-eyed’ as they passed. I waved them on also. Then the policeman tried to pronounce my name. He got Kathy just fine… but couldn’t do the Jayne… I told him in Spanish it was Juana… and pronounced it in English for him. Saúl tried to say it and had a hard time … the policeman tried and had a harder time, so we had a little mini lesson in the street. It was funny by the time we were done. I even had the policeman smiling! Then he sent us on our way.

The rest of our trip back was uneventful. I dropped off Saúl at the City Hall and saw a bunch of women heading to Berlín so let them hop in the truck and we were on our way.

Done and done. It really was a great 4 days. I learned a lot. I got some great speaking and listening practice in. I felt useful. I met some great people – gringos and Salvadorans: high up mucky-muck people and on the ground worker people. And all working together on behalf of the people in need here.

Very cool indeed.

I’m really tired today so when I found out that I had an unexpected day off, I was inwardly happy. Otilia and I were supposed to go to Corozal to finish installing the water filters that were delivered there last week – but due to the storm last night, the roads were not good enough to travel. So here I sit. The rains have stopped for now, but it is still cloudy. I did some laundry this morning – the first time since the medical delegation arrived – which might take 3 days to dry. I have written one report and one blog so far. I delivered a present to a friend from another friend from the medical delegation, mailed a postcard for my sister’s friend and muddled through some emails. Now I’m feeling a bit lethargic. I miss the delegation and all their energy.

It really did make me laugh to think I could be of some service to the medical delegation. But I am so glad I tried. And that it worked out that I could spend as much time as I did with them. It really does make the process faster when there is communication. Go figure. I’m thinking that they need to really arrange ahead of time for translators in the future.

We did the first day in Berlín – right on the street. The next day we went to Colón – a canton of Berlín. In addition to translating, I also offered chauffer services. The Alcadia agreed to pay gas and the delegation contributed a bit more towards the end of the week because I drove a lot more than I thought I would. In Colón, we were set up in the soccer field – under 3 large canopies. They hauled out tables and chairs for us. That day, the team served over 350 patients.

Thursday, I had a meeting at the Pastoral House in the morning. They said it would be a short one. So I told the delegation I would find them afterwards. My short meeting ended up being over two hours. Es la vida. That’s life. Yesterday before I left the group, I was told that they were to work in a canton of Alegria. So I loaded into the truck, filled it with gas and headed out to Alegria – ten minutes up the road. When I got to the city hall, I asked where they were. They were in a canton of Alegria, but on the OTHER side of Berlín. Good grief. One of the men drew little directions for me and explained where it was. I thought I could find it. I know that road pretty well and the landmarks he was describing. But – when I left the office, a woman came up to me and verified that I needed to go to Zapotio… she said she and her family were from there and if I could wait about 20 minutes, they could show me the way. They were there in their truck for some business … cool. So I went and got a pupusa for lunch and prepared to wait. The kids waiting for the mom and dad and grandma were in the back of their truck waiting… and they were speaking English. So I went over to talk to them. Turns out they were from Houston and visiting their family in Zapotio. They used to live in L.A. (as did I way back when) and the older boy was born in Des Moines! How much of a coincidence is this encounter!! Wow. So we chatted for a while, I had my pupusa and later on, the mom brought me a chocolate covered frozen banana – a common treat here.

After about a half hour or so, they were ready to go. So I followed them back down the hill. They were going out of their way for me… they were actually headed out to San Miguel in the opposite direction! When we got to the turn off, I was thankful they showed me because the way that little road hit the main road was made it hard to see. An old woman got into the truck with me and we headed down the hill. A really STEEP road! And we traveled maybe a quarter mile down and down to the Catholic Church. And sure enough – there was the delegation having lunch. They seemed happy to see me because Pedro, Fachito and Maria couldn’t be there… so it was just them and one young man with minimal English helping out. So after lunch we went back to work. I worked mostly with one young lady, but would help the young lady on the other side of me now and again.

When we were done and beginning to pack up, the rains came in full force! So they finished packing and decided to wait out the storm. All we had were 2 pick up trucks and a motorcycle. And the pelting rain would not be good to travel in standing in the back of a pick up for such a long distance (about a 25 minute ride back to Alegria). So we waited. We chatted, took pictures, chatted some more, got a little silly, some dozed on the wooden benches… and we waited some more.

Finally, we decided we needed to go. Truly… the rain might never stop! The road was a gushing river… and I worried about getting up the slippery cobblestone street … but the guys from the city hall just said I needed to put it in piñon (double) and I could manage just fine. I took their word for that.

Most of the people fit in our two trucks and one other truck showed up. I had 6 other people besides myself INSIDE the cab of my truck. All of us smelling like wet dogs. And the window kept fogging up… it was quite the adventure.

I dropped the group off at their hostel in Alegria and politely declined lunch so I could get some work done at a reasonable time… I had a light dinner at the Pastoral House and spent some quality time with my computer and Microsoft Word.

Prior to leaving, I verified exactly where I should meet the group in the morning. This time, I did need to meet them at the city hall in Alegria.

Friday was our last day together. This last day was in a canton way below Santiago de Maria named La Peña. We set up in a school and it was a very busy day.

I’m going to finish this blog here because it is long enough. I don’t need more details of the work, because each day was pretty much the same as the next. The next story will be just a bit of this and that and random thoughts.

But we both need a break from my rambling and it’s almost lunch time…

Yes, I know it’s the rainy season…but man did it rain hard and long last night. It was one of those ‘step out your door and immediately get soaked’ rainstorms. And the thunder and lightning were so intense that I unplugged my computers and turned off all the lights. Today we have no telephone service. My guess is that that problem started last night…

The storm had started about 6 p.m. and was stronger between 10 and midnight but lasted till at least 5 a.m. With solid rainfall the entire time.

But I really enjoy the sound of the rain on the roof. It is so nice to fall asleep to. And I love the rumblings and the light shows! So I was ok and safe and warm enough in my little office and bedroom. I had on my sweats and a sweater over my boxers and t-shirt. I also had 2 pairs of socks on. It was probably only 70 degrees. How quickly one gets acclimated to the heat and humidity here!! I’m becoming a wimp.

So now the reality check. While I was safe and warm in my office, listening and singing to the music in my computer… writing emails to friends, enjoying the storm, having a beer (yes… I bought one when I got my phone card after driving Otilia home … naughty me), some awful things were happening.

Over breakfast, Cecilia was telling me the news. Apparently, this storm covered the entire country. And it was a strong storm, and lasted all night. She told me that in San Salvador, a bus full of about 40 people was washed into a river because of a flash flood. It was too dark last night so they couldn’t do rescue efforts or look for bodies. They are looking this morning. And everywhere – roads are washing out, houses are being destroyed and people are dying as a direct result of this storm. Right here in Berlín, one of the local drunks died. He lives in the street – near where my friend Claudia works a block up from the main market area. He drowned in the street that became a river. It is the talk of the town and when I went up to the market to mail a postcard for my sister’s friend, and deliver a package to Claudia, there was still a lot of people and police milling around. It is so sad – the struggles here.

So what the heck was I thinking when I put a ‘walk’ to the cross on the itinerary for Central Presbyterian??

I did the walk once… with my church delegation 2 and a half years ago. Back then I was 25 pounds heavier and had fewer leg muscles than I do now… but Holy COW! What a trek.

I’ll try to explain… We walk the whole way. And not all of the Central delegates chose to go… 4 went wandering to explore the cemetery and do some shopping. And I think maybe one other stayed behind at La Casa Pastoral. Dimas said he would go with us – we just needed to walk by his house and 2:30 ish. (“ish” is a REAL Salvadoran concept of course). As we were leaving the house, my friend Victor came by because he wanted to visit with me. I had spent some time during my interim time helping him with some English. He is the son of Manuel de Las Delicias – who is in many a blog story. I sing with Manuel (his father) at church on occasion! So – nice kid. He is all of 17 years old I think. So we invited him to accompany us. Turns out, he has never been up there! He is in jeans, a button down shirt with a t-shirt under and school shoes. Not the best choice of clothing and shoes for a long and tall walk, but ok.

So you know… you can see the cross from the streets of Berlín. But it looks VERY small from below. I’ll try to get a photo from below. So we do walk a long way up. It is about 20 feet tall and on a platform of cement.

The walk to the cross is truly a walk. No driving. We leave the house, walk 3 blocks, turn left at the corner after the high school, walk 3 more very tall blocks to where we turn right at the street that leads to Brisas del Sol and Dimas’ house … Dimas is waiting for us at that corner … Some of the delegation are already panting a bit. It is plenty hot out, but there is a bit of cloud cover so the sun is not too intense. So we walk the road to the Brisas del Sol school (the one that Paul taught at). Just before the school there is a turnoff – another road up and we turn left. And up we go. And up. This is a dirt road… with tire ruts and rocks, weeds, uneven terrain and sometimes slippy. And there is no end in sight. It has lots of curves… so every time we round a corner we see what seems like miles more ahead (always UP) and we often feel discouraged. Not to mention very out of breath.

Here I have to give Kudos to this group. There were a few that lead the pack. They almost ran to the top. They seemed to have endless energy. They left me in their wake… but I wasn’t the last walker. I pretty much kept a steady pace - mostly looking down rather than ahead. There were 4 people quite a ways behind me. On occasion someone would walk with me for a spell … but actually, when I’m huffing and puffing, I’d just as soon be alone. I hate to admit exhaustion… I try to hide it…

Ah – such vanity.

I was worried a few times for the group out of sight behind me. So when we came to an area that had a split in the road… I, and then later, we - made an arrow pointing towards the correct path to follow… my boy scout mom days finally came in handy.

We kept side winding our way up. Switchbacks are what those curves are called. And there were LOTS of them. Up and up.

There reached a point where there was a little path leading up… Victor was with me at the time and he thought that we needed to take that path – but he had seen Dimas and a few others continuing on the road… so he tried to call Dimas… I had his number so I let Victor use my phone. But Dimas never answered… so we decided to play it safe and continue on the road. I knew we were relatively close… and sure enough… about 10 minutes later, we heard the group that was ahead of us and saw the cross.

Whew. What a relief. The best relief is when we saw the last of the group arrive. What a view. We could see the ocean – and quite a distance in the other direction. We sat and relaxed a bit… we took photos… we had some fun at Jon’s expense as he tried to figure out the self timer on his camera. Dimas was watching the clouds coming our way. They were very ominous clouds. The storms are intense here with lots of thunder and lightning. We heard what sounded like a rushing river. We kept looking for where it was coming from. We were literally on top of this mountain, so we wouldn’t get caught in a flash flood where we stood… then we figured out – all of those tin roofs down below Berlín were getting pelted by driving rain! It sounded SO cool!!! Truly like rushing river water. Dimas said we’d better get gong before we got caught. The thought of trying to walk down those very steep roads in pouring rain was a bit un-nerving. The mud could get very deep and slippy and the cobblestones would be worse. So we reluctantly began the trek down. Going down is certainly faster and less strenuous, but to me it is a bit more dangerous. It is much easier to lose footing in the loose sand and rock. We found that little path – and Dimas knew it would be a short cut to the main road… so we took it. It was narrow and very steep and not necessarily easier than the longer road. But we all managed to make it down without breaking any bones.

And we made it to just beyond the school at Brisas del Sol before the rains came – full force. We found shelter under a house awning and just hung out for a bit. At this point, we were very close to Dimas’ house so he told us to wait. He ran and got his truck and backed all the way to us. Victor made me get into the cab with Dimas and the rest piled into the back of the truck. All the way down to the Pastoral House, the people behind were laughing and having a grand time! I think this made the afternoon’s adventure even more fun for them.

I joked that I arranged all the week’s weather for them also – calling ahead to make sure the weather gave us exactly what we needed. Hostess extraordinaire! That’s me!

The Pastoral Team was worried about us of course… we had been gone well over 2 hours… and they figured we were really getting rained upon. They were surprised that we had made it as far as we did. It had been raining for quite a while in Berlín. But we were above the rain for a while.

So after today… will I put this activity on an itinerary again? Probably. Will I go with them? Probably. Will I kick myself halfway up? Definitely. Is it worth the trek? No doubt about it.

This time around was easier for me… but like I said – I’m 25 pounds less than I was a couple of years ago and I’ve become more accustomed to walking and climbing. I can only hope that it gets easier each time.

Vamos a ver. We’ll see.