Itinerary
Day One: Travel Day
(Destination – Pedregal; Travel by Boat)
Days Two and Three: Pedregal
Days Four and Five: Blue
Lagoon (Travel by Horse; Return to Pedregal at the end of Day Five)
Days Six and Seven: San
José (Travel by Horse; Return to Pedregal at the end of Day Seven)
Days Eight and Nine: Pondler
(Travel by Boat)
Day Ten: Arenitas
(Travel by Boat) and San Pablo (Travel by Horse; Return by Boat to Pearl Lagoon
at End of Day)
Whereas the Wawashan River was wide and picturesque, the
Pachy River was narrow, dangerously shallow, and almost completely choked in
parts with fallen branches. The Pachy River was barely controlled chaos, and
there we were, in the middle of it.
Storm clouds had rolled in early on the day of our departure.
The plastic tarp had to be unrolled after only an hour of travel, and we didn’t
emerge from underneath it until we bumped up against the muddy shore of
Pondler. There, we transferred to a larger, slow moving wooden boat (think
along the lines of a large canoe), and fought our way (still enveloped in dirty
black tarp) up the river for four hours. Six hours after starting out, we
reached Pedregal.
No one met us by the river bank to help us carry the sacks
of medical supplies and belongings. Nor was there a soul to guide us to the
health outpost, located about 20 minutes from the shoreline. We struck out a
path, shouldering what we could, and quickly found ourselves sinking, shin- to
knee-deep, in mud. Soft, sticky, odious mud. Boots filled with slime. People
lost their balance and toppled over. Sandals and shoes were sucked off of feet.
We were, in short, miserable.
When we had nearly reached the clinic, we were met on the
trail by two young men on horseback. Laughing at our plight, they informed us
that the route we’d chosen was for horses and mules. Another, drier trail was
available for pedestrians. Cursing, we finished the trek and washed away the
accumulated grime in the outside sink with clean bedpans we’d found. No food
had been prepared for us, so we ate insufficient suppers of crackers, hung our
hammocks in the clinic, and collapsed for the night.
Mud emerged as the consistent theme of this journey. Mud was
ever-present; in the roads and rivers, spattered on our clothes, stuck to our
boots, and occasionally in our hair. Add the sticky heat and you have a pretty
good recipe for misery. Every day, we washed ourselves and our clothes, only to
be covered once again by red-brown muck. Lest I lead you to believe that I
spent my entire time simply obsessing over personal hygiene, however, I should
speak of the work that we accomplished.
My first two days of the brigade were spent holding the
final training on Plan de Parto and ECMAC with the community health workers of
the Pedregal area. I can now happily report that I am half-way finished with my
SPA project! The rest of the brigade was
spent in a similar fashion as that of the Pueblo Nuevo brigade: early mornings;
rainy days; long, muddy horseback rides (and one terrifying trip in a dory, or
cayuco – a small, incredibly unstable wooden boat); meals of beans, rice, and
tortilla; meetings with the community men (made more difficult this time by the
rice harvest); malaria testing; photography; bathing and washing in creeks; and
long, dark nights of whining mosquitos, hair-raising trips to the latrine, and
sleep in hammocks. This brigade, however, was smoother and overall more
pleasant than the last. We accomplished a good deal of work, and there was a
greater harmony between the team members. Oh yes, and less instances of
accidents and illnesses. At the end of the ten days, I was certainly ready to
return home – I longed for my bed, my shower, and my (relatively) mud-free life
in Pearl Lagoon – but I wasn’t desperate to escape, as I’d felt my first time
around. I’d like to believe that, with each of these brigades, I’m growing a
bit; becoming a little bit tougher and more resilient. I guess I’ll have to
wait and see – I have two brigades left to go…
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| Training, complete with pig as special guest |
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| One of our meetings with community men |
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| Weighing babies (they always cry) |
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| Malaria Testing |
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| One of the communities |
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| The ride to Blue Lagoon |
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| Early morning washing |
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| One of the creeks we used to bathe and wash |
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| A very unnerving ride down a river |
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| The ride to San Pablo |
Word
of the Day: renko – lame, crippled (I learned this word after
being stuck on a renko mule for a three hour journey back from a community. An
unpleasant experience to say the least.)
