Respect the signals

Every time I drive home from getting groceries in the city, I pass this sign out in the country. It says, literally, "Respect the Signals" or follow traffic signs. It is actually in the middle of nowhere. There are no cross streets or villages nearby. No stoplights, stopsigns, yield signs...not even a cattle crossing sign. Just fences and cattle as far as you can see. I've decided this is a joke. Some Honduran stole this from the city and put it up here by his field so he can laugh at the silly Gringos who drive by and frantically look around for signals that aren't there. :)

Modern Art

Some of you may be familiar with the phenomenon of buying old furniture or "antiques" and putting one in your front yard and turning it into a flower bed. The most popular is of course an old bed to make a flower bed out of. Then there is modern art which often turns familiar shapes or objects into something new or unexpected. Now, most of you know I'm not the hugest fan of modern art or old furniture in your yard, but I think this piece above really has something going for it. As you look at the next two photos you'll notice the great use of form, the careful distortion of the front end, the touch of rust, the beautifully manicured vines, the open door inviting you enter in and experience the jungle in a truck...a work of art!!!

Toxic fuzz

This may look like just a piece of fuzz. Or when you see that it is actually a tiny worm with a fuzzy fro, you may think it is kinda cute. Well, the young boy with a bright red, stinging rash on his arm didn't think it was too cute! Apparently it has a chemical on the end of its hairs that causes an allergic reaction in most people with terrible itching and burning for a couple days. So, beware the cute fuzzy creatures when out in the jungle!

Since I'm in the medical mode, I guess I'll put up some other pics of cool stuff. This is a lady with a bad Leishmaniasis infection on her leg. Nothing like a tropical parasite to eat a hole in your leg! That tropical medicine studying in London comes in handy in cases like this!














This is probably the worst case of tinea capitus I have ever seen. For the non-medical among you, this little girl has a severe fungal infection on her scalp.


On a happier note....this is a young lady that I followed throughout her pregnancy for prenatal care in the clinic. She brought in her baby for a checkup after a home delivery. He was doing well and eating like a champ!







This is one of our nurses Penny. No, she is not working in the barber shop. She is cutting the blood-matted hair away from the huge gash on this patient's scalp so I can sew it up!

A trip to the mountains

A visiting doctor and his family really wanted to go up to the mountains and visit some of the villages there. Since the people I've always gone to the mountains with before were unavailable to guide us, we decided to just go have an adventure. So, we put my awesome new Landcruiser in 4-wheel drive and headed up the steep dirt road toward what we hoped would be the community of Las Flores. We had amazing views from the top of the ridge of the coastal villages, rivers and ocean. Then we went further into the mountains and there were lush green hillsides for as far as the eye could see. We did run into a little traffic up there. We had to wait for some cows to get out of the path, and then the women walking with large bundles on their heads, and then the men on their donkeys. Practically an LA freeway! :)

We went to the end of the road (nearly an hour) and explored the river blocking our path. We met two Honduran boys out fishing and learned more about their communities. We passed several groupings of homes and stopped in for a visit. We had found Las Flores! Hondurans are soooo hospitable. They are just the nicest people! They invited us into their homes and offered us drinks and showed us around their property and we discussed their cattle and their pigs and their stove and their children and where their water came from and how long it took them to get down to the hospital for medical care. Then they told us about a waterfall that was just down river. They said if we took the left fork in the road and then walked about 20 min we would find it. So, after our visit, we took off in search of falling water.

To make a very long story short, we never really found the waterfall but we had a great time walking along the path looking for it! There were gorgeous plants and tall trees covered in vines and huge boulders in the rivers. We climbed down the hillside and explored the boulders a little and it was absolutely gorgeous. On the way back we were so hot that we just splashed around in the river in our clothes. Even Jasmine got in and cooled off!

In all it was a nice day of trying out my new wheels, showing the Jarabek's where some of our patients live and looking for the elusive waterfall.