Day 1

Laurie and I flew from Newark to Houston. (thanks Michael for the free drink coupons...we actually have 4 mini wine bottles left over...sitting in our room ready for us to consume. They had Shiraz which is my favorite!). In Houston we joined up with 29 members of the "medicos en accion" team! Maybe 5 of us who aren't doctors or nurses. I might have to go to medical school so I can come back next year! I proudly wore my "team" shirt which claims I am part of a "surgical team". Luckily for the Guatemalans I don't plan on helping out on that front!

We arrived well past bedtime at "Quinta des Flores", our home for the next couple of weeks. We have been assigned to cassita 1 with Hillary and Lydia (the sister and daughter, of Rod the chief surgeon and team leader for the group). Our cassita is a lovely townhouse style complete with living room, kitchen and two bedrooms. ( a little Juliet balcony off our bedroom) We took a walk around the property in the dark and ran into Rod and J.P. ( aka PJ after I mistakenly recalled his name...he appears to have a good sense of humor about it). He is one of the ENT's we will be working for in the audiology clinic.

After breakfast at the outdoor restaurant at our hotel we meet with Rod , who was taking the group on a walking tour of Antigua. I would say a little less than half of the group are in guatemala for the first time. I believe the team total is 39. About 20 of us took the tour. First stop was a quick trip around the hospital so everyone would know where to go at 7 am tomorrow. It was a better facility than I had anticipated and appeared and smelled clean. We walked by the operating theatres were we all meet in the morning for breakfast and I assume just to get organized for the day. Tomorrow we will be setting up the audiology clinic and perhaps starting to see some patients. I understand tomorrow the surgeons will be meeting and evaluating patients and setting up a surgery schedule. Other years they have run 3 operating rooms but this year the team is big enough to run 4 operating rooms!

After our quick hospital tour we continued our orientation walk. It is a beautiful little town. A modern day Pompeii complete with the active volcano puffing away. (volcano is called fuego). We saw lots of beautiful textiles, pan flute players and even family of young boys playing turtle shells as drums. We meet many friendly vendors and now have plans to take salsa classes and Spanish lessons in the evenings. We went to a large bodega and picked up a few snacks. ( I will go back and take pictures for you Mike). Had a lovely lunch at cafe condesa outside by a fountain.

Resting up now for our first team Fiesta. One of the ENT's, Norm, from Ohio, is preparing a welcome dinner for everyone!

Everyone I have met is wonderful. I am trying to keep all the names and occupations straight. Very excited to start work tomorrow!