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Hello again, I am back at Lake Atitlan but this time I'm getting a different look at things. For those of you that are not aware, there were devastating mudslides at the lake this past year due to torrential rainfall caused by Hurricane Stan. Hundreds of people lost their lives and many lost theirs homes and crops. A lot of different groups are here at the lake providing resources and help. I have been introduced to a few of them and will help out where I can.

Lending a Helping Hand

Jeremy Curl
2006-08-28 16:23:59

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I grabbed my personal first aid kit and followed him to his house. The 2 year old had fallen and had a cut above his eye and there was blood running down his face. He was crying at the time but nothing like the screaming that went on when he saw his first giant white man. I had to talk the mother through first sanitizing her dirty hands, then cleaning, and finally applying ointment to the wound. All turned out good, but then came the call at midnight where I had to drive me and a young rookie two towns over to transport a man with severe stomach pain to the hospital (which is an hour drive). We ended up searching in the dark for 30 minutes trying to find the correct shack (mixed in with many other similar shacks), while rabid dogs snipped at our heels. By the time we locate at removed him from his house, our partners showed up and took over the transport to the hospital. I must say it was quite the night, especially due to the fact that no one had the time to slow their Spanish down so that I could make sense of it.

If you haven't noticed, an EMT in Guatemala is comparable to a surgeon in the states. Now that everyone knows I am an EMT they think I am the one to go to in an emergency. Up till now, I have received a call from Sharon for advice on a one year old baby with a 2nd degree burn on it's face, a call from Joann about a lady with severe pain in her lower esophagus, and if that’s not all, Liss brought a young girl by my place with an allergic rash to treat. Well, I did my best with the little bit of knowledge that I have and luckily one of them made it (just kidding!).

Well, I was going to try and squeeze my last bit of time here at the lake into one entry, but there is just too much I have to say so sorry there will be more to come. Oh yeah, one last thing! I have yet again discovered another critter to make one's life miserable, and that would be Mr. Coffee Fly. These invisible little flies will bite you without you even knowing it and leave an egg under your skin. The eggs never hatch, but soon you have a red welt and a severe itch to go with it. I now have the pleasure of having these bites all over me. I have learned (7 days later) that rubbing alcohol on the bites helps get rid of them. They say that after you have been here for awhile they stop biting you. But I just believe in general, bugs love the taste of my blood. Well, I've never seen one of these little buggers, but I sure have a nice little collection of their eggs under my freakin' skin. Scratch Ya Later!

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