AHMEN/CHIMES Medical Mission to Honduras: Part 3

This is the third installment in a series of entries detailing the recent AHMEN/CHIMES Medical Mission to La Moskitia, Gracias a Dios, Honduras.  April 25-May 7, 2011.  

The Rio Plátano at Las Marias

Day 8: (continued) We left Las Marias early in the morning.  There was indeed more water in the river after the rain the night before, but not as much as we hoped for.  We still had to get out of the canoe several times to negotiate the shoals.  Clouds began to build and darken.  Soon we were in a tropical downpour.  The river curved and twisted dramatically and at times we passed from beneath the seemingly saturated clouds only to have the rain start again at the next turn.  Soon, there were a few inches of water in the bottom of the canoe.  We all noticed a change in the stability of the canoe.  Now, a little gentle rock was exaggerated when the water in the bottom of the boat shifted when the canoe changed direction.  Although we never shipped water, it got within a few inches of the gunwale.  Finally the driver beached the canoe to bail it out.   A small plastic bowl and an old sponge were all he had to use.    At least the rain had finally stopped.  The ride was better and we made good time to the mouth of the river and the canal to Ibans lagoon.  Even in the downpour, Moskito women still washed clothes in the river and the children were still swimming.  Rain in the rain forest is just rain.  It rarely changes the routine and you'll dry out as soon as the sun comes out.  If the roof is leaking now, it's too wet to fix it.  If it isn't raining, it doesn't leak.  

The rain and windswept beach at Raista  (T.Arnold photo)

We passed through the canal into Ibans lagoon.  We were back within cell phone range and several of us called home.  In a short time we reached the village of Raista.  This is a Moskito village right on the ocean and the lagoon.  A long barrier island, about 400 yards in depth separates the two bodies of water.  There are mangrove trees on the fresh water lagoon side and a wide dune-guarded ocean beach on the other.  

Doña Elma's hotel in Raista

We will stay at Doña Elma's hotel right on the lagoon.  There are several building there.  A large hotel building with about ten rooms and a smaller hotel building with perhaps three or four more rooms.  She can sleep about twenty people or so.  There are showers, toilets and sinks with running water.   Each room has a veranda with a hammock.  There are meeting rooms and a large kitchen and dining room.  The dining room has a sand floor, repeatedly swept clean and smooth by the staff.  There are two big tables where we can all eat together and a palm thatched roof above.  All the rooms except the kitchen were on stilts.  The rooms are comfortable, with mosquito nets on every bed.  

Cashew fruit (T. Arnold photo)

There are large cashew trees scattered about the grounds.  Folks there eat the soft fruit of the cashew tree.  The fruit looked like a bright yellow bell pepper with the hard cashew-shaped nut attached at the bottom.  Sweet and very juicy, the fruit was tasty.  Children used bamboo poles to knock the fruit down to eat.  We were served cashew juice at breakfast.

Heavy rain on a thatched roof in Raista

Doña Elma is known for her cooking and her hospitality.  We had fresh shrimp and fish at several meals, along with chicken, pork chops, fresh tomatoes, and fruit.  And of course, the obligatory tortillas and frijoles.  When the economy was better, so was her business.  She was glad to see a group as large as ours.  We asked if there was someone who could do a little laundry for us.  It was done gratis because we were medical volunteers.  Raista is a fairly large village.  There is even an airstrip there as well as several small stores and churches.  We planned a clinic there in the morning.  It rained heavily all that night.  The thatched roofs leaked a little, but not too much.  No one seemed to mind.  The rain lasted all the next day.  We were just glad we were not in the canoes.  

Eduardo works in the pharmacy

Day 9:  We held our clinic under the hotel and in Doña Elma's home.  We saw almost 200 patients that day.  That night at supper, in walked two English speaking women, one an American and one from Australia.  They were traveling to Las Marias.  This place seemed to be the crossroads of La Moskitia.  

Moskito children are not uncommonly fair-haired

We decided to hold a second clinic day in Raista.  We were running low on medications and we were drawing people from as far as Ibans village and New Jerusalem several miles away.  We saw quite a number of patients, but not nearly as many as the previous day.  There were a few rain showers, but it was a nice place to be.  Another Frisbee was introduced to the local kids and soon it was sailing all over the compound.  Kids are kids, wherever they live.

Healthy children smile from deep inside

Too shy for a smile

Sisters in Raista

Day 10:  The next morning we said goodbye to Eduardo and Stephanie and loaded the canoes to return to Palacios.  We could see thick rain clouds piled heavily over the mountains across the lagoon near Las Marias, but the weather on the north side of the lagoon was pleasant.  We saw a few children seining the vegetation in the lake for freshwater shrimp, tiny, but easy to collect.  After a few miles along the shore and we pass into the river, the main thoroughfare along the coast.  In a couple of places the river spills into the Caribbean Sea.  Breakers are visible low against the sky, openings in wall of trees.  We pass by a sandbar where a small crocodile lays in the sun.  A frigate bird circles in concert with a buzzard, completely different in grace and style but sharing the sky to trace large, lazy circles above the jungle.  

We pass through the narrow cut-off river into the lagoon at Palacios and check in at the Naval Station.  The bored young Honduran Marine nods and shifts his American rifle as we pass by.  The La Moskitia Hotel is a mile ahead.  We dock and unload the boat and relax for a while before dinner. 

The road home

Day 11:  The next morning we will reload the boats and cross the river to Pueblo Nuevo, and pack the trucks to make the long drive to La Ceiba.  The trip along the beach should be easy.  There has been some rain.  Not enough to swell the four rivers along the way and require crossing by balsas, but enough to make the sand a little harder and drivable.  The beach road is easy and fun today.  We watch trains of pelicans cruising the waves on a hunt.  We stop at the “drum maker’s” home in Sangrelaya where we shop for a few authentic Garifuna items.  Ceremonial drums, ship models and the like.  We drive on along the beach and cross the river at Iriona easily.

We drop off all the leftover medicine at the hospital at Ciriboya and stop at Mirna’s home for a quick light meal, the best fritas and coffee on the north coast of Honduras.  Two trucks head for La Ceiba, Bud has to drop off some stuff back in Iriona and he’ll catch up with us by Bonito Oriental.   About twenty minutes later we get a call that Bud’s truck has broken down east of Ciriboya.  What next?!!.  We return to Ciriboya to find him stopped at the roadside.  His engine just stopped and won’t start again.  A local mechanic stops to help and quickly discovers that the timing belt has broken, and one of the rocker arms has fractured.  The truck is useless to us and we are eight or ten hours from La Ceiba.  After yet another call to AVIS  another truck is dispatched in our direction, and another long delay begins.  We tow the dead truck to the hospital where Bud, Shack, and Mario will wait for the new truck as the rest of the team drives on to La Ceiba stuffed into the trucks like cordwood.  Norman Coto rides on top of the load in the back of the truck, his I-Pod plugged into his ears and his face covered by a bandana against the dusty roads.   Another breakdown, and another delay that will force us to travel at night in Honduras. 

Drivers in Honduras play by different rules.  Passing each other is at least a popular as futból and played with far less referees.  The shoulders of the roads are filled with horses and cows, pedestrians and bicycles.  America may have invented potholes, but they were perfected in Honduras.  They are also fond of placing speed bumps in the middle of nowhere.  The combination of all this made for an interesting trip.  Finally we arrived at our hotel, again on the Cangrejal River near where we stayed on our first night in La Ceiba. 

View from the hotel above the Rio Cadrejal in La Ceiba

Located on a steep mountainside, seeing where the rooms were located gave us a shock.  We could see the building in the dark, and the seemingly endless flight of stairs leading up to them.   We opted to eat before the assent and enjoyed a nice meal in the comfortable dining hall.  We recruited help with the baggage and soon we were all asleep.  The third truck arrived later that evening and we were all safely together again. 

Tiny wild orchid at Lancetilla

Day 12:  Again we loaded the trucks for the trip to El Progresso and the Casa Blanca Hotel.  We stopped at the Cruzadas compound to drop off some gear that could stay until our next trip.  The Spring container was due in a couple of days and the Bodega had been cleaned and organized.  We talked briefly with Sister Eleanor and Sandy and then we headed west.  We stopped at the Lancetilla Botanical Garden in Tela and spent an hour or two with a guide looking around the beautiful grounds.  We checked into our rooms at Casa Blanca and enjoyed our first warm showers in over a week.  Simple pleasures!  Delmer Montoya, our young Honduran doctor, is from El Progresso and had invited our team to dinner at his family home.  His mother had prepared Paella, a traditional Spanish seafood dish loaded with shrimp, oysters, fish and meat with rice and peas.  We ate in the courtyard of their home and got to know Delmer’s parents.  They are very proud of their son, as well they should be.  Delmer has become an active member of the AHMEN medical teams this year.  Ben Coplan danced with Delmer’s mother while those of us not so musically gifted learned about the palm oil business from Delmer’s father. 

Day 13:  We pack again and drive to the airport in San Pedro Sula.  We board our plane and arrive in Houston after a smooth flight.   After goodbyes, the team scatters to other flights to other cities, where the memories of this mission will fall into their rightful places in time.

Members of the AHMEN/CHIMES La Moskitia team April/May 2011