Hola, hola, hola.....

October 31, 2010

Sunday morning we packed up the truck and loaded our new (for us) van. Some affectionately call it the love van, or Big Bertha, we haven’t settled on a name yet.  It’s a retired combi, which is another form of public transportation here. They can usually be seen packed to the brim with people, animals, produce, whatever can squeeze it’s way in.

So with the cars packed we headed down the road. People kept flagging us down for rides thinking we were a taxi, it was pretty entertaining. I felt slightly rude for just passing them, but what can we do?

We arrived at the small, quiet town of Nuevo Tunuya ready to attend to patients. As we were trying to figure out our clinic location Dr. Mathews asked me to go to the town’s P.A. system and announce tat we were there to have a clinic. I was really excited because that meant I cold do what I’ve always wanted to do since our river trip.

I climbed up the wooden ladder to the second floor of the town’s announcement system. The “D.J.” handed me the mic and I was ready.

“Hola, hola, hola.” I had been waiting for the opportunity to greet a town over a sound system the same way the guy in Nuevo Saposoa greeted us our first morning in their town.

“Buenos dias Nuevo Tunuya. Vamos tener una clinica para ustedes. Tenemos un grupo medico y dental tambien. Vamos tener consultas, y medicinas para ustedes. Todos es gratis Venga, venga! Traen sus hermanos, hermanas, sus primas, primos, esposos, abuelos, traen todos!”

(Good morning Nuevo Tunuya. We are going to have a clinic for you. We have a medical group and dental group. We are going to have consultations and medicine. Everything is free. Come! Come! Bring your brothers, sisters, cousins, spouses, grandparents, bring everybody!)

The clinic went smoothly, I helped in triage, cleaned some teeth, a little bit of everything. Good times in Nuevo Tunuya.