Los Torreros!

We just spent two days in the beautiful village of Los Torreros!  In past years, the HHA team only spent a day in Los Torreros. This year we decided to spend a night there as well so we could have two clinic days in the area.  The ride up the mountain was pretty ridiculous -- though the views were spectacular!

View from the chicken truck.

We rode in the back of the truck with all of our clinic supplies and travel packs for two and a half hours, through Choluteca and up a rocky road to the tiny mountainous village.  As soon as we got there, we set up four clinic rooms and got to work.  Our set-up was in the local schoolhouse, so a couple of the third years can say that they successfully placed IUD's with patients on clinic tables made out of school desks. 

We saw over forty patients that first day, and the community was kind enough to make us a meal for the evening.  At the end of the day we split into a couple of groups and spent the night with several different families -- hanging our hammocks in the living room.  The generosity of the people was just astounding, and we were definitely grateful for a roof over our heads!  

On our way to our host family's house for the night!

The next morning, we got up and had breakfast back at the clinic, and set up for another day.  That day closed out our week of clinic work -- and by the end we had seen over 300 patients in clinic, placed 4 IUD's, completed over 200 pap smears, gave charlas to nearly 400 women, and diagnosed and treated everything from chlamydia and gonorrhea, to women with high-risk pregnancies, to a lady thrown from her horse in front of the clinic!   

On top of that, all of us have had such a phenomenal learning experience -- from taking vitals and history, to performing physical exams independently, to making diagnoses via microscope slides, to formally presenting to residents, to prescribing antibiotics, to keeping incredibly cool in high pressure situations with very limited resources.  We also have created such an excellent working and traveling relationship, and it has made this project so rewarding on many different levels.

Now we are awaiting pap smear results before heading back to our communities later this week!  Stay tuned!