Hospital tour, etc.........

 

At 10am, we were to meet Dr. Ortega at the hospital for our hospital tour, but he was running late. Fortunately, we ran into Dr. Ricardo who spoke a little English. He was very kind and spent much time with us explaining all areas of the hospital, except for the emergency ward. He said it was way too busy and  possibly too gruesome. More conversation with the hospital directors and other doctors ensued that morning. We were warmly welcomed.  The last stop of the tour was the dental clinic. It has changed a lot since we were here last  year. We lost two of the operatory rooms that we normally occupy, as well as the reception area. The hospital is undergoing many structural changes so we needed to adapt. Turns out that the dental clinic can be accessed from the back area so a decision was made to set up underneath a grove of mango trees beside the hospital. This will be a sight to see. It'll be cool under the shade, the greatest risk will be the falling mangos. I'm trying to secure several umbrellas to work under and to find a way to keep them standing without breaking the hospital ground. It will be interesting.

After the tour, we walked back to the students' home away from home @ Roberto's to debrief. With our feet in the pool,  the debriefing session was a far cry than our debriefings in Canada. Then, it was time to organize and plan for the next day. We will be seeing approximately  60 kids at the kindergarten school. Emma and Jeanie led the discussion as this was their Spring Term project. An agenda was planned, goodie bags were organized, and details about a return visit to the school in our last week here was discussed. Danielle, Kellie, and I ventured over to Entreamigos a few hours later to find out more about the nutrition seminar that was scheduled. The picture that you see of a blank space with a kitchen will be where our last dental clinic will be established.

We ended the day by walking over to Eva's kitchen for some good, very affordable eating. My meal of chorizo and carne pelliscadas (shown in picture) was less than $5.00 CAD.  Eva's granddaughter, also named Eva provided entertainment for our group. She danced and clapped and mainly ended up on Emma's lap. Today is another busy day of school visit, excursion to La Pineta (25 minutes north of San Pancho) to purchase supplies and do some banking, and setting up a health promotion table at the local plaza when we return to San Pancho. There is high probability that the Bassetts may be dropping by later this afternoon for a visit, as they are vacationing in a nearby village.

Becky Reporting

We finally have internet back at our bungalows and we are all trying to catch up.  There is a lot of Skyping going on tonight.  It's amazing how much we rely on these comforts - we are truly privilaged.
We went for a tour of the San Pancho Hospital this morning which serves the town and many neighbouring communities.  We were not sure if we would be able to understand our tour guide but fortunately one of the young doctors was asked to give us an impromptu tour.  He was very friendly and welcoming and this gave him a chance to practice his English and us to practice understanding some more Spanish.  We were very lucky that Dr. Ricardo was in today for the tour. Our space in the hospital is now a lot smaller than originally planned due to construction.  We are going to be setting up our clinic in the dental room as well as outside under some mango trees.  As we were standing outside under the trees today we commented on how the mangos did not look ripe enough yet to fall off and hit anyone.  A few minutes later we heard crashing and a loud thud as a mango hit the ground! Guess some are ripe enough ;)  We will all have to watch our heads!

Candyce Reporting...

Well it's been a busy week, oh how it's flown by like a summer breeze!!!  We have completely utilized our time here, relaxing, swimming, and socializing with the locals.  We have met many people already and are establishing friendships along the way!! We are working with a local group that is putting on a cardboard circus.  It is nothing as I imagine it to be.  The people here are really into recycling and I only hope that we become that conscious of our wastes.  They build beautiful art out of old electrical wires, pop bottles, and even car bumpers.  It's amazing how far a little creativity will take you!!!  Everyone is mellowing into mexico time, which is a much slower pace, I do love this!!!  Our instructors may need to be kind about punctuality when we get back to school;-)  I am really looking forward to start working at the hospital this weekend and meeting more of the local community.

Bethany reporting

We have already been here a week and the time has flown by.  We had a little trouble with our internet to try to communicate with our family and friends, but now we are up and running and ready to tell you about our exciting time in Mexico.  We have already done so much: beach volleyball, socializing with the community members, volunteering at the cardboard circus, touring the town and community center, swimming and snorkling while visiting the Marietas island and so much more.  The weather is great, but of course we have all experienced our own sunburns.  I am so happy to be here and tomorrow we get to go to the primaria school to give oral health education to the young children.  This weekend, we will also be starting our public clinic to give dental hygiene services to the surrounding community members.  Next week will be so much fun.  Thanks for reading!

Class, posters, and eats...

The days go by quickly as there is much planning to do, re-do, re-arrange, and revise. We are quickly getting accustomed to the idea that manana does not necessarily mean tomorrow, and that what it really means is that, "it ain't going to happen today." The days are filled with just the right amount of work and rest for all of us. The heat slows everything down, right down to our gait, as we walk about town (our only means of transport). The pictures are of us doing a 2-hour session to review for the national boards. The focus that day was on principles and issues in dental hygiene and fluorides. Emma did not like that she didn't know all the answers. Imagine that? ;-) We also made spanish posters and pamphlets to post around town. I did not have to do much double-checking to see if the words were correct. The students were pretty right-on with the copying of the translation. This provided an excellent way to increase our visibility and to interact with the locals to talk about what we were doing. We also arranged a meet and greet with some of the bilingual people who will be helping us in the schools and in the clinic. The 10-month old that I am holding (Sophia) is the daughter of one of our interpreters. Today, we visited the hospital and interacted with the doctors and the other personnel there. It was great to be able to share what we will be doing there this coming weekend.  More pics to come of that day. Ciao for now.

Danielle reporting...

Our arrival in San Pancho was anticipated and welcomed by the locals! It has been incredible to observe the differences in culture and how accomodating/patient everyone around us has been with our limited spanish. We organized our supplies this afternoon and reviewed our revised schedule as plans change from day to day.... This has taught us to be flexible and easy going, as is the Mexican way. We generated posters to advertise for the free clinic ('gratis clinica') beginning this weekend. I am astounded by the amount of organization required to plan and implement a program here. We are meeting community volunteers and individuals involved in making the Smile Project possible tomorrow afternoon! Hasta luego!

Kellie reporting...

Hi everyone!  First of all we're having the most amazing time 'aclimatizing' ourselves into this very welcoming community.  The people are so friendly.  We are definitely noticing the differences of being in a small tight knit village.  Our internet has been down at our bungalow since last night and we are feeling a little deprived and unconnected, so I'm going to report on yesterday...  We went on a snorkel tour of the Mariettas Islands to soak up some of the surrounding elements.  We saw dolphins, a mantaray, a baby stingray, many many tropical fish and 'blue footed boobies' (birds indigenous to the islands with blue feet).  We ate lunch on a private beach that you can only get to by swimming through a cave... amazing to say the least.  Until next time.... adios!

Cultural immersion....

On Sunday, Entreamigos (a non-profit community organization from San Pancho) organized a community event for the people of Sayulita, a neighboring village along the Bahia de Banderas. The event was called Circus Carton, a show about the importance of ecological stewardship. I asked the organizers if there was a way for us to participate or help in the event as this would provide a great opportunity for our group to be immersed in the culture in such a fun atmosphere. We were there an hour before the start of the show to set up chairs, organize the merchandise table, make popcorn bags out of newspaper, haul the microwave oven to a restaurant nearby to pop popcorn and fill the bags on the street,  mix the hibiscus juice, organize the t-shirts by sizes, give away stickers, and mingle with the locals. The attached pictures don't do justice to the color, energy, and warmth that we felt while we watched and participated. The last picture is of our taxi ride home (sorry Kellie- got you with your eyes closed).

Day uno....

After a very long day of travel, our first day in San Pancho was all about easing into the new environment. The planned rendezvous with former field school alumni, Sam (grad 2009) and her beau, Conan came into fruition when they knocked on my door Friday morning. (see above).  Great to see them! They are now living in Calgary, Alberta. The rest of the day was spent doing a walk-a-bout touring the area and showing the students points of interest. The buzz about our arrival was already felt during the walk and the people of San Pancho were very excited to see that the "proyecta sonrisa" (smile project) is back.

Jeanie reporting

Today we visited the city of Sayulita and helped out with a community fundraising event for San Pancho.  It was great to see the community interaction and support.  The people of San Pancho have been very gracious to us and I can't wait for our next adventure to the Marietas Island.

Sarah Reporting...

We are finally here!  Since we got in late thursday night it was great to have a lazy morning yesterday, lots of great food, and tons of time exploring and visiting the town.  Everyone that we encountered in the town was very nice and welcoming, and seemed happy that we were here.  The beach is beautiful, and there are a lots of interesting flowers and tons of dogs roaming around (which I love!).  Our place here is amazing with a great patio/pool area plus our own private patios, we are pretty lucky to be here!  Today we are off to Sayulita for some more exploring (and possibly a little bit of work).  Bye for now....   

Emma reporting....

We are here and it is beautiful!! Yesterday was a great first day with a lot of eating and exploring; today we are off to Sayulita for a cardboard circus, and tomorrow Marietta Island for a hike to a waterfall! Fun, fun, fun for as long as possible before work, work , work ;)

Tanis Reporting

Yesterday was our first full day in San Pancho and it was great!  It was cloudy today, which was good for climatizing ourselves for the first day.  The community is very friendly and supportive of us being here.  We enjoyed our tour of the town and a beach volleyball game after dinner.  Looking forward to another great day!  Adios 

Robin reporting......

Well, we have made it safe and sound to San Pancho and the locals, our house and of course the food are incredible. Yesterday was overcast so it was perfect to acclimatize ourselve into the hot and humid weather. After a tour of the village yesterday we enjoyed a nice dinner on the beach followed by a game of beach volleyball! So much fun! This is my first trip into a village like San Pancho, and I can see right away how close the community is and how much they support eachother. We are off to Sayulita today for a cardboard circus.....until next time..adios !

7am April 22nd departure from Victoria...

Bright eyed and bushy-tailed @ YYJSeats 19DEF

AHHH....what to do in Calgary from 9am to 2pm???

Becky swabbing polysporin in her nostrils prior to take off to Puerto Vallarta......

Finally, we passed customs at the airport, a stop at the grocery store in Bucerias  to get provisions before the last drive to our final destination.