Antigua fountain

We spent a few hours in Antigua on our way to the airport today. The city is a fascinating mix of Guatemalan's, gringo's and hippies. Honestly it was way too crowded for me, especially after the slow pace of the country but I enjoyed seeing another part of this amazing land. The fountain in the central square behind us was very unique and a little shocking at first. After thinking about it however, I realized that it is so fitting for the place. It would be considered lewd in the US, but here, where the milk from a mothers breast sometimes is the only and best source of nutrition for all the children in the family. In the clinic, we would often see children run in from playing outside to quickly nurse before returning to their games. It was disconcerting at first but we quickly got used to it. Once one sees the malnutrition and lack of clean water that these children suffer from it is no wonder that the people would honor their children's best source of food in such a way. I wish the rest of the developed world would honor breastfeeding as these people do. We would probably be amazed at the positive effects it could have.

Antigua antique shop

A chair Amy thought we should bring home. Too big for the carry-on!

Saying goodbye.....

We had to say goodbye to our friends in San Lucas this morning. It was sad and we will miss them. We will especially miss our new friend Marie. She opened our eyes to the struggle of the plight of the Mayan people and politics of the San Lucas community. She taught us what it really means to stand with someone and help carry their burdens. I will never forget her lesson that if an action is good and helps someone, just do it. It's amazing how many times we hamper ourselves with the need for social acceptance. I will post more about Marie later. For now we are working our way back to Guatemala city for our flight out tomorrow morning.
Aaron

Communidad Porvenir

Our last clinic day. It was bitter sweet because we are missing our children so much but we will miss everyone we have come to know here also. Our lives have been touched in so many ways by the people we served that what we gave pales in comparison to what we received. The health promoters, nurses, local docs, our group of students and PA's, and all of our patients and their families taught us something in their own way that we will carry with us forever. We are especially attached to the amazing children of Guatemala. Their smiling faces and friendly "hola's" whenever we passed melted our hearts and warmed our souls. We feel so lucky to have been here.

Aaron

Children

Today we were in another small Mayan village. We saw a record 60+ patients and all of us were exhausted by the end of the day because the conditions were difficult for practicing medicine. However, the memorable part of today had nothing to do with clinical medicine. It did have everything to do with healing though. The village, like most of the others we visited had many children. We always struggled with keeping the children occupied, unsuccessfully and usually ended up managing chaos by the end. Today started very organized and a peek outside showed the reason. Amy had all the children lined up playing games, drawing, singing songs and teaching her Spanish and them English. It was fun to see but made incredible by the fact that Amy still has a very rudimentary grasp of Spanish. The smiles on the childrens faces showed that language cannot hamper happiness and love is a universal language.
By the way, the picture shows only a few of the 60 or so children that were there! :)

Aaron

Thanks for the toothbrushes Dad!

Everyone has been so excited and thankful to receive a new toothbrush. There is such a need for them here. Thanks to Dr. Pelton (Dad) for the fabulous donation. Thanks to everyone who has donated. The people here are so grateful. It has been heartwarming to see so many smiling faces over the simplest things. Things that we often take for granted. Thank you. You have all helped in making a difference in these beautiful people's lives.

Communidad San Gregorio

We visited a small community down the mountain in the heat of the lowlands today. We had to use the home of one of the families in the community because the people did not have a community center or even a school. It is so humbling to enter the peoples homes and see how they live. More than this though, I am humbled to see how happy they are. They have so little by way of material resources that we can't seem to live without and yet their lives are filled with other things. They place so much emphasis on family, work, relationships, their land. It is such a great reminder that where our focus is we will find our desires. I am reminded of a quote by Henry David Thoreau,"our lives are frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify!"