Well I've been pretty busy (as is quite obvious in the extremely delayed post). The last week in Honduras went by fast. Julien and I were able to work on one of the anesthesia machines. We took it apart, repaired some leaks, and even got the ventilator to start working. That was a major success in our book (I've never seen so many little tubes, it looked like multi colored angel hair pasta). On top of that, we finished all of our translations. So on the last day, we turned those in along with my quilts that I made for the maternity ward.
The previous weekend, we went to a small beach town called Tela. It was nice just to sit around and relax with some of the group before we finally left. That was the last time I'll swim in the Caribbean, at least for a while.
So our last day finally came at the Hospital. We turned in everything we had, gave away what was left of our tools for donations and said goodbye to our fellow technicians. We took our last taxi home ride, finished packing our stuff, and after an unemotional goodbye from our homestay(they shook our hands while sitting on the couch), we left for the bus. We met our director at the station and hitched our three hour bus ride to San Pedro Sula. We left a day and a half early just to make sure that we were able to get to the city and didn't miss our flight due to all the blockades and unexpected strikes. We got this really nice hotel (more like an apartment) right by the airport. It had a swimming pool, a restaurant, air conditioning, pretty much the works. We were definitely ready to go home by that time.
At 4:30 am on Thursday morning, we woke up and caught the shuttle to the airport. After meeting everyone at the airport, we were flying our way to DC. We had no time to waste once there. After reuniting with the Nicaragua group, we were shuttled to the hotel, shown our rooms, and then the Conference started. We listened to a couple of presentations, had some interviews, and then we were finally done for the day at 9pm. Some of us decided to take the metro into downtown DC. We ran to the Washington Monument and halfway to the Lincoln Memorial. However, we didn't have much time because the metro stopped at midnight. We managed to get our way back to the hotel after a confusing metro experience and we went straight to bed.
Friday was more of the conference and before you knew it, everyone was leaving for the airport. Saying goodbye was difficult. All of us grew to so close together, it seemed just yesterday that we were all trying to figure out how to get around Costa Rica. Only on the flight to Michigan did it really hit me that the trip was over. I had experienced so much, done so many things, met so many people, adapted to my new surroundings. I grew as a student, an American, and a citizen of the world. I am extremely thankful that I was able to participate in this program. I plan to continue my international awareness both in my education and in my travels.
I highly encourage everyone to participate in an international experience, even if it is just taking some courses at a university, the mere exposure to different cultures is life changing. My travels have allowed me to view the world in a different place and I will use the knowledge and skills I have gained in my future careers.
If anyone has any questions or anything they would like to know or see, please let me know! Until my next adventure, hasta luego!
Julien and Rigo working on the Operating Table
Julien and I ready to work in the OR
Working hard on the anesthesia machine
Giving away quilts to the nurses
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