First Day of Clinic

Monday was our first day of clinic.  We worked in the town of Solola.  I was paired up with a fourth year, Erik, for the day.  We had three wonderful fourth year guys two weeks away from graduation on the trip.  They were so helpful and very patient with all of us second years.  It was good practice for next year working with Erik as my attending.  He made me present to him as I will next year and I got to run the show with all our patients.  It was so much fun and very exciting to finally put all my knowledge to use.  Working through an interpreter was difficult at times but by the end of the day my Spanish vocab had increased 10 fold.  I was very nervous for my first few patients but as the day went on I got the hang of it. 

The children were my favorite.  I won them over by passing out stickers.  The nurses running registration knew how much I want to specialize in pediatrics so they sent all the kids my way!  I was in heaven!  We were surprised at noon with some local women bringing us lunch.  It was very unexpected and so generous.  We saw about 120 patients that day.  I was exhausted by also very satisfied. 

Back in Panajachel we all went out for a delicious dinner and some live music.  Some of the English translations on the menu were really amusing.  My favorite was "tasty breast of a plump and obese chicken".  The night ended early with us all curling into bed ready to face the next day of clinic.