1 week shy of 3 months of in-service!

Yesterday, the 7th of July I accompanied a doctor, hygienist, nurse and two nursing students to an outlying community of San Isidro called Carrizal de La India. It is a very pretty community located in a valley with a creek/river with many trees and foliage. Kind of reminds me of the northwoods in Minnesota or a valley in the Rocky mts. of Colorado. This community has electricity but no running water. They get their water from three wells dispersed throughout the community and the people wash their clothes in the river, taking advantage of the randomly placed rocks that are dispersed throughout. I accompanied the hygienist to take water samples from the wells. This was quite an interesting process. The hygienist was taking water samples from the wells to test for bacteria, to make sure the water is safe to drink. The whole sampling procedure needs to be sanitary so he washes his hands with soap and water before filling a plastic bag with about 6 oz. of water and then adding a substance (powder) that after 24 hours will turn the water sample black if there is bacteria in the water.

Also, today, the 8th of July I finally discovered a specific food that disgusts me and I am not able to eat without being disgusted. For lunch I was given a plate with cow tongue and rice. The sauce that the cow tongue was cooked in was delicious, but the consistency of tongue just doesn’t appeal to me. Now, I am pretty sure that eating cow tongue is not solely a characteristic of Nicaragua, because I do believe I have family and friends who enjoy eating cow tongue in the States, or at the very least can tolerate it. Also, I have found that in my Nicaraguan diet, I rarely eat fresh fruit or produce unless I purchase it myself. This is because almost every kind of fruit you can think of is blended into a drink or in Spanish a “refresco”. Of course there is refresco made of lemons, cantaloupe, beets, carrots, mangos, star fruit, tamarindo, seeds of jicaro, pineapple, oranges and other fruits which I cannot think of right now. I am sorry but I do not know the translation for tamarindo and jicaro but they are fruits native to Nicaragua. A few fruits and vegetables that you rarely see or can find because they cost too much are grapes, apples, green beans, artichoke among others.