The Day I Saw Honduras (or, Nicaragua, Day Twelve)

On Monday, we had the opportunity to go out with our Nicaraguan doctor and Roberto, the pharmacist/driver, to a little river community right on the Honduran border near the city of Somatillo. We got to practice our pharmacy skills again, and let me tell you: I am a pro at counting out 30 multivitamins and 21 ibuprofens.

That hill in the background is Honduras!

We held the clinic on one side of the river, while the village is on the other, so if we wanted to go into the village, we had to get across somehow. Lauren and I had decided that we wanted to go across at some point, just to see the views, if nothing else. We were planning on wading across, but just before lunchtime, the leader of the town, Antonio, offered us a ride across on his horse! Lauren has been on horses for a long time, but I had never been on a horse in my life before. It was quite an experience, riding behind the saddle, across a river and up a pretty steep hill the first time horseback riding.

The road to the village

Me and Lauren on the horse!

Antonio took us to his house to meet his family, and then his daughter showed us around the village a little bit. His wife showed us how she makes flowers out of paper and plastic, and then fashions them into wreaths to sell in town. They are beautiful in their own way. Once lunch was ready to bring back to the clinic, we hopped on the horse again and headed across the river. This time, I was a little more confident, and so I was able to take some photos of the view.

It is so nice to spend time in the really rural villages, and really connect with the people in them. It is very different from spending time in Villa de Catalina and Chinandega: The children in Villa are very very happy, they are always telling you how much they love you and they want to to interact with them all the time. In the smaller villages, many of the children are less smiley, more wary, and just more reserved. It is interesting to see, because at first, the children look like they come from the same economic class, but if you looke closer, the people in Villa are a little bit better off. They have access to many more resources though Amigos than many people in Nicaragua.

On the way back to Chinandega, there were the most amazing cloud formations. Some people see John the Baptist, some people see God, some people see light and goodness and joy. Whatever you see, the divine is all the same, because all it is, is love.