I've always wanted to go to Israel! Because of political unrest off and on through the years, I didn't think I'd ever get the opportunity. While planning vacation for this winter, I saw a cruise that included Israel. I thought this might be my chance to see the Holy Land. Booking the trip went fine. I felt good about the decision to go and did not foresee any issues. Then, political unrest (for lack of a better description) broke out in the region. The cruise was not canceled, and the unrest seemed to blow over. We were scheduled to fly through JFK in New York. One week before we were scheduled to depart, a hurricane blew through the East Coast, shutting down the airport and canceling thousands of flights over several days. The airport opened back again and all seemed to be well. Then, within days of our trip, I got an email reminding me of requirements to have a valid passport. I had a valid passport and was fully aware it expired soon. But, it was still valid. Then, I read the fine print, "a valid passport is a passport that does not expire within 6 months of travel." I didn't know what to do. I really didn't know if I had any options. And, didn't imagine they wouldn't let me fly, since my passport was still valid. Then, I talked to a friend who used to work for Delta. She said they would not let me get on the plane if my passport expired within 6 months. As ridiculous as I felt this was, I flew to Denver the next day, costing me hundreds of dollars, to expedite a passport renewal. So, 3 days later, we were on the plane to the Holy Land. The coast was clear! Or not! We got to JFK, now up and functioning normally, until a storm hit the day of our flight. Not so "normal" anymore! We were in New York. It was snowing. We boarded the plane. Sat for 1 hour. Got off the plane. Wandered for 3 hours. Got back on the plane. Sat for an additional 4 hours before taking off. Exactly 1 minute to spare before the flight was canceled entirely, because the crew cannot legally work longer than 18 hours. Despite the set back, we arrived safely in Rome less than 9 hours later, and 8 hours late. Luckily, we had planned to spend a few days in Rome before the cruise. Our days were shortened, but we crammed in as much as possible! Now, we could rest easy! Nothing else would go wrong, right? The weather was lovely. Seriously! Sun every day. We cruised to Turkey and saw a castle. Alanya really is a nice town. I was proposed to there. I said, "no", but am not above an Internet relationship. Next, off to Cyprus. Another fantastic day, seeing amazing sights. That night, we were notified that the political situation was not good in Israel. We were supposed to dock near the Gaza strip. Since Gaza was shooting missiles into Israel, our captain decided that wasn't a good idea. We docked at another port higher north on the coast. We still drove into Jerusalem, it just took several hours. Some of the streets were closed, because of Intelligence they had received. That night, there was an explosion in Jerusalem. We missed it! I felt perfectly safe the whole time we were in Israel. On to Egypt. We went to Cairo. Cairo is a big city in a third world country. It is dirty and impoverished. And, the feeling on the streets were very politically charged. I didn't not feel safe in Cairo.We witnessed a scuffle, that added to my unease. We still saw amazing things! I don't need to go back to Cairo. But, I do need to go back to Israel. I think I'll check out a book about it tomorrow! Off to my next adventure!
Mota Fofalia, India
Parking Spot
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Nicaragua
In May, I travelled to Nicaragua. Compared to many places I have been, travel was super easy! 3 hours to Texas, then 3 hours to Nicaragua. And, no jet lag! They are on the same time zone we are! We arrived in Managua on Wednesday night, and drove to Esteli Thursday afternoon. It was a 3 hour drive on a school bus with no air conditioning. Which is par for the course in Nicaragua! We had the windows down, until it started to rain. Then, it actually got a little cool.
Our hotel was nice and clean. There were 3 people to a room. This was a local mission, so there only 3 of us from the states. Everyone else spoke Spanish. Because of this, my roomates spoke Spanish. They were cute! One tried really hard to communicate. And, we used a lot of sign language. And, a lot of smiles! Our water only had an on or off switch, so you got the temperature you got! Sometimes, mildly warm, sometimes freezing cold.
We went to the hospital the next day to screen patients. We screened over 90 and 62 were selected for surgery. We selected several 3 month old infants with primary cleft lips. One struggled in surgery, so we cancelled one the next day. In all, we did cleft lip repair, cleft palate repair, burn and scar revision, and seperating finders of patients born with syndactyly.
The next 4 days were spent doing surgery! I was in pre/post op. Although the OR was in good condition, the pre and post op area was not. Mattresses were old and dirty. We had sheets the first day, but ran out after that. We used sterile drapes to cover the beds. When those ran out, we taped together chux. We didn't have IV poles, so we taped bags of fluid to the wall, or tied them to the ceiling with string. Always creative! Always an adventure! And, the bugs! Mostly flies! But, we also saw our share of cockroaches, rats and dogs in our pre and post op area.
Language was a bit of a problem. I worked with 1 nurse and 1 doctor. Neither spoke English. I made them repeat communication several times until I could pick up enough words learned in 7th and 8th grade Spanish class to figure out what they wanted. This is scary when they want is a medication I'm not familiar with, in quantities I don't understand. Some of them, narcotics. I always showed them the medication and syringe before giving these meds to make sure we were on the same page. Somehow, everyone survived!
The last day, we got to do a little sight seeing! We rode our bus up to a waterfall! The bus broke down on the way, so we had to get out and walk! We waited for hours for another bus, but finally found one. There was no place to turn around, so the bus had to back down the mountain. it was scary! Once we made it back to Managua, we went to a town called Grenada that was an old colonial town build by the Spanish. Very quaint! We ate dinner there, and flew out the next day! It was a good trip, and a good mission!
Our hotel was nice and clean. There were 3 people to a room. This was a local mission, so there only 3 of us from the states. Everyone else spoke Spanish. Because of this, my roomates spoke Spanish. They were cute! One tried really hard to communicate. And, we used a lot of sign language. And, a lot of smiles! Our water only had an on or off switch, so you got the temperature you got! Sometimes, mildly warm, sometimes freezing cold.
We went to the hospital the next day to screen patients. We screened over 90 and 62 were selected for surgery. We selected several 3 month old infants with primary cleft lips. One struggled in surgery, so we cancelled one the next day. In all, we did cleft lip repair, cleft palate repair, burn and scar revision, and seperating finders of patients born with syndactyly.
The next 4 days were spent doing surgery! I was in pre/post op. Although the OR was in good condition, the pre and post op area was not. Mattresses were old and dirty. We had sheets the first day, but ran out after that. We used sterile drapes to cover the beds. When those ran out, we taped together chux. We didn't have IV poles, so we taped bags of fluid to the wall, or tied them to the ceiling with string. Always creative! Always an adventure! And, the bugs! Mostly flies! But, we also saw our share of cockroaches, rats and dogs in our pre and post op area.
Language was a bit of a problem. I worked with 1 nurse and 1 doctor. Neither spoke English. I made them repeat communication several times until I could pick up enough words learned in 7th and 8th grade Spanish class to figure out what they wanted. This is scary when they want is a medication I'm not familiar with, in quantities I don't understand. Some of them, narcotics. I always showed them the medication and syringe before giving these meds to make sure we were on the same page. Somehow, everyone survived!
The last day, we got to do a little sight seeing! We rode our bus up to a waterfall! The bus broke down on the way, so we had to get out and walk! We waited for hours for another bus, but finally found one. There was no place to turn around, so the bus had to back down the mountain. it was scary! Once we made it back to Managua, we went to a town called Grenada that was an old colonial town build by the Spanish. Very quaint! We ate dinner there, and flew out the next day! It was a good trip, and a good mission!
Dominican Republic
In January, some friends and I travelled to Dominican Republic, just for fun! We stayed at an all inclusive resort. It rained a lot, but the sun came out most days too! We went out on a glass bottom boat, whale watching, and relaxing on the beach. The highlight of our trip was hiking up the 27 waterfalls. We literally hiked up 7 of the waterfalls! It was not easy, but we had help! The water splashed in our face, frequently upsetting the integrity of my contacts. It was pretty cold too! But, what a blast! The waterfalls have smoothed away the rocks enough so that we could slide back down the waterfall!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)