Day 3

The day started with a few students accompanying Dr. Rust on a quick morning run through the town where they stopped to visit a few local sites including a cemetery… the rest of us were still sleeping. Then all the students met for breakfast and had some more traditional Guatemalan breakfast foods. Quickly after breakfast we got on the bus and headed to a hospital in Totonicapan. While at the hospital we saw the hematology department, neonatal intensive care unit, radiology and more. A few students even got into scrubs and went into the maternity ward.

We continued to document any equipment that was not functioning and tried to offer solutions as to why. After we finished touring the different units in the hospital, we watched a presentation by Dr. Rust and then we got onto the bus back to Xela to have lunch.

For lunch, we went to a restaurant called Albamar and while we ate we listened to live Mariachi performances. Everyone enjoyed a wide variety of dishes ranging from fried chicken and pizza to more traditional meals. After lunch we went outside the restaurant where they had a playground and slides. The slides were the most popular among our group and many of us went down them repeatedly, even Dr.  Northrup.

Shortly after we ate, a few people went with Dr. Northrup to exchange our money into Quetzales. With the Quetzales we went to a market in a town square in Xela. We split into multiple small groups and explored the market and bought some souvenirs. As we were wrapping up, a big storm rolled in and had a lot of thunder, lightning, and downpours. Then once we finished shopping we left the shops and went to have dinner.

We walked from the market to get dinner at a small pizza shop. We all enjoyed some familiar flavors although the pizzas and pastas were a little different from home. Once we finished eating, we walked back to the hotel to stay in for the night. We all sat in a little common area and relaxed together while we wrote in our journals and kicked around a soccer ball. While we were relaxing the power went out and we had to sit and talk in the dark while we waited for the power to return. After the power came back we relaxed a little more and then we all went to bed early after a long day.

-Erika and Kate