Day 2

After an early rise, we took a short walk over to the hotel’s breakfast facility. We were spoiled with a breakfast consisting of a porridge-type meal, paired with a banana. Little to our knowledge, that was just the appetizer; we were also given interesting looking frijoles, pan, huevos, and platanos. We then made a long bus ride (in which most of us fell in and out of sleep) to San Marcos to visit the hospital there. 

Our professors commented that it was one of the cleanest hospitals they have seen in Guatemala. There we were able to see the emergency room, which was simply a room with one bed and a curtain on the outside. We were also able to visit the ICU for adults as well as for infants. This was a very touching portion of our visit as we were able to see just how challenging the hospital conditions were for these patients (and how little attention they received).

After visiting the pharmacy and getting a tour of the rest of the hospital, we departed on our way to a local restaurant to eat a fantastic lunch. With stuffed bellies, we made our way back to the hotel to change quickly before going out into the city. In the city, we visited several stores in which we bartered to get better deals on the souvenirs we purchased for ourselves and family members. All the merchandise was hand-made and very unique in nature. 

We broke into small groups during this time in which one group followed one of the translators to a small ice cream shop, while another group went to a bread store with Dr. Northrup. Around 6pm we all met together in front of the church in the center of the city to discuss dinner plans. After a quick meeting, we made our way down the street to a restaurant (passing by Americans eating at Taco Bell who were equally excited to see us as we were them) to eat once more before coming back to the hotel to sleep. We’re excited to see what day 3 has in store for us!

-Cailin, Christina, and Jenna