San Pablo la Laguna

Today we took a small private boat loaded up with suitcases and boxes of medical supplies to the town of San Pablo la Laguna. The doctor I'm working under has a large staff of about eight Guatemalan women working for him as administrators, interpreters, and medical assistants. They are locals and dress in bright traditional clothing, and are all young, so that the atmosphere on the boat (la lancha) and then the van was a jovial one.

Today I saw eight patients, working as I imagine a third-year medical student might. I took the relevant history and physical, reported to my attending, who checked or re-did my work and prescribed medications (unfortunately something I know nothing about yet), and then completed the visit and charting (using an iPad!). I watched one pelvic exam and then did one myself, using a speculum. I saw ascaris, candidiasis, ringworm, and an unknown STI (minimal lab tests here). You have no idea how exciting it was to someone who recently completed a month of microbio.

Now I am sitting on the porch watching a thunderstorm over the lake. I just finished making black bean soup with butternut squash, using cumin and paprika plus a Guatemalan spice mix (dried ancho chili, cinnamon, sesame seeds, pepitas, and bay leaf, all whole), and rice. I rehydrated the beans last night, and roasted the squash before chopping it into small pieces for the soup. Is it morally questionable to blog about food in a country with high poverty and malnutrition?