Home with the Wilkinson's

Guatemala Part 6: Food & my remaining noteworthy Pics.

To wrap up my recent Guatemalan Adventure, I just want to share my remaining noteworthy pics. and rave a little about the food. :)

My favorite genre of food has always been "Mexican". (I now know this isn't politically correct as I was referring to all Central American food.) Growing up, Azteca was most often my first choice. Going in to high school, I knew the best food came out of a bus. I am not a big soda pop drinker, but when I am, I want it in a glass bottle! I like my tortillas authentic and my beans fresh pressed, and everything as preservative free as possible. So you can imagine...I was in comida heaven. (Also, eating vegan wasn't hard at all! I did have to give a few times on some dairy products out of politeness and such. But for the most part, I could live off of tortillas, rice, beans, fruits, veggies, real horchata, and fried plantains!)

This/different combinations of this, is what I ate

every time we ordered in to the office.

Rice, Beans, fried plantains, corn tortillas, & Horchata.

GIANT PAPAYA!!!

Plantain chips. YUM.

Mangoes are my FAVORITE FRUIT!!!!

Amazing Salad. (Even though I'm not a radish fan.)

(BTW, Cucumbers are SO GOOD at room temp.

They have allot more flavor than I thought.)

Making my own tortillas!!

These ladies thought I was pretty funny and that my tortillas were too.

It's harder than it looks!!!

Still DELICIOUS!

(Clynn and I tried to make some the other day...

not quiet the same, but I'm determined to get it right state side!)

These were not my favorite.

Tortillas stuffed with some kind of cheese with cabbage and hot sauce on top.

I had like...half a bite. haha (Could be that I hadn't had cheese in two months..)

This, however, was DELISH.

Bean, rice, and coleslaw burrito

on a home made flour tortilla.

This traditional candy known as Conserva was gifted to me
by some of our local Medrete workers.

It is pretty amazing and if you're a coffee drinker, I hear it pairs wonderfully. Here is a video of my coworkers father showing the process involved in producing this treat.

It's no joke and takes some serious elbow grease!

Video Here

Thank you all for following me on this amazing journey!

I hope to have inspired some to travel, serve, or/and
become more aware of this world we all share.

The awesome people I got to share most of this with. <3

Down Town Antigua, Guatemala

Guatemala Part 5: Los Insectos y Mas

If I could travel just to see different cool fauna around the world, I WOULD!!! A focus of my MOS is Entomology and I have got to say this is my favorite section. It FLOORS me how different wild life is throughout our planet. We have so much variety I never cease to be amazed. Doesn't pay much, but it will always be a hobby and personal interest of mine. That's right. I LIKE BUGS.

Here are some cool photos I collected while in Guatemala.

SOO MANY Butterflies & Moths!!

Bad Ace looking Ant of some sort.

Our hospital mascot there at the bottom.

His name is Icky.

He lives in the tree outside the TMC.

Guatemalan Exterminator was just a local clean up contractor who climbed a tree like a beast and bagged this puppy up. Now ask me if he got stung...

NOT ONCE.

Baby Praying Mantis!!

Nothing new to my southerner folk, but for me it was quiet the find!

Here is a little tarantula our ambulance drivers found and boxed up.

I relocated him that evening. :)

These guys live under ground and dig some pretty intense looking holes!

SO EXCITING to see them outside Petco!

Here's a sign that was posted on the door of a porta john by the flight line.

Now ask me if I used it anyways.

YEP. Bummed I didn't get a good sighting!

Talk about CAMOUFLAGE! This guy made mine look like a joke!

Also, the FASTEST I've ever seen a spider move.

He's practically flat and when he gets running you can hardly see him.

I have a ton more, but these are my most interesting. :)

I'll definitely be paying more attention to the bugs and such around WA this summer. I always think to look when I travel...when in all reality there are probably a ton I've never fully appreciated in my own back yard.

Guatemala Part 4: MEDRETE

For those of you who didn't know,

I LOVE MY JOB in the military!!!!

I am a 68 Sierra Preventive Medicine Specialist

AKA Environmental Health

It is the most rewarding job in the medical field (if you ask me).

How I see it is, if humanity will listen and abide by what PM has to say,

They will have no need for further medical intervention.

(within reason)

If we can teach the world to purify water from the best water source available...cook, hold, and prepare their food in the safest way...know where the dangerous insects/arachnids/reptiles hide, know how they think, and move so as to best avoid them...encourage well rounded and healthy eating habits from what they have available to them...proper exercise expectations for your body...appropriate waste disposal...

how to best hold and move their bodies in extreme cold or heat...

personal hygiene...infant care...

The world would see SIGNIFICANTLY less death by dehydration, malnutrition via parasites, reptile & arachnid poisonings, malaria, dengue fever, diabetes, heart failure, obesity, heat stroke, frostbite, flu, TB, E. Coli .....THE LIST GOES ON

My recent trip to Guatemala lead me to realizing the importance of my job even more.

You may google 'MEDRETE' (or just click on the link) and read all about the United State's (in conjunction with other countries) efforts, in Central America, to educate the people concerning Preventive Medicine and to provide basic health care needs to the citizens.

I've been extremely privileged to have been a part of four or five of these missions

throughout my career thus far.

This specific mission was my second attending in Guatemala.

My first being on my Honduras mission in 2012/2013.

It was so fun to return and once again find myself minutes from where I had served the year prior.

The following are photos of our station and some of the materials

we were teaching with and handing out.

Sorry about the awful glare...

I'm an adventurer, not a photographer. haha

Hand Washing!

Food preparation & some water sanitation

Everyone got multi vitamins,

a tooth brush,

and the children received a fluoride treatment!

What is available to handout and provide varies

drastically per mission and regional needs.

This is where the locals would file in from the line up at the gate and take a seat about 30-40 at a time. Here, they would learn about preventive medicine.

If needed, they would then move on to see nurses, doctors, OB's, dentists...

for antibiotics, tooth extraction, exam referrals, lice treatments, diabetes medication,

antiparasitics, or treatment for whatever was ailing them to the best of our abilities.

These cups of water were our water source on the site.

HOW FUN ARE THEY?!

Lunch break with some buddies.

The back glare was pretty awful.

Most of the kids LOVE having us around and just hang out

like we are having a fiesta!

Wishing I could have scooped a few up like Angelina Jolie.

Maybe some day.

I made a few of these for the scared babies.

They were really hit & miss

as to weather they would scare them more....or make them smile.

The Region's Public Health Team!

They were so great and I hope to get to work with them again soon!!

AND YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS!!!

This is my good friend Leon. I worked with him for a week in 2013. The chances of us running into each other again at any time in our lives were so slim it was crazy!

Here we are in 2013

Big guy to my left.