The wanderer has returned (details on the mission to follow) again….in time to leave two days later. This sneaking out in the middle of the night with only a few hours sleep is getting to be a habit lately. My flight is at 8 am which means counting backwards so that I awoke at 2 am alarm, left at 2:30am, drove to my classmates house in Middle Sackville to meet the prearranged taxi (we were both early), arrived at the airport for checkin in / security screening before 6 am. Was expedited by a great Air Canada agent who was looking for info as his wife and daughter are both nurses who want to work in Nunavut and now awaiting boarding by 7:30am for the first flight to Toronto. I will be in Edmonton by mid day and the youngest daughter has promised to meet me at the airport. Provisioning and packing will be the order of the afternoon and then supper with both the oldest and youngest and a sleepover with the one on days off. Best part of my commute!
The two days after my return from Honduras saw me reducing the car insurance, emailing my classmate about car storage, booking the airport taxi, starting my internet in Nunavut, and cancelling the daily newspaper - this last task with some difficulty, as they had somehow removed the number to contact them - not particularly convenient as the only way to cancel is by phone! The lists have been checked and rechecked - what is stored north of 60, what needed to be packed, what needs to be purchased out west and….what needed to be transported (seafood) to the western girlies. The duffel bag weighed
49.8 lbs (take that Air Canada and your 50 lb luggage limit) and the action packers are in the car of the daughter who stored them for me in February. The weather is rather mild in Taloyoak with a 1c temperature today although the wind chill was listed at -20c. The forecast here on the right looks pretty good. One of the coworkers advised to bring sneakers for walking so there is obviously a retreat of the white stuff in process. A couple of seasons between May - July on the NW Passage.
Speaking of my other home, I saw an ad for one of those swishy cruises in the Arctic and emailed a tour guide friend to see if she had any contacts. My latest scheme involves pitching for some speaking gigs as I do live half the year on the NW Passage and have some cultural knowledge of the Inuit. She asked if I could drive a zodiac? Ummm, no but I could learn. I commented that this would be a job skill for a marine biologist not a nurse. She noted that with larger ships and 20+ zodiacs, it was always helpful to have a couple of spare drivers on hand. I suggested that it would be very helpful to have an advanced practice nurse familiar with the area on board. We left it at that. I emailed for information on itinerary and pricing - not a good financial sign if those details aren't posted. I expect the cruises would be August/September as that is when the shipping lanes open in the passage. A girl can dream.
So as promised, details of the mission:
I drove to the airport - rainy, windy drive but at least not freezing ice pellets and snow as it was in the central area of the province. Quick commute to Toronto then security, customs (where they use an automated system - at a kiosk you scan your passport, answer questions, the machine takes your photo, compares it and prints out a boarding pass like piece of paper which you take to a (human) customs officer for an interview. It felt like a combo of George Orwell's 1984 and Space Odyssey 2001. Uneventful commute to Miami and out to wait for the hotel shuttle in the steamy, warm air. The Baymont Inn (Best Western brand) was comfortable, friendly and convenient. I had a swim in the pool, supper at Firehouse Subs (highly recommend it) a wonderful sleep, hot breakfast and shuttle back to the airport. Miami airport is HUGE and you walk for miles. I found the American Airlines ticket counters but with 50 + passengers in each line my hopes sagged. I was thrilled to be sent directly to screening as I'd checked in online, printed my boarding pass and didn't have a checked bag. I even won the lottery and didn't have to take my shoes off at security - I HATE that - I am sure it is more of a public health hazard than any security threat! Met some brigade members in the departure lounge - those Bwaston accents gave them away - and finalized some details ex. get drinking water here as we'll go directly to Los Encinitos when we get off the plane in Honduras. A smooth flight which was almost entirely made up of American missions going to do volunteer work in Honduras. A steep touchdown in Tegucigalpa (short runway set in the middle of the houses) which is a large, smoggy third world city. I was amazed to find that anyone (even those replacing toilet paper in the plane lavatories) was thoroughly searched
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| Put your hands up |
and scanned before being allowed to approach the plane. We were quickly through customs and baggage and out to the waiting 4x4 trucks. Heavily armed military escorts accompanied us on the two hour drive which
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| Dental students and soldier |
wound up through the mountains on very rudimentary tracks. We settled into the dorms after kicking out the bats, had a meal in the dining room which the Sister had prepared for us and unpacked the supplies we'd brought for the clinic. The
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| Female dorm |
we'd brought for the clinic. next four days followed in a routine of sleep, meals and clinic until all the people were seen. It was overwhelmingly hot and humid (30+c) except for the day of the fierce thunderstorm and torrential downpour which flooded the dental clinic and knocked out a transformer. We had power for one day of the week and the
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| Waiting to be registered |
generator ran to keep equipment functioning. The clinic was primary health care (the most emergent case was
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| Waiting area in the rain |
a burn from a gasoline stove) with exams done and medications dispensed. The brigade leader had brought his son who is a massage therapist and it was entertaining to watch the local people enjoy a massage for the first time. We volunteers made sure to take our turns also. I organized the pharmacy as well as taking turns with the paediatric or adult triage, doing lab tests (urine dips, pregnancy tests, blood
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| Pharmacy |
sugars and Hgb by finger pricks). Got a lot of practice with my Spanish "qual es tu problema por favor? and working in an American system. On the final morning of the visit at dawn a group of four fitness freaks and….me hiked up San Pedro which is a peak near the mission. I thought I was
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| San Pedro at dawn |
going to die with the incline, heat and pace but when I noticed a cow patty almost at the top I thought 'if a cow can be up here, I can do this' The others patiently waited for me after realizing I wasn't going to give up - apparently someone half my age had not made it to the top last year - and were pleased with my success. We packed up and drove back to the city, first stopping at a local clinic to share some medicines with them. We stayed at a very upscale hotel and had the afternoon to pamper ourselves (spa) shop (in groups) or just hang out. Three of us opted for a typical Honduran lunch at El Patio which cost us $15 each and was twice as much food as we could eat. We paid the cab driver $15 to drive us half way across Tegucigalpa and wait the hour while we ate lunch as well. Time for a swim, soak in the hot tub and ready for supper. Due to the crime rate in Tegucigalpa we took cabs to the restaurant for supper - even though it was two blocks - and enjoyed a nice meal before crawling in to bed. The morning saw various departure times and destinations and we were off to the airport ourselves for a noontime flight. Pandemonium at the airport, check in, pay exit fee, customs forms and up the stairs to departure. A total of four desks to stop at and have the passport examined and then to the departure lounge. A bit of delay with leaving due to air quality and we were off for the flight to Miami. Shuttle to the Red Roof Inn (not as good as the Baymont) and then online check in via my phone and printing of boarding pass in their business centre as you could NOT check in there - go figure. A swim in the pool with a child screeching "look at me" at top volume while the adults ignored her (wonder why she screeches eh?) and then over to Bennigans (and Irish sports bar) for supper - the restaurant being owned and operated by East Indians and filled with European tourists. I thoroughly enjoyed my mojito, chicken quesadillas and key lime pie. An early start in the am and two uneventful flights from Miami then Philadelphia and at the second daughters by suppertime.
Lots of happenings for the teacher daughter and son-in-law as they have purchased a canoe and have taken it out paddling, she has begun her Masters in Education studies and they are adopting a golden lab puppy who they have named Pete and will pick up in June. A busy summer ahead of them. An overnight at their place and up in the morning for the drive to the physio clinic. I was 'kicked out' by the physio who says my shoulder/back are just fine now (and I agree) so I'll contact her if I need to. Woohoo!
A colleague forwarded the following link for a weekend simulation in Michigan which looks like it would be a fun way to learn disaster relief. Not this fall (Europe travel takes care of that) but 2015 is the target:
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/mmf/news/bulletin/2011/humanitarian-aid-101.html
Next posting from 69.4 degrees north latitude as I begin my 58 day contract "not even two months" as the shore captain said. I'm thinking this contract may be a bit different as apparently Nellie is out on vacation until July so there will be an acting SHP hmmmm details to follow. In a nostalgic look back - I offer this link to Taloyoak (then known as Spence Bay, NWT) - with some footage from the 1960s:
cbc.ca/news/canada/north/1960s-taloyoak-footage-comes-to-light-1.2554156
24 hours of sunlight here I come!
