Blog 043 – Las Sabanas

We fell into bed exhausted the night before the big trip. It seemed like just moments later the alarm went off and Liana made coffee, and bacon and eggs while I lowered the dingy and loaded bags. At first light we dinghied over to an old concrete dock in Bocas so I could meet a water taxi for a ride to Floating Doctors on San Cristobal Island. On the way we picked up our dentists for the week, Samone and Philipe on Cayo Nancy Island. At base we met the rest of the team loading bags of equipment into the big red cayuco. Everyone wore tall muck boots. This was the beginning of a long journey to the very remote village of Las Sabanas. Two boats were packed and we were off.

The first leg of the journey was to the town of Almirante. Chiquita Banana is the town’s largest employer. We motored by their massive shipping dock with hundreds of sea containers stacked and being made ready to load on the next ship. Carl tried to explain how many bananas to a box and how many boxes to a container and you could see hundreds of containers. It was mind boggling. The rest of town was run down, buildings half fallen, rusting hulks of ships, and garbage filled the water, everything rotten and rusty. We quickly unloaded the boats and loaded everything into two pick-up trucks and a bus for the long haul up the mountain. We could see the mountains in the distance all shrouded in clouds.

Chatter filled the air in the bus as everyone was getting to know each other. Several volunteers flew in the night before and were thrust headfirst into this five-day adventure. The music was blaring and a TV screen played Spanish music videos while the bus climbed the mountain, dropping one gear after another, until we were barely making forward motion. We hit the down hills into the valleys at full speed ahead. Then the jake-brake thumping, we’d start to slow down. We went up and down like this for two hours through beautiful country. Over huge rivers and beside meadows filled with cows and one tiny village after another. Finally, the bus turned into a little patch of gravel and the driver told us to walk from here. The road had washed out and he was afraid of getting stuck. We carried all of our personal gear down a hill towards the village, Pueblo Viejo.

Waiting for us in a small clearing by the river were 23 horses and caballeros, men and boys ready to take our gear up the trail. They had left Las Sabanas early morning to come down the mountain to meet us then turn around and head back up to the village. The caballeros walked or rode their horses across the river loaded down with our bags tied on to the horses. It was now time to start our climb. We used a foot bridge to cross this section of the river. Our footsteps in-sink with the rusty wire cable swinging bridge. Some planks were missing so we had to hold on to the sides and watch our step. At the end of the bridge was a short section of concrete sidewalk. We stopped because one of the volunteers had become very ill. It was decided he needed a horse or he would not make it up the mountain. (After the hike, I realized why they were so concerned.) After some time and much communication with some of the villagers a caballero and horse came and picked up our ailing team member. Moving again in a long procession of boot clad hikers with backpacks we traveled along a rushing river at the edge of a thick forested jungle. We had to jump from rock to rock or balance on long branches laying across the muddy sections. Then we climbed mucky banks and through ravines holding on to rocks and roots. Occasionally, someone would step where it looked safe and wind up clear to their knees firmly sucked into the mud. A group effort was required to free them, usually the boot would stay and it was a tug of war twisting it out of the hole. Each time the unsuspecting victims were covered in mud until the next stream crossing, where they could wash some of it off.

The climb took so much energy. We hit the streams splashing our faces and even our feet. They were so hot in the boots, the cool water was a nice reprieve. Some of the Ngobe children came down the mountain with their fathers and were walking back up with us. These little kids were like mountain goats – to them this hike was nothing. About half way we stopped in a meadow and sat down for a break. A couple of the children walking with me were thirsty so I shared my water with them. We all had snacks and I poured a small bag of trail mix for the kids to share. Some of the other team members gave them granola bars. That small act of kindness made me and a particular little girl in a purple dress best of friends. All week long, every time I turned around she was there. For the next hour as we hiked she would stop, reach into her little bag of trail mix and get out one m&m or a peanut, smile and then start walking again. I think treats for these kids are a rare occurrence.

After hours of walking we could see grass roofs off in the distance, My knees were burning and every step was a challenge but we finally made it to Las Sabanas. I was literally exhausted. It turns out I was the oldest team member for this weeks clinic so I got a pass for being slow. Just about that moment it started to rain. We set up our hammocks in the school house and my little friend wanted to try it out. Then around dark we headed up a muddy hillside to a house with a covered porch for dinner. Dinner was…you guessed it…rice and beans. This is always lunch and dinner for the clinics because its easy to prepare and closest to the local diet.

Every one was tired and after dinner we fell into our hammocks. Just before I left Liana she suggested I take a thin fleece sleeping bag. I sure do love that woman. This village sits just above the convergence of two rivers and the damp air can become very chilly at this high elevation. About 2 a.m. it started to get damp and cold but I was warm in my fleece. The next morning we made the trek up the hill for breakfast. Weak coffee and fried bread covered in peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk. It was delicious but not very healthy. Then we set up for clinic in the school rooms. One was a dental office and three others were for physicians and their teams. In-take was done under a grass roof in the center of the village. By 9 a.m. the word had gotten out and people were already lining up. Some had covered many miles that morning from other even more remote villages. One by one they were checked in and assigned to a team. I think we saw on average sixty or more patients per day.

I was assigned to Philipe and Samone in the dental office as their assistant. It was the only position they could not fill. I first walked in to let them know I would be helping them and Philipe and Samone were doing surgery on Samone’s swollen and infected middle toe. They stuck a syringe in to drain the infection and then disinfected it. After this procedure he wore a purple medical glove on his left foot. All of us had blisters and rashes on our feet from the hike but Samone’s was the worst. Samone lives in Italy but has been practicing dental care in remote tribal areas all over Africa, so this is nothing new for him. They showed me how to set up the dental table and explained how every tool must be sterilized. Once they started an exam I handed each instrument from there on out so none of the dental instruments became cross contaminated. My duties were to hand them tools, keep records of each exam, mix dental filling material, fill and prepare syringes with needles and anesthesia, and refill them as necessary. At first it was a bit of a challenge but I quickly got down the routine and soon things started to work smoothly. They saw patients and pulled lots and lots of teeth. For many this was their first time to see a dentist. These two worked tirelessly, a quick exam and a plan of action, most patients were out the door in fifteen minutes or less, some having had two or thee teeth pulled and the rest scraped and filled.

We would occasionally get a break and I could slip into the other rooms to take pictures of the other teams hard at work. Sometimes an entire family needed some sort of treatment. We saw everything from leishmaniasis-a flesh devouring virus, to a man with a bug in his ear. Some quick thinking on the doctors part got him free from the unwelcome new tenant in his ear canal. For three days it was a steady stream of patients who would leave with bags of medications, soap, a toothbrush and toothpaste. Once one of the doctors needed to treat a young man suffering from severe asthma. With limited supplies, she needed to make an air chamber for him to take the medication so we cut a hole in a water bottle and taped an albuterol vaporizer to it. He could breath it in slowly without wasting the medication.

On another afternoon I witnessed another stroke of genius. One of the medical students was watching a class for the kids on hand washing and it was going pretty slow. The kids were not in the least bit interested until he had a brilliant idea. Lets make this a game and show them how to blow bubbles. He lathered up his hands and made a ring with his fingers and blew a bubble. He showed the kids how big he could make them and that was it. Every kid wanted to join the party. This kept the kids busy for hours at the community water faucet. And they all had clean hands, nice work.

At the end of each day we looked forward to a swim in the river and rice and beans…ok, mostly the swim. Time flew by and next thing you know we were packing up for the trip back down the mountain. We took one last group photo and hugged the little kids good-bye. We made many friends and promised we would be back to Las Sabanas. Next week it’s another village in another remote part of this beautiful country. I am proud to be a part of such a wonderful group of volunteers who are willing to go so far to help some friend out that they have not yet even met.

Matthew 25:35-36