Surf Caburf

So today I'm shadowing the Cargo Mate, which meant spending the morning surfing las olas de Nicaragua. This afternoon we'll be flying supple back to the ship in helicopters...

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.0

Chocquib Town In Tumaco

Chocquib Town getting on the helo to sing to patients on the ship. Spending the day with Carolina who is the MOE guru from the embassy. We spent yesterday on the ship talking shop and today is all about the afternoon performance... And all the challenges associated with escorting a young band with a fresh Grammy. Despite singing about their hometown, a humble village up the coast, at the airport they couldn't't be bothered with gathered fans and ecstatic tweens. Not even a wave. This afternoon they'll fly back to the coast, accompanied by the Navy band. We'll see how today goes!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.0

Liberty leave cont'd...

Hard to believe we were here a week ago. Some highlights from Manta including delicious treats, the Ecuador national military show dogs, and a sweet mountain biking trek - 20 miles of jungle cows and a hidden beach with Mike and Jeff. Next up, fieldwork in the Colombian jungle..

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.0

rub-a-dub-dub...

Grab your sponge and scrub... Your helo.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.0

no caption needed

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.0

Washing Helicopters

Today was a much-needed day on the ship. I spent the morning attempting to contact my department at GWU which has proved to be more impossible than spending a day driving around narcotic-terrorist Colombia. If anyone can help me figure out how the department of global health manages to successfully evade students for prolonged periods of time I may have some useful Intel to pass on to our colleagues here...

After said failed attempt I decided to work out (re: do laundry) although I managed an hour at the gym waiting for the dryer. Just as good as running between my room and office. I sat with the pilots at lunch and volunteered to help wash the helos. So much fun! And not an easy job.

I'll also dig up pics from yesterday's fieldwork ashore, I managed to hit every site with a State Dept team and 2 trucks of anti-Narc specious teams. If you haven't yet, Google "tumaco, Colombia" for a taste of the region we're operating. Pictures coming!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.0

Colombia!

GeoTagged, [S0.94111, E80.73206]

With some excerpts from a letter to my Kenya roomates:

Greetings from Tumaco, Colombia. It's a 45 min boat ride or 15 min helicopter trip to the site each day. I completed 6 interviews yesterday and transcribing/coding today. Things are going well, it's the craziest environment I've worked in yet. As I type my office is rolling back and forth in 15-foot swells as we're located in the highest point on the ship.

Life on the high seas can get lonely after living in a house of 12, but also loving the opportunity to meet new people. The stories of how everyone found themselves on this floating hospital of wonder are really incredible. Some have chosen to be here, others not.

Every night I climb into my 'rack' (bunk bed) and listen to my Kenya playlist while rocking to sleep. Up everyday at 5:30 a.m. to get to the mess decks for breakfast (4 flights of stairs up), then roll call with my team, called 'mustering' which is on the other end of the ship and 4 flights downstairs, then on to a boat/helicopter. Today I'm staying aboard to work, so up 8 flights of stairs to my office. If I leave something in my room or have to use the bathroom, it's another 8 flights of stairs across the other end of the ship.

And about laundry, be careful what you wish for! If you see the previous posts, I was quite excited not to be using a bucket anymore... Yes we have washers but the room is at the lowest point of the ship, on the other end (of course). From my room I take the dirty load up 3 flights, across the ship, and down 3. Clean load is up 3 down 3.

Each country has been really different with regard to site and patient population. The current site is heavily guarded with over 1000 Colombian military troops and additional support from NCIS (yep, like the tv show!) marine and air support. It's quite incredible to experience it every morning. The days are long and work is hard in the tropical (wet) heat but everyone is pulling together to complete the mission in the next 8 days.

I can upload one picture at a time on here, more on my Facebook as I take quite a few with the new smartphone and they load directly. By the by, that is the view from my office window of the helo picking up medical supplies for drop off at the site. They delivered everything needed for the entire site in one day.

Patients come aboard for sugary today and all operations are running at full speed. I'm looking forward to catching up on work and rest, tomorrow it's out to the site again!

More soon...

Calm winds and fair seas,
Dars

P.s. My mom is sending cookies, depending on how they hold up I may send hints for a ugali and kales care package ;) if you did't know, we have a regular US military address. Toys, snacks, gummy bears, and inappropriate inside jokes accepted.