Abbie's here!!

Colin's sister, Abbie, arrived a week and a half ago and is spending the rest of the month with us. We'll all return home together for the summer. We've taken her to see some of our favorite Honduran pockets--the mayero (the outdoor market), Valle de Angeles, and we're off to La Tigra today for a little rainforest action (COMING SOON: Abbie and Elisa's rainforest photoshoot).  Here are some of the pictures of our current adventures. It's SO wonderful to have this sweet young woman with us! She's the reason we'll survive the end of the school year.

Sisters, brothers...never were there such devoted sisters/brothers

This was in front of Parque España after church last Sunday

The Mayero

Picking out mangoes

Abbie has such an eye for people and colors...

I think it's the sunglasses that give away the "tourist" appeal....or maybe it's the blonde hair. Abbie was quite the spectacle. The Hondurans kept saying "que bonita, joven!"

This was Abbie's favorite view of the market (you can see the Jesus statue up on the top left of the picture--El Picacho). 

We took Abbie to our favorite shop in Valle. Criscia is the artist who crafts iron creations with recycled metals. This is the front of her store. Coupled with crafts, she sells some of the best plants in the cutest pots...mmm! I always buy a little something!

I'm always ready for this pose. We were eating supper at a great little restaurant in Valle--and Colin discovered they had imported German beer. His day was made! 

A view of the city

Colin's one pound burger at the only place in town that can cook beef right--the Intercontinental Hotel (he's gaining back all that weight he lost in the fall!). Although it was quite the wait for the food, we enjoyed watching all of the Honduran society that came for some kind of lunch--there were TV crews and newspaper journalists everywhere. 

Medicine in another country

So, the results of the cashew eating were horrendous. Within a day, my body was covered in hives. But I've had hives before (in small increments) so I wasn't completely unnerved until yesterday.

Around 10 a.m., my throat had begun swelling up. Not so normal. Pretty scary. So, I rushed over to the school nurse, Nurse Angelita (who's known to have magical cures), and she immediately called up a doctor at the nearby hospital. I left school in a rush, and found myself crying before the sweet, almost-English speaking Dr. Orollana. I poured out my allergy story and fears (I've been on prednisone all week, but it wasn't helping). Since I was still breathing fine, he calmed me down a bit. Then, he checked over my hives, scratched my skin a little, and said he was going to giving me a big dose of Hydrocortisone (500 mg) via injection and an allergy pill to take care of the rest. I left somewhat relieved...Then, headed down to the emergency room to get my shot.

It is strange to experience the medical community of another country. The emergency room was almost vacant, all doors were open, no security was posted, and one or two nurse-like folks were casually walking around here and there. After a few minutes of waiting, I tried (in my broken Spanish) to ask where I could get a shot. The sweet person enduring my Spanish asked me to switch to English, and then he said I actually had to go the farmacia first, buy the medicine, and then return for the injection. (Actually, once you have the medication, you can inject yourself...umm...yeah right.) SO, having followed all their steps of the process, I brought back my medicine, was injected while laying down on the hospital bed (trying to avoid see the bloodied cotton ball from another patient laying on the floor), and finally had some relief in my system.

Then, we scoured the city (6 different farmacias mind you) to find the allergy pill prescribed by Dr. O to no avail. By this point in the exciting afternoon, I was famished, still a little concerned about my swollen throat, and really missing the efficiency of the American medical community (particularly with getting prescriptions). Later, I called the doctor; he changed my medicine to something the hospital farmacia had, and we went back last night and picked it up.

I woke up today with a LOT less hive action. The itching has subsided for the most part. I sure do miss home though. While the process of yesterday wasn't as expensive as it would have been State-side, I now see that Americans do have the gift of efficiency. And that might just be worth the extra change!