week 3

The last weekend was half miserable half amazing (for me at least). We did our dental teaching in the morning of Friday June 4, 2010. That went wonderfully. The kids were for the most part very excited to learn how to brush and floss their teeth. We just about thought of everything for this presentation except for the fact that the children were 5-6 years old and most of them had no teeth, so it was kind of funny. We left for El Valle which was like a 3 hour drive up the mountain to a rainforest like area. About 20 minutes into the trip I got a bad fever and the minute we got there I went straight to bed. I woke up the next morning and felt fine. We all went zip lining through the rainforest and hiking and I think I jumped to the conclusion that I was fine a bit too early because I spent the next three days pretty sick. I suppose when Dr. Cadena tells you not to eat the ice you should probably listen, I mean or it could have been some little kid from the school we were at because I couldn’t help but hug them all. Anyways.. my poor roommate Stephanie ended up getting the virus I had and we took turns taking care of each other. It was a very sad scene. So we went back Monday and Tuesday to Chitre where I got to experience being a patient in a Chitre clinic. The nurses were very kind but I was not too happy about getting an IV there even though it helped a lot. We spent the last 3 days of the trip back in Panama City. I think by the end of the trip everyone was getting sick and tired and sick of being tired and was just looking forward to getting back home. We got to go to a tribe to visit which was fun. We rode a canoe type thing to the village and they cooked for us and danced for us. It was a very wonderful experience. Overall the trip was exciting and a great learning experience.