La gran aventura and finally some photos

 the cholera tent, there are 3 sections, this one is where people are under observation with IV fluid, if they have confirmed cholera which is determined by whether their diarrhea looks like rice and water, they move to the next section where they continue the IVs and begin medication )doxycycline if they are not pregnant or children) and then to a third tent where they are kept until they are six hours without diarrhea. Then they can go home with meds.  No deaths since I{ve been here.  Doctors without Borders comes every week to receive reports and do an inspection.  We follow a Red Cross protocol.  It is very clean and totally organized.  I am not working here, I am working iin the clinic next to this

the front of the clinic where I work 

This is labor and delivery.  I haven{t assisted in a birth yet, but I am waiting.....

This is the pristine Bajia de las Aguilas where we went today and can{t wait to return, as you can imagine. 

This is the vista from Hoyo de Pelepote in la reserva de Jaragua, pura naturaleza in every direction, we hiked 6 kilometers in to get there

The poor fellow I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs with Kaposi{s sarcoma, among other ailments )TB, pneumocystic pneumonia, HIV)

My kreyol tutor and translator, Peter, whose english is a few steps better than my kreyol, but he is 27 and bursts into laughter continuously.  This on the shore of Anse-a-Pitres, there is a bustling fishing trade, guys on the shore makiing nets all the time

the little kid{s wound before  I sewed it up, sorry out of focus

same little kid on his feet a few days later, limping and having trouble sitting on his bottom, but better and on his way to get an xray in the DR, the border guards finally let him through and thank God his spine wasn{t injured in the impact

mangled fingers I had to sew

mountain goats that popped onto the screen from when I was in the Pyrenees last fall and I can{t seem to get rid of them.

Wow, what a challenge to get these photos posted, I had to bother the guy in this cyber place over and over and finally a kid of about 14 figured it out for me.  I have been here for about 2 hours so I can{t post everything I wanted but at least its a start.

Just so you dont think that I am working harder than Mama Teresa in the midst a sunami, today Lydia and I took the day off and had an amazing excursion to La Reserva Jaragua, which is a national reserve in the southwestern part of the DR, something like 25,000 square kilometers of protected land that has amazing flora and fauna found no where else in the world.  It was declared a reserve in 1983it had been land used by the giant Alcoa for many years, who were mining bauxite from the land and then sending it by boat to Texas to make into alluminum.  They abandoned this business in the late 70s with the onslaught of plastics, and slowly trickled to a halt, after raping some of the land and then screwing hundreds of people who had come to Pedernales, where I am living on the Dominican side of the border.  After walkiing for an hour and ahalf in the cool shade of white pines and ferns we arrived at this spectacular view you see above.  There are petroglyphs from 2500 BC at the bottom of this ravine, but you can{t get there unless you have a guide and a few days to spare.

From there we went 45 minutes by car with our guide who is the owner of the pension where we are staying, to a lovely spot on the coast and then walked another hour to this totally untouched beach, also on land that had been owned by Alcoa and later acquired by the Dominican govt.  It is pretty well protected ecologically from exploitation and there are aabsolutely no hotels, only one little hut one hour away by foot, closer to Pedernales where you can get something to eat.  Calm gorgeous water and 5 kilometers of white sand to traverse.  Cant wait to return, wanna come!