Wandering with Tedder and Tamara

9/11: Harley factory tour

2007-09-13T14:47:00.000-07:00

I needed to keep this as a distinct blog entry so I could surprise my dad with trinkets from the tour. I can post it now because he has his gear.

Anyhow, the highlight of a motorcyclist's trip to Kansas City is to visit the Harley-Davidson assembly factory. It's a huge place, and they've added on in many places. They are focused on some modern processes- just-in-time manufacturing, completely empowered teams (no managers), processes to stop bad practices, to track and keep pride involved in (what should be) an inhuman production process.

The tours are set up acceptably. You just walk in a big loop through the main warehouse, with some detours and excursions for parts of the process that are “pretty” to watch. They use a lot of robots, and their paint shop is still a black box- they were implying that painters (and anyone in that area) had to follow guidelines about what soap they used to shower, what type of clothes outside work, deodorants (of course), but also what type of meals they at that day. I wonder if they are trying to reduce the gaseous emissions, or something else, like having really greasy hands?

The Sportster assembly line is one of the major areas of the factory. They have assembly on the inside of the warehouse, and on the edges of it are the subassemblies- for instance, building up the handlebars with grips, throttle, etc. It was neat to see all of the frames and painted parts lined up, ready for assembly. They claim the supply is JIT, about 2.5 days' worth. That sounds about right from what we could see.

We then saw where completed bikes are loaded onto a metal skid, and a cardboard box is put over to. It sounded like they can fit 40 of these crates in a tractor trailer rig.

After seeing the Sportster line, we walked over and watched part of the V-Rod line. They use a lot more outsourced parts for this- hydroformed frames, Marzocchi front suspension, etc. Still, it was neat to see the subassembly and assembly processes- stamping VINs, adding tires, etc. It is all done JIT, so each bike on the line is unique. It isn't unusual to see different colors, different rim combinations, and different destination countries in the same half-dozen “batch”.

From there we went over to the CVO operation. It's obvious the extra care here- engines are assembled in a more finicky manner, and bike assembly is done by one person. So “Bob” might assemble your bike from the frame up. If something goes wrong, he's responsible for making it right. We watched the first 105th anniversary model being inspected- they had started assembly that morning, so by about 1pm it was close to being done.

I'd definitely recommend this tour. Pretty neat! When I was done, I rode my bike up in front of the visitors center and took some pictures. Nobody was around, so I put my camera on another bikes' seat. I knew that would be okay because they had an Iron Butt license plate tag :-)

9/11: Kearney NE to Kansas City MO (322 miles)

2007-09-13T14:42:00.001-07:00

I'm at my destination, Kansas City, MO. Why am I here? I've sold the bike to a fellow ADVrider named Ian. He's happy to have the DL650- it sounds like it'll suit him perfectly.

On to the ride. As expected, it was cold out of Kearney. It wasn't as cold as I'd expected though- one of the advantages of being at 'only' 5000 feet instead of 8000. Still, I used all nine of my handwarmers, placed over my arms, body, and feet. They didn't do a lot, but better than nothing. The large patches on my chest really helped, I think.

The ride is pretty simple and plain leaving Kearney. The interstate just goes east. There isn't a lot that is spectacular, though I do like the sloping plain, and it helped that the sun just rising as I got started. It didn't help that I rode directly into it all morning, though.

There was a tiny patch of Iowa, then into Missouri. I needed gas, but skipped an exit because I didn't think there was any. (turns out it was out of sight from the highway). I rode another 20 miles, then spent the next 40 miles scared I was going to run out. I took an exit because I knew there was a tiny town at it (exits are all 4-10 miles apart). The little town was two houses.

Back onto the freeway and down to the next town, which claimed to have a Sinclair station, according to the freeway information signs. It said it was 3/4 mile off the road. I went about a mile and found an old set of above-ground fuel tanks and old-style pumps, but they were inoperable. The guys in the fueling shack looked at me weird. I think maybe it was for the company only.

They pointed me across the street and down maybe 200 yards to the Sinclair station. I couldn't believed I missed it until I pulled onto the street. There were enough trees that it was invisible unless I'd gone further.

So, all that for nothing. Based on the fillup, I think I might have had at least 35 miles left in the tank.

From there, on to Kansas City. I went to Ian's house, he came out and inspected his new bike. After sufficient time, he took it out on the road to make sure it was what he was expecting. Of course, it was. He came back a happy camper. We shot the bull a little, then got a highway tour of Kansas City while picking up his wife, Jasmine.

It was interesting to hear about how the various automotive factories put their finished cars on the railroad lines for distribution, but they'll use terminals some distance from the factory as the start point. So, GM might haul their vehicles 200 miles to the east before putting them on rail. Conversely, Ford, who is 200 miles to the east of GM, might send their vehicles 200 miles to the south. And if Chrysler is south, they might use their local terminal (combined with the Ford shipments).

Dinner was an authentic barbecue place in the area. A pretty good contingent of ADV scum showed up- maybe around 15 people? Besides slow and confused service, the food was good. I've never tried deep-fried corn before. It's really sweet. Interesting.

No big plan for tomorrow, just at the airport by 1pm or so.

Wednesday, 9/12:

I convinced Ian to take me to a Waffle House for breakfast. I've never been to one before. I knew it wouldn't be wonderful, but it was worth trying, right? They are set up for fast service, and the food isn't terrible. I'd put it a half-notch below McDiners like Denny's, but it isn't priced much lower, either.

The rest of the morning was spent typing this blog, getting photos in, and updating the GPS data.

9/10: Ogden UT to Kearney NE (751 miles)

2007-09-13T14:27:00.000-07:00

My stay in Ogden was uneventful, except for the thin walls, which meant I could hear my neighbor's phone ringing for about an hour as someone tried to wake him up. I was waiting until light to leave, so I wanted to lay in bed for another 45 minutes or so- which means I just turned on some music and snoozed.

Ogden was in the 40s for temperature when I left. I stopped at a bagel shop in town for breakfast. They had an atlas, so I was just looking through it while waiting for my bagel to be ready. It was obviously very old- Interstate 80 was “proposed”. I should have looked at other sections (especially Southern California) to date it more accurately. I wonder when I-80 through Nebraska was completed?

The climb through the canyons in Utah was interesting and pretty. The warm colors on the layers of rock is always stunning, and I always forget. Western Wyoming was pretty, too- rugged, as the Rockies should be.

It was so cold that once I got into Wyoming I started desperately looking for one of my least favorite places, Wal-Mart. I had to ride an additional 60 miles past my 'breaking point', but I found one. I bought six handwarmers, plus three large handwarmers (about 4x6 inches). I put two handwarmers in each boot, one in each sleeve, then put the large warmers on my chest and one in my right arm. They never generated copious amounts of heat but it was better than nothing.

I also stopped for an Iron Butt Motel break right at the Continental Divide. I had the handwarmers on, and the sun was out, so I found a south-facing slope and laid down for a bit. I ended up napping for an hour. When I woke I was feeling much more rested, and my temperature had at least stabilized.

East Wyoming and Nebraska were definitely the plains. It's basically a tilted table- high in Wyoming, low by the evening. Look at the elevation profile (included) and that becomes obvious- there wasn't a lot of variation, just a very gentle slope toward the east. It's pretty, and windy too- there were a few wind farms in this stretch, especially in the few places that there was a ridge of any sort.

Late in the evening I turned over 50,000 miles on the bike. I stopped and took a picture- it was a momentous occasion for me, since the bike is only 3.5 years old.

North Platte was my destination, but I chose to ride another 120 miles because it was still relatively early in the evening, and I knew I'd have light for a long time still. I stopped in Kearney, Nebraska for the evening. I had to go to a couple of hotels to find one that was reasonably priced, but it was clean, I had a king-sized bed, and the bike was parked under cover just outside the manager's window.

I think this leaves about 300 miles for my last day. That'll certainly be much easier than 450 miles.

9/9: Portland OR to Ogden UT

2007-09-10T19:42:00.000-07:00

I've been slacking- I didn't post that we got the DL650 back about 10 days ago. That means it took over 6 weeks to arrive- and we spent a medium-size fortune for it. Ouch.

Our house in Seattle has sold, too. That's a relief for us, given the rough market and amount of time it was on the market. We are settled in to our downtown Portland apartment- it's right on the park blocks, very close to Safeway. Pretty cool.

I'm in Ogden, Utah, headed east. I'm staying in a Motel 6, with a temple just down the street, but it's still a rough area of town. I ate at a Mexican restaurant/grocery store. Most signs were only in Spanish, got to speak Spanish with the cook- it wasn't really designed for english-only gringos, so it worked out well.

I turned on the TV and the following commercial came on shortly after: "from the .. that brought you .. Return with Honor". I wonder if I'm in a slightly homogeneous market. Of course, there was another commerical, I thought it was one of the mormon commercials but it was actually for thewaytohappiness.org, which is L Ron Hubbard. Scientology in Utah? I suppose.

The ride over was decent. There is an electrical issue, likely with the power cord, to my radar detector. It kept resetting every 10 seconds or so, which means I gave up on it before even getting out of Portland.

I also froze my ass off. The temperatures were supposed to range from 40 to about 85, but I was only comfortable or warm for maybe an hour. Before leaving I couldn't find my electric jacket, so I grabbed Tamara's old electric vest. It never got warm, I don't know why. (what the deuce, everything is going wrong!)

Other than checking in to the Iron Butt Motel for about 50 minutes, I rode straight through. I covered 732 miles. Tomorrow will be about 650, then about 450 on Tuesday.

I'm posting this to this blog because it is still somewhat part of the 'wandering' ride. It'll make sense after I get to the destination, I promise!

Picture Post: Houston: The Ball Family

2007-08-03T14:36:00.001-07:00

Here's our family in Houston- little Ashley is such a doll.

8/2: Houston

2007-08-02T08:49:00.000-07:00

We flew from Quito to Houston yesterday. The flight was nice, as would be expected for flying first-class. It gets there at the same time as coach class, but the seats are comfier, there's no battling for overhead space, and we got a three-course breakfast. Tamara had a margarita, never mind that it was before lunchtime. It's evening somewhere, right?

Houston is a highlight for us because Tamara's older sister, Candace, lives here with her family. The Ball Family is busy and fun. They have two boys and one sweet little girl. We'll stay here until Saturday, when we fly to Portland.

In the meantime, I have some things to fax and mail, and we also bought a prepaid cell phone so we can contact people. That'll help as we look for an apartment and Tamara looks for a job in the medical field.

Today Tamara has been playing a lot of Sorry!, among other things.

Picture Post: Ecuador

2007-08-02T08:16:00.000-07:00

Tulcán

Tulcán to Quito

Otovalo to Quito via San Jose de Minas

Quito

Quito: Teleferiqo

Quito: Mitad del Mundo (Equator crossing)

Quito: Quito Viejo (Old Quito)

Quito: Fruit

Quito: Children International

Quito: Monica

7/29: Done volunteering & last souvenir shopping (Tamara posting)

2007-08-01T17:39:00.000-07:00

*Tamara posting*

Had my last day of volunteering on Thursday. Everything went well and I had a great time at the clinic these past few weeks.

There was an interesting case of a boy that had Ichthyosis vulgaris (fish scale disease) that appeared on his abdomen. It is a congenital disease and was very interesting to see - the skin was somewhat scaly, but didn't look a lot different from very very dry skin.

I got more pictures at the clinic, and ended getting totally mobbed by kids in the picture with me. It was really cute. I am sad to be done there - it has been a really good experience for me and I am really glad I did this.
Ted and I did a last souvenir shopping trip yesterday and got some cool things. I bought a leather jacket - it was rather an impulse buy, but I really like it and the prices are good here. We got some gifts for family & friends and enjoyed the day out. We stopped by the South American Explorer's Club since we are still waiting for a package from the States to arrive. The new manager there is really with it and cool and will let us know if it ever shows up. It's not a big deal but we wanted to give them a heads up on it so it isn't a problem if/when it comes.

7/27: Gone daddy gone

2007-07-27T19:25:00.000-07:00

We took the bike to the shipper, for the final time. Turns out he is a rider (1100 Honda of some sort), which makes me more comfortable leaving it with him. He'll do the final prep- airing down the tires, disconnecting the battery, and draining some of the fuel. We left him with some clear hose and a 5-liter bottle to put the fuel in.

We also had to pay for it today, just over $1200 in cash. We thought we'd be able to put it on a card- nope. So we went to about 5 ATMs to cobble together enough money- most banks around here only allow you to remove $400-500 per day. We were able to get it out, though. It'll probably be an additional few hundred once things are finalized.

Also bought some big duffel bags today. They are heavy and have rollers on the bottom. They are big enough we should only need one or two, rather than having four smaller ones.

I booked a flight from Portland to LAX to pick up the bike. It is early on August 8. Hopefully I can fly to LAX and walk to the cargo terminal to pick up the bike. Then I can air up the tires, connect the battery, and ride to the closest gas station. Next is to ride to Matt's house, where I'll replace the bearings and rear axle spacer. From there, I'll ride home. Good times.

7/26: Bike shipment, almost.

2007-07-26T20:18:00.000-07:00

I got the bike packed up today, which means sorting through our accumulated crap to figure out what we want to hand-carry and what we want to ship with the bike. I decided to ship Tamara's gear on the bike, and hand-carry mine back. That way I can ride before I get the bike, and if anything happens to the bike and the gear, I haven't lost my nice, expensive gear. Maybe I'm just jealous of Tamara's normal-shaped face..

So we took the bike to the shipping office we decided to use- after a mad scramble to find our customs paperwork for Ecuador. I thought I'd lost it. Thankfully, there was one place I didn't look, and Tamara was smart enough to find it. The guy at the office, spouse of the woman whom we'd been talking to, was there and filled us in on things. He wants the gas tank nearly drained, battery disconnected, and, after a long confusing conversation, we realized they wanted to air down the tires. No problem- we couldn't tell what he wanted done.

He also wanted the bike washed. Imagine that! So we are supposed to bring the bike back tomorrow afternoon, washed and ready for them. No problem with that, either- we went and got it washed in a really weird way. The guy sprayed some sort of oily soap onto it, then washed the entire bike with a filthy rag that was coming apart. Basically it just smeared dirt everywhere. Next, he used a pressure washer to blow all of the dirt off. If the bike was in better shape I wouldn't have liked that (because of scratches), but it's pretty banged up anyhow.

We'll take the bike back tomorrow, which may be the last time we see it until it arrives in Los Angeles- and until I arrive in LA, for that matter.

7/25: Volunteering update (Tamara posting)

2007-07-25T17:51:00.000-07:00

* Tamara posting *

Just a quick update about my volunteering this week. It is my last week, and I am sad that it will be ending - I've had a good time and feel that I got a lot of valuable experience. It was great to be able to help out so hands-on and with poor kids.

I've seen some interesting cases. The first one is a boy whose face was covered in sores. They were all scabbed, oozing, infected and crusty. My understanding is that the problem began as allergies, then the sores got infected, and now it's really bad. He had to get a shot of penicillin and a bunch of other medicines for the allergies and pain. He also got a good talking-to about keeping it clean and all that.

Another boy had chicken pox. It actually didn't look too bad and wasn't much of a concern. I don't remember, but I think he was given something for the itching and maybe an antihistamine. There was a case of a boy with chronic sinusitis and he was sent to get some x-rays done of his sinuses. Most likely he will need to have an operation to remove some of the cartilage in his sinuses or have his adenoids removed if they are the problem.

The most interesting case was a boy who had fractured his radius in May. He didn't have anywhere close to full movement of his hand, and didn't have as much strength in that hand either. Doing some symmetry tests when he had to push against my hand it felt as if he wasn't even trying to push against me. Compared to his other hand it was a huge difference. Unfortunately he will need some sort of operation to straighten that out and some serious physical therapy. I really hope he gets it fixed because if not it will become a major handicap in his life.

I also saw a girl that has esotropia (cross-eyed). This one was a little confusing to me - I'm not sure how long she's had it, but the doctor did send her to a specialist. It seems that she's had glasses to help with it in the past, but for some reason wasn't wearing them today. I didn't hear much about therapy for it, but my research indicates that this is necessary, so I'm not sure how well it is being treated. With my limited understanding of Spanish and medical treatment, it is hard to have these questions answered in the clinic. In any case, it was interesting, but sad.

Lastly, I got more pictures of kids at the clinic. Some of them are really eager to be photographed, even coming up to me and asking me to take their picture.

7/24: Business

2007-07-24T20:14:00.000-07:00

I seem to be spending most of my time doing business. I did some writing today, otherwise I spent a lot of the day faxing things for our real estate nightmare, documents to the university, and some stock-related transactions.

Also, since today is Tamara's last day of language education, I gave her teacher a ride on the motorcycle. She'd never been on a bike before, and she's been looking forward to the experience. She is SHORT, maybe 4'10” at most. So she looked funny wearing Tamara's gear.

We went for a zip around town, doing some minor lane-splitting (legal!) and bouncing the bike off the rev limiter in second gear. It was as fun as that sort of thing can be when the city streets are full of cages.

We are still finalizing our bike shipment. It's about 95% likely it will go to LAX, which means I'll fly down to repair the bearings, then ride it back.

7/18: Bike shipping problems, good news on school

2007-07-18T12:23:00.000-07:00

We had a quote for getting the bike to Portland for about $1000, but at the last minute they mentioned that not only would we need to drain all fluids (brake fluid, oil, gas, etc) but also would have to palletize it ourselves. Not gonna happen. So we are waiting for a quote back from another company.

In other news, the stars aligned so I can get in to PSU for the fall term- we thought it might not happen until winter. Tamara won't be able to take classes for a year, since she is working towards residency. (Residency helps for tuition, but also helps for admissions to OHSU).

7/15: Slight change of plans for the return flight

2007-07-15T20:33:00.000-07:00

Still flying from Quito to Houston on August 1, but then we are flying back to Portland the evening of the 4th, rather than the evening of the 6th.

Picture Post: Colombia #2: San Gil, Zipaquira salt cathedral, Bogota, etc.

2007-07-15T07:16:00.000-07:00

San Gil to Bogota

Zipaquira Salt Cathedral (Catedral de Sal)

Bogota

Bogota to Santander de Quilichao

Santander de Quilichao to Colombian border

7/13: Happy Friday the 13th! (Tamara posting)

2007-07-13T18:30:00.000-07:00

* Tamara posting*

We have three companies getting us quotes for the motorcycle shipping. Best news though was that we were able to redeem our airline miles to get business-class tickets from Quito to Houston (direct flight) on Aug. 1st, then we continue on from Houston to Portland on the 6th. We will spend the time in Houston visiting my sister and her family. Hi Candace!

It's a pretty good deal since we didn't have any luck finding flights from Quito to Portland when we tried earlier in the week. We will end up paying extra to have the bike sent to PDX instead of picking it up in LA and riding it back, but won't have as many worries about the bike's condition upon arrival (battery, starting, bearings, etc). And best of all we don't have to spend a bunch of money on airline tickets back.

In other news, I had to take the week off from volunteering at the clinic because I got Ted's eye infection. Since it is really contagious and requires antibiotics, I thought it would be best for me to not pass it on to the kids (especially as they can't afford extra medicines). I will start again on Monday and now I can make up this week later in the month since we don't leave right away.

7/12: Coming home.. soon.

2007-07-12T19:18:00.000-07:00

We are still organizing the final details, but I think we are coming home before the end of July. We've spent the last several weeks trying to figure out college admissions, and we've settled on a plan that puts us in Portland. We are attracted to PDX because of some schools, a much better downtown core and transportation network, and somewhat cheaper rentals than other school options.

So, tomorrow I'll see if I can find *someone* who can transport the bike back to the States. And since there aren't any 'slots' using our frequent flier miles to come back to the states, we'll be paying our way- it won't be cheap.

Tamara's plan will be to do some medical-related work so she can gain residency in Oregon (not just for tuition, but to increase chances of getting into OHSU soon). I'll do part-time or full-time school, depending on some wrangling with the school, and certainly full-time by winter.

Good times!

Picture Post: Colombia #1: Cartagena and transit pics

2007-07-12T06:12:00.000-07:00

The Cartagena page has 65 photos- it's a large page, with a large variety of topics.

Cartagena

Cartagena to San Alberto

San Alberto to San Gil

Picture Post: Portobelo to Cartagena Sailing Trip, San Blas Islands

2007-07-11T05:00:00.000-07:00

We had an interesting, scary, and miserable sailing voyage with our flaky captain Steve Robbins of the S/V Shenanigans. The best part of the trip was making new friends, Richard and Amanda from Sweden.

There are only two pages listed in this photo post, but they are very important. We're excited to have these up.

Portobelo to Cartagena Sailing Trip

Portobelo to Cartagena Sailing Trip: San Blas

Picture Post: Panama #2: Colon, Portobelo, sailboat bike loading

2007-07-10T08:39:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow will be a very big, very important photo post. This is the last of the photos until that one.

Colon

Portobelo

Sailboat bike loading

Picture Post: Panama #1: Transit, Panama City, bike repairs

2007-07-09T07:30:00.000-07:00

David to Panama City

Panama: Panama City

San Felipe (Casco Viejo)

Panama Buses

Rim dent and repair

Bike suspension repair

Panama Canal

7/6: Eye problems

2007-07-06T18:18:00.000-07:00

My left eye has been bothering me for a couple of days. I assumed I got some dust in it last weekend, when we went up the teleferiquo. I checked for junk (like an eyelash) several times a day, but didn't find anything until yesterday, when I found a small eyelash. It took a while to extract, and my eye didn't feel better afterwards. In fact, during the night my eye produced a ton of goobers (technical term) and has been tearing like crazy.

So we researched ophthalmologists this morning, thanks to SAE's listings. Tamara shortened her language lesson and we went hunting for one of the doctors at about 10:30am. We didn't find the office, so we went to the second one. He was there, and was in an office with other doctors, which was nice. We explained we didn't have an appointment and asked if they could fit us in. Sure enough, it was only about 15 minutes before we saw the doctor.

The doctor was a very nice guy. His English was quite passable, which helped when we were talking about things like viruses, cornea transplants, and the like. He confirmed that my eye didn't have herpes (a big concern for me- I have herpes in my other eye), and that it was just conjunctivitis. He said it is common here because of the pollution and dry climate (which makes eyes more susceptible to getting a bacteria). He gave us a prescription for Vigamox, told us to come back early next week if it isn't better, and told us it was really contagious (which we knew).

So, hopefully things will clear up. The left side of my face is crusty from all the tearing. Sounds silly, I know.

(The flowers are some that Tamara bought yesterday. The entire bouquet was $6).

7/5: Quito ouch

2007-07-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

I took Tamara to the volunteer clinic on the bike today. That meant dealing with morning traffic to get cross-town- it was about the same as any other big city, I guess. Luckily, I was able to lanesplit quite a bit.

Actually finding the clinic was difficult. Tamara had marked it with the GPS, but it is on a steep hillside, so roads either don't go that far or they bypass it. With a couple of U-turns, we found it okay.

The road to the clinic isn't really a road. Even though the area is divided by normal blocks and has sidewalks, the road is really rough dirt. It is even rougher than an unmaintained road because of the steep hillside. Additionally, there are sewer covers in the center of it- one of them was at least 18” above the roadway.

I stayed at the clinic about 90 minutes with Tamara, as we waited for the doctor, dentist, and other volunteer to arrive. Tamara put me to work, helping her file the patient folders. It was interesting for several reasons. First, people keep their mother's name for a while. So, first imagine Tamara had a middle name (for simplicity, we'll call it “Middle”). In the US her name as a child would be Tamara Middle Cheney. In Ecuador it would be Tamara Middle Cheney Anderson. Once she got married it would become Tamara Middle Timmons Cheney.

When the doctor arrived Tamara asked her some questions for me. She sees at least 25 kids per day. That means about 20 of them are annual visits, and the remainder are tiraged emergencies- typically sick kids. I also saw the library, the computer center, and the doctor and dentist's offices.

When I was ready to go, I had Tamara come out to help me with the bike. I was parked facing downhill, basically in the middle of the 'road' because of all the softball-sized rocks. I wanted Tamara to help me stablize the bike if it got thrown sideways from the rocks.

Luckily, I didn't have any trouble. I went a block down the hill, past the sleeping mangy dogs that didn't care I was passing inches from them, then turned onto a paved street. I realized it was the wrong street, so I went to make a u-turn. Unfortunately the street was on a slope, and I dropped the bike. I spent a couple of minutes trying to lift it- finally someone came by and helped me.

By the time I got back to the apartment (a long ride), I could hardly walk. Obviously I wrenched my back to some degree. Hopefully it is just a muscle strain.

7/2-7/4: Quito (Tamara posting)

2007-07-05T04:51:00.000-07:00

*Tamara posting*

Monday, 7/2:

I had the day off from volunteering today because there was some big meeting scheduled for the day. We took it fairly easy - Ted had a hard time sleeping last night. We just did some errands and I had my normal Spanish lesson in the afternoon.

Tuesday, 7/3:

At the clinic I spent most of the day in the filing room catching up on papers (some from back in 2004 that still needed to be filed!). I did make it into the consultation room for a couple hours.

Today there were some really cute girls about 9-11 - very shy but they had really cute smiles. One girl was really shy and timid, and I noticed that she would at times blink really fast. She had a habit of pulling in her bottom lip to the point that it had scabs under the lip. She got referred to a psychologist, but it made me sad because it seemed fairly obvious that she didn't get much attention at home. It makes me wonder if the family will actually follow up and get help for her or not (the referrals to other doctors are for services that are free, or nearly so).

Wednesday, 7/4:

I got to work all day in the consultation room today- I love that. My most exciting thing today was listening to a heart murmur- my first time with a stethoscope and what a cool thing to hear! This poor boy had lost both his parents (they died) and his grandparents were taking care of him and his siblings. He was malnourished and very sad. From what the doctor said, his heart condition was most likely due to the malnutrition and would correct itself once his diet got better, though she did order an ecocardiogram.

There were quite a few interesting cases today - Hepatitis A, Phimosis (narrowed foreskin - the doctor made the poor boy cry pulling it back to look it over), two cases of undescended testis, along with the normal cases of lice, parasites, allergies, and colds.

I gave an eye exam to one boy and didn't notice until the other volunteer, Laura, mentioned it - that he was saying the letters in English. He got stuck on the letter “Z” though and I had to tell him it was ok to say it in Spanish :) When we were done I told him that in English we call it “Z” (in Spanish it's zeta) to which Laura quickly responded, “only in America!” It cracked me up - she's right of course - elsewhere it's Zed.

As I was waiting for the doctor after the coffee/lunch break I let some more kids draw in my notebook. They really like it and as one girl was drawing another boy came up and wanted to draw as well. So this evening, Ted and I went and bought a special notebook (with non-lined pages) for the kids to draw in. It should be a hit. I got some stickers to give out as well which should be fun for me.

Ted was completely out of reading material, despite all the time he's spent editing photos and videos. So he went to an expat bookstore in town to trade in the one we were both done with for some new ones. He got some interesting topics- adolescent development, gender issues, and urban studies. He also checked for our long-overdue supply package- still no sign of it, even though it was shipped over a month ago.

Picture Post: Costa Rica #2: San Jose, bike crash, bike repairs, more

2007-07-04T12:08:00.000-07:00

Monteverde to La Fortuna

Santa Elena Bike Crash

La Fortuna

San Jose

San Jose: Bike Repairs

San Jose to Panama Border