Final day of clinics

Farmers Market

Wednesday April 30, 2014

Too hot and humid to sleep well last night.  Finally got up to read, then went for a walk to the street market.  Took some photos along the way.  Got an excellent picture of a lizard called a “Monkey  LaLa”.  It actually gets up on its hind legs and runs when it feels it is in danger!  Very fun to watch!

Amazing trunk architecture!

"Monkey La La"  I took this shot with major telephoto!  Amazed at how clear it turned out!

Loaded up for our last day of clinics.  The heat and humidity continued to get worse.  It was 100 degrees yesterday, seemed hotter today.  We were busy in the morning, then very quiet midday, then a bunch of people and pets showed up at the end.  We did a total of 148 surgeries and over 300 consults! 

Tiny patient.  But look at the size of the clip on the leash!

Several cases returned today for checkup to be sure they were doing well.  Nice to see some of the more difficult cases recovered well.

Lindsey is fantastic in Recovery.

Delaney in Prep.

It finally cooled off late in the afternoon.  It got very dark, like it was going to storm, but never did.  It is currently blowing, lightning and thunder.  We all went out for a nice dinner together.  Lots of thunder and lightning… but no rain yet.

Dr Leslie with a tiny patient.

Tomorrow most of us are going on day tours.  More to report then!

Hasta!

As I was posting: RAIN!!

Clinics: Day 2

Local fruit, don't know what it is called but it tastes good!  You eat the white part, spit out the seeds.

Tuesday April 29, 2014

Stayed quite warm and humid all night.  Never cooled off at all.  Whew, woke up sweating and stayed sweating aaaaaallllll day! 

I sat outside on our veranda this morning, eating fresh watermelon, pineapple and fresh baked zucchini bread.  And took lots of photos of some birds that have been hiding from me!  Don’t know what kind they are.  Need to find out.  Very pretty and fun to watch.  They were catching little bugs for breakfast.  Speaking of bugs, there have been very few!  No mosquitos or other flying bugs.  Has been very nice!  But there are fire ants in the grass.  Have to be very careful about standing in grass.  The ants will be on you and biting before you realize it!  They inject formic acid and it really burns.  Just rinsing off with cool water takes care of it, but the bites really sting!

The birthday girl: Dr. Michelle Ward.

Today is my roommate’s birthday. Dr Michelle Ward turned 48!  She brought a button, party hat and funny glasses to wear all day at clinics.  Hmmm, there may even be some cake today!

Our leader, Karen, checking out a darling ridgeback puppy.

When we arrived at the clinic, there was no one there yet!  We were concerned that clients would not show up… but they did.  We were moderately busy all day.  Lots of medical appointments that our trusty leader, Karen, was seeing.  We had some pretty involved surgeries, but all the critters did well.  We were all melting all day, but we made it through.  Then: we DID have cake!  One of the volunteers with the humane society made a chocolate cake for Michelle’s birthday!  Yummo!!  We enjoyed it with some “squash”, a drink made with lime concentrate similar to limeade, but not as sweet.  It was really good.

Beth, awesome tech, with a visiting local veterinarian

Lindsey in recovery giving tender loving care to recovering patients.

Local veterinarian observing Kelly doing surgery.

We all went back to the hotel, cleaned up and headed up into town to have dinner.  A group of us ended up at a Chinese restaurant that was very good!  But they serve French fries with egg rolls!  AND no chopsticks!  Too funny!  Followed up with ice cream… I had sour sop flavor!

Tomorrow is our last day of clinics.  Hope we stay nice and busy!

Until tomorrow!

Cute little patient.

Jackie visiting with Patty (she made the birthday cake!)

First day of clinics

Monday, April 28, 2014

A few of us got up early to go to the local farmers market.  It is open Mon-Sat, with Mon, Wed and Sat being the best days.  It opens about 6 am but is closed by noon.  We really wanted some nice fruits and vegies, the choices in the grocery store are limited and poor quality.

These little guys let any trespassers know that this was their territory!

The Market

The booths had mostly vegetables, but we did get a huge watermelon, pineapple, bananas and some local fruit… can’t remember the name.  But had to get it to try.  I think the cold watermelon, after a long day at clinics will be very welcome!  I had to carry it back to the hotel, all 22 pounds of it!  I would try to hold it in different positions, but my hands were so sweaty, it was tough to carry!!  Finally made it back (with a few rest stops and wipe the hands dry) and managed to fit the watermelon and the pineapple in the fridge!  Ate a quick breakfast then off to the clinics!

Getting set up for the clinic

We were picked up early (!!!) and taken to the work site which is near the little airport.  There were already people and pets waiting before 8am.  One young lady, Jessica, traveled from a village over 35 miles away to have her dog, Pepper, spayed.  She had to hitch a ride in the back of a truck to a nearby village to catch a bus to Punta Gorda, was dropped off at the street market then had to walk up to the clinic site.  After Pepper recovered from surgery, she and Jessica had to reverse the order to get back home.  That is some dedication to get her pup cared for!

Jackie and Carol cleaning instruments.

It was already hot and humid.  Thankfully the room is large and airy and there were several fans to help keep it cool.  Volunteers from the Punta Gorda Humane Society were a great help and lots of fun to visit with.  Many are expats and it is fun to chat with them to find out how and why they ended up in Punta Gorda, Belize!  One lady, Carol, and her husband have been here for 41 years!!  They were missionaries for 20 years, raised their three children here, and stayed on.  They now own a hotel.  Their two sons have moved back to the USA, their daughter married a local man and still lives in Belize.  What a great story!

Michelle spaying the local MD's dog.

We had a few cats, lots of dogs of all ages, from little puppies to old dogs.  Many were only presented for checkups, vaccinations and deworming.  We did get a lot of surgeries done, too.  My hands were so sweaty in the heat, I had to wear a size larger surgery glove just to get them on!

Justin and a patient

After a long, hot, busy day, we all got back into the van to go back to the hotel.  I got the watermelon out and chopped it up and we all enjoyed a luscious after clinic refreshment!  It was so sweet and juicy.  Best watermelon I have had in years!

A small group of us went off to a small restaurant for a simple dinner, back to blog, and time to rest for tomorrow!

Good night all!!

Jessica and Pepper.

A Quiet Sunday

Early morning view

Sunday April 27, 2014

Quite warm and humid here, but we had a great breeze all night.  It was light by 5:30.  Roosters were crowing most of the night.  At one point I checked my watch and it was only 3am.  Silly birds.

Darling local resident

Wandered along main street this am, checking out the shoreline, birds, doggies, plants and blue crabs.  The sun was already way up in the sky but it was pretty hazy.  No breeze this morning but much cooler.  The hotel proprietor put a light breakfast in our fridges last night so we had a nice breakfast of juice, water melon, cantaloupe and fresh made pumpkin bread.  It was very nice!

The flowers are gorgeous!

Sit back, relax and float down the river.

The bromeliads in the tree are huge!

Woofie really enjoyed the lime ice cream!

In the warm springs: front: Adrienne, Leslie, Karen, Stacy
back: Justin, Lindsey, Kelly and Michelle.

Handsome local resident.  These crabs live in the dirt under hedgerows.  They hide quickly with any movement that may mean danger.  This photo is with the telephoto lens.  Could not get close to the little guys.

A group of us were picked up to go tubing down the Rio Grande.  It was a slow, relaxing float.  Our guide, Fleur, was constantly grabbing the stragglers (I would be one of them!) and pushing us back into the main, sloooooow, flow of the river. 

The trees are huge, many of them are decorated with bromeliads that are HUGE!!  The ones we have at home are so tiny!  We saw a few iguanas up in the trees, also giant in size!

There is a warm spring that feeds the river, so we took a short walk up to sit in the pool of warmer water. 

We enjoyed a nice lunch at a local café followed by delicious homemade ice cream! 

That hit the spot!

We returned to the hotel and chilled for the afternoon.   Time to relax, read a book, take a nap, and write a blog.  Sitting out on our veranda, enjoying the breeze.  Is there a name for them (like tradewinds??)?  They are called “very nice” suggested Lindsey.  I think she is right!

Karen and a few volunteers went to the clinic site to get set for tomorrow.  Most of us met later for a nice meal out at Ashi’s Place.  Live drum music with singing.  Leslie got to play the drums!  Back to the hotel for a team meeting then off to the shower and bed.  It is quite humid and makes it difficult to dry off after a shower!  Thank goodness we have fans to help keep us cool.  Clinics tomorrow!

 

We have arrived!

This was our airplane from Belize City to Punta Gorda, via Placencia!

Saturday April 26, 2014

Welcome to Belize!

Early morning wakeup call at 3am!  Yikes, the night zipped by quickly.  Jackie and I could not stop yakking on the drive from Ocean Shores, through dinner, and back at the hotel.  Finally used some duct tape to keep our mouths shut so we could catch a few winks!

The view from the Cessna

We flew to Dallas/Ft. Worth, met a couple of other team members: Beth and her daughter, Delaney.  Next stop Belize City.  Then the puddle jumper Cessna plane to Placencia.  We sat on the plane expecting it to just continue on to Punta Gorda, but turns out we had to get off and get on another little plane!  We had a good time chatting with the pilot.

The airport terminal in Punta Gorda!

We were met at the “terminal” in PG and wisked off to the Blue Belize where we will be staying for the next week.  Met the rest of the team, some folks that we have met before and many new faces.  It is Saturday night, the sun set about 6:30 and the little town seems to have shut down.  We went to the tiny local market to get a few snacks then wandered down “Main Street” and had a simple dinner.  Jackie and I had a nice chat with the owner, Tiffany, of the little restaurant and a local fellow, Ronald, that plays and teaches local drumming.  We are planning to listen to him play on Friday night!

Some fun activities planned for tomorrow!

getting ready...

Jackie and I are getting our last minute details taken care of.  Woofie has been packed for days!  He is wondering what the hold up is.  Two days and counting!  This will be the first trip without a staff member... :(  but we will get by.  I will post as regularly as I can, internet access can be pretty spotty in Central America. 

I have been traveling with World Vets www.worldvets.org for over five years now.  This is my 10th trip with them!  What an amazing way to travel:  we see places and meet people that you would miss as a typical tourist.  And we get to provide veterinary services to animals that would not otherwise get care.  And of course, we do as many spays/neuters as possible to help with dog and cat population control and teach any interested local veterinarians how to continue with what we have started.  It is a win-win-win situation!

We will spend our first week with World Vets taking care of critters in the town of Punta Gorda.  This is a "pilot" trip which means this is the first World Vets team to this location.  http://worldvets.org/projects/punta-gorda-belize/  There was a team that went to the area of Placencia in March and it was a successful trip.

The second week we will spend enjoying some of the adventures available in Belize!  Jackie, Colleen and I will be joining Mountain Equestrian Trails Adventure Tours to go horse trekking (or 4-wheel drive vehicles) to caves, ruins, rivers and jungle.  www.metbelize.com   I am going to start on horseback... will be interesting to see how long I last!  It has been many years since I spent a lot of time in the saddle.  I will also squeeze some scuba diving into schedule!  Stay tuned!

Welcome to the Belize Blog!

It's less than a week until take-off, and the girls at Ocean Shores Animal Hospital are busy getting Dr. Steele's giant suitcase ready for another World Vets trip. Of course, there are the usual surgery gloves and other supplies, but this time we've added Stuff for Kids! We've been asked not to bring candy for children, due to a lack of dental care and high risk of diabetes, so Office Manager Linda went and played at the Dollar Tree last week, and boy, did she have fun! We can't wait to see pictures of local kids in Belize using their kaleidoscopes, stickers, jump ropes, and giant goofy glasses: