Real taste of rainy season.. torrential downpour, random power loss and no internet since Sunday!

Ok, so we have had an internet blackout since Sunday night. I lost internet during a skype conversation that night, while in the midst of trying to post this blog.. and internet did not return til late this afternoon. So I'm sorry to anyone I worried, but I'm totally fine! It was a big fluke and a lot of factors contributed to not having internet.. we had a HUGE storm which knocked out power on and off for the last few days, plus there was a plane crash on the mainland, which meant our internet issues were not exactly a priority! lol plus things in Honduras always work on 'Honduran time', which means whenever they feel like getting to it.. lol.

Sunday Feb 13th: 

So this blog post will be shorter I promise! Sometimes I get a bit carried away and last post was definitely one of those times.. I just was so excited to share that with all of you!

So yesterday was my first introduction to the Roatan rainy season.. technically its been rainy season this whole time I've been here, but it hadn't really rained since I've been here. Some mornings while I walked to the clinic I would see damp ground or the odd puddle, but nothing substantial. 

pouring rain on the front step (look closely)

my sopping wet laundry

So yesterday morning I was up and running early to get some schoolwork done and decided to do my laundry bright and early so it could dry on the line all afternoon.. but no sooner than I had it on the line, it started to pour. I figured oh well, it will only rain a few mins and then it will stop, but no, no it rained and rained and rained. Torrential downpour! And we lost our power, which is a common occurrence on Roatan (like every few days) so I couldn't get the schoolwork I had planned to do done. So I just lay on my bed, listening to the rain hit the roof and was lulled to such a peaceful rest. Eventually I got up and did other things, like take some pics of the rain which I will post here:

look close you can see the downpour.. and this was only the beginning..

side angle out onto my deck

my room from the door

I also thought I should post some pics of my house, so here are some pics of my room here at Bob & Debi's. Its a beautiful house and I have my own room, bathroom and deck! :) 

   

Then today, was a similar day to yesterday. Although the weather did eventually clear up yesterday and the sun came out for a brief period, but the rain was back in full force to lull me to sleep at night. Then today I woke up to the rain and now, as I get ready for bed its still pouring!! I don't mind the rain though, it does cool things off a bit and it helps me focus on the mound of schoolwork that I really should be getting done! Plus this rainy season has been fairly dry compared to other years and it ends on the last day of Feb, so we dont have much time left before its over. Plus, rain is nothing to complain about when there is a good dumping of snow on the ground at home! :)

Wed, Feb 16th:

So rainy season sure is rainy! We had a crazy storm these last few days!! A Noreaster they say.. but not quite like the snowy cold Noreasters we get at home! lol. Although it has been cold by Roatan standards, and most people have resorted to long pants and sweaters.. lol, not me though! I'm still loving the heat, its probably still in the low 20s..

So we have been without internet since Sunday evening, and man that can be a long time! Our power has been on and off and with all the rain its been a bit crazy! I ran out of schoolwork that I could do without the internet and I have read several books since I've arrived, so I'm was trying to ration the books so I wouldnt read them all too quick, but when there is no computer, no power and pouring rain, there isn't much else to do. And clinic has been pretty slow too with the rain.. one day we only had 15 patients, which is nuts! And some of our staff got stuck on the mainland after going to sightsee this weekend because the ferry couldn't cross to Roatan in the storm. (But everyone is home safe and sound now) We arrived at the clinic the other day to find several inches of water on the floor too, which caused a bit of a rush to move any supplies that might be on the bottom shelf of our storage cupboards and thankfully not much got ruined! The issue is just SO MUCH WATER!! It was coming up through the floor, in between the grout of the tiles! You basically can't understand how much water there is, its been raining like torrential downpour for days.. rivers have overflowed, streets are flooding, bridges are under water, and its really dangerous for many people to leave their homes because everything is on a slope here and there is a real risk of mudslides.

This is someone's front lawn under at least a foot of water

Anyway, today the rain finally stopped this morning, and though there has been scattered showers all day, its 95% better than the last few days. And people started coming to the clinic in droves! I did triage by myself today (I've been practicing solo for a while but usually on a busy day they send me a volunteer to help even with things like weighing patients etc). And man, today was like the day of screaming babies! Not one kid seemed to be in a good mood, they were all shreiking even when all I wanted was to weigh them! lol the other volunteers were joking that my triage room was a house of terror and it sounded like I was murdering people! I wasnt. I wanted to kill a few people but I didnt. lol. 

Oh another fun medical story for those who care: we had a 1 month old baby come into the clinic today and I triaged her.. she was only 8lbs and really small. But her most distinguishing feature was her cyanosis. Like this baby was BLUE with a capital B! We put the O2 sat on her and I thought the machine must have been broken, I couldnt get a reading higher than 84% but it was hovering much lower most of the time. Even putting her on oxygen didn't help much.. thankfully we have a pediatric resident with us, and an emergency pediatric doctor, so after a full work up, they diagnosed her with a heart defect which meant her body wasn't getting much oxygenated blood. They wanted her sent to the capital of Honduras, on the mainland to get treatment.. but the family was from the Colonia and flat out said they could never afford it. They couldn't even afford a cab to the local hospital on Roatan. They were content to take her back home to whatever fate that might be.. but this story has a happy ending! Jacob our pediatric resident is here with a group called Global Healing Health Missions and he got on the phone and after a bit he was able to get them to agree to sponser her. They were going to send a helicopter tonight to come get her and her mom so she could be flown to the capital to undergo treatment (all paid for by Global Healing Health Mission)!! It was such a happy ending! Definitely the highlight of my day.. well aside from getting the internet back! lol! 

Anyways, thats enough for this blog.. I have tons of other internet stuff to catch up on, but thanks to everyone for reading my blog and for those who were worried by my absence online!