Antigua...A little bit of Europe in Guatemala

This weekend I ventured outside of the city to an oasis called Antigua. A UNESCO World Heritage site, you'd never guess it's only 45 minutes from Guatemala City. Here's how the weekend went:

Harold, another intern from CDC, and I headed out Saturday morning to Antigua. Our first stop: The Black Cat Inn. I've stayed in a lot of hostels over the years, but this place was just so nice. For only Q65 (less than $10), we got a place to sleep and breakfast in the morning (which ended up begin super YUMMY). The Inn had a downstairs yard/patio area (see picture) and an awesome upstairs deck. Overall assessment: awesome! Thank you Lonely Planet and Sarah Stoneking for the suggestion.

The yard/patio of our hostel 

Next, we headed out for a little exploration. Antigua is a really walkable city making it a nice break from all the taxi riding in Guatemala City. Our walk took us past a number of ruins, the market, and an amazing coffee shop called Fernando's. Fernando's is known for some of the best coffee in Antigua and homemade chocolate. We sampled the cardamom chocolate and it was indeed delicious! 

Funny sign at Fernando's Coffee Shop. They make their own chocolate and brew the best coffee. YUM!

Post chocolate comma, we stumbled upon a free book exchange occurring at some ruins near our hostel. There was also a photo campaign in the courtyard advocating for human rights. And, perhaps best of all, just inside there was a gallery of photos taken by children. The collection was from an organization that provided advanced training in photography for impoverished children and women. The photos were one of my fav things in Antigua.

Old and new. These are some ruins located a block away from our hostel. There was also a photo campaign outside promoting human rights for all. 

Post photos and book exchange, we met up with some fellow med school friends, Tara and Sarah. At about the same time, it proceeded to rain heavily for the rest of the day. But that didn't stop us. We went to a wonderful coffee shop near the central park (notice the theme of coffee!) and then headed out for some culture at La Merced. La Merced is a beautiful church complete with cloisters for nuns back in the day. While we were visiting, we saw a wedding ceremony in the church! From La Merced (and everywhere in Antigua), you can see amazing landscape filled with active volcanoes.

Tara was feeling inspired by La Merced

To finish out Saturday, the four of us headed over to a local establishment called Cafe No Se. It was SUPER hipster. The cafe had it's own mezcal bar! I could only handle one sip of their house made mezcal! We also tried a drink called the cucaracha, which is a shot (of what I can't remember) set on fire! And the night continued...

Cafe No Se had a separate area where they sold house-made mezcal. According to the bartender, mezcal is the 'grandaddy' of  tequila

The next morning, Harold headed to Belize as Sarah, Tara, and myself walked more of the city. Our day included two cafes, one of which sold the most amazing banana bread. We also saw the ruins of San Francisco, which were even more amazing than La Merced. The ruins included a museum dedicated to Santo Hermano Pedro.

Sarah looking at the ruins of San Francisco...definitely one of the coolest places in Antigua

Ruins of San Francisco with some active volcanoes in the background

All-in-all, it was a TERRIFIC trip! I just want to leave you with some final impressions of Antigua:

1. The food is yummy...everything I ate that weekend was so delicious!
2. There are a lot of gringos...Antigua is home to lots of expats and people from around the world.
3. The city looks like many parts of Europe...definitely showing its Spanish heritage, Antigua could be straight from Europe with its architecture and cobbled streets.
4. It's a cultural center...After visiting three different art galleries/museums and two ruins (as well as passing a number of others), Antigua definitely seems to pride itself on the culture and heritage of Guatemala.

A little down time on the streets of Antigua

Market outside some ruins

All In A Week's Work

It's been an exciting week at work! There's been security briefings and clinic visits! But before I get ahead of myself, let me explain what it is I'm doing here in Guatemala.

This summer I'm working as an intern for CDC-GAP or CDC-Global Aids Program. Our office works with the Universidad de Valle de Guatemala (UVG) and all the people at my office are UVG staff/faculty. The office coordinates all the HIV programs for Central America and some of the Caribbean. We focus on communities with people identifying as MSM (men who have sex with men), transgender (mostly male-to-female for our office), or FSW (female sex workers). In Latin America, these three communities have a disproportionately higher risk of acquiring HIV compared to other populations.

Clinic in Zona 3

So what do I do? One of the roles I find myself in, that I wasn't expecting, is translator. I'm one of two people in the office who is a native English speaker. As a result, I end up translating a lot of emails and documents that are in Spanish into English for the CDC-Atlanta office. Needless to say, my reading skills in Spanish are greatly improving. My other job is point-person (kind of) for a intervention/protocol we are going to implement in Guatemala City. Specifically, it is a multi-level intervention for MSM communities. The intervention helps foster community activism to raise awareness about HIV infection and safe sex practices. A second piece of the intervention focuses on increased HIV and syphilis testing within young MSM communities. All-in-all it's a good intervention (I can't take credit for that...I'm just writing the protocol based on someone else's ideas).

Medical cart with supplies the doctor might need

But on to this week's work...So this week I was really excited because I visited the two clinics that will be involved with this intervention. The first clinic was in Zona 3 (zones to be described in a later post) and focused on care for FSW, although care was provided for MSM and transgender persons. I have to say the clinic was kind of awesome! The clinic operated a medical care portion with physicians, psychologists, and pharmacists. There was also a laboratory portion, which was fully equipped to diagnose HIV, syphilis, hepatitis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and more. Best of all, the clinic operated an educational center where adults were trained to be lab technicians and children of low-income families could receive primary education! I also met the most incredible doctor, who allowed me to see patients with him (complete with a white coat they made me wear). Awesome way to remember something from the first year of med school!

The one exam room in Zona 4 Clinic

The second clinic was in Zona 4 and, unfortunately, had no doctor for the day so there weren't any patients. But the facilities were really nice. The focus for this clinic is MSM populations, but, like the other clinic, they see everyone.

Beyond the clinic visits, I also had a security briefing at the U.S. embassy this week. As a CDC intern, we're encouraged/required to attend one of these to learn a bit more about the dangers of Guatemala. I think it was my first time in a U.S. embassy so that was kind of exciting and what was a very helpful briefing.

And that's pretty much it for my week at work! On a side note, a colleague brought worms to work this week that make yogurt. All you do is place the worms in a glass with milk and in 24 hours you have really rich and yummy (so they tell me) yogurt...Something to think about until my next post!

Guate!

Hello! I feel that's the only appropriate response after my 10 month hiatus. What can I say? School got busy. But here I am making a commitment to be a better blogger. And what better way to begin again than with the start of summer!

Just 3 weeks ago our first year of medical school officially ended. And guess what? I PASSED!! That's  right, I am now promoted one notch higher or as my class likes to say "we're 1/4 MD!" I'd like to say my last 3 weeks have been filled with lots of rest and relaxation, but, as captured by my blog title, I'm restless and I like to keep busy.

The day after our "baby step" some fellow med students and myself headed to Carolina Beach for a much needed vacation in the fun. Picture it: mini golf, soft serve ice cream, settlers of catan, ocean. That pretty much sums up what I'd call a perfect weekend! I, of course, got sunburnt (next time more sunscreen), but it's since turned into a nice golden brown. 

The weekend after the beach I went to NYC to meet up with people from my TFA days, Antoinette and Alleen. We had a wonderful time eating our way around the city including smorgasbord in Williamsburg, which is kind of like a flea market for food! Apart from food, we managed to do a few cultural things including visiting the 9/11 memorial (beautiful dedication), watching Once (just won several Tony's including Best Musical) and Newsies, and going to see Snow White and the Huntsman (cultural, right?). Antoinette and I also saw Hysteria, which if you haven't seen it you should. It's hysterical! And we meet up with other TFAers, Jess and Marianne, who are both completing their last of med school at Columbia (smart ladies!). Then it was back to NC for me.

And here I am...NOT in NC. A few days after NYC, I boarded a plane for Guatemala (or Guate as everyone seems to call it). What am I doing here? Good question. I'm working with the CDC Global AIDS program (GAP) this summer in Guatemala City on some public health projects (and improving my Spanish). I'll be here for 7 weeks, returning stateside in late July. I'd put a picture up, but I have yet to take any (not like me at all!). Instead, I'll try to provide you with some initial impressions of Guate:

1. beans, rice, tortillas, and REPEAT...I'm not sure if this is common, but the house I'm staying at eats this for every meal (including breakfast). Needless to say, my bowels are going crazy.

2. there's a lot of work to do...within 1 hour of entering Guate I was already working on a project. The office does amazing work and manages a lot of projects throughout Latin America, so they always need more hands to help.

3. inequity...as described by my boss, Guate has a severe divide between those people who have money and those who don't. Those who don't often can't afford cars and have to take city transportation  to get around, which can be really unsafe. Just to give you some perspective, our housekeeper (who is absolutely amazing) makes a really good wage for those who are poorer in Guate. She makes $220 a month and has two kids. 

4. people...Guatemalans are incredibly nice in all my experiences so far. I have yet to meet anything but friendly faces.

5. language...to my surprise, I can actually understand a lot of what people say here (probably about 75-85%, maybe more...not bad). not to my surprise, my actual speaking back in Spanish is not so hot, but I've got 7 weeks to work on that. 

6. landscape...Guatemala is beautiful!! Even in Guatemala City, we're surrounded by volcanoes that are visible on a clear day. Makes for a wonderful view each morning!

7. rain...Who knew it was winter in Guatemala and the rainy season? Well it is. What that means is it's much colder than one would expect (gets to about 60 degrees at night), sun sets at 6pm, and it rains most afternoons/evenings/sometimes mornings. 

I think that is a sufficiently long post for now. Look for another one Monday!