Xela

This past Thursday we did an outreach clinic to Pajomel, a small pueblo high up above the lake. It´s a rough drive up, so Peyton, Karen, and I decided to hike. We took a lancha to Tzununil and then it was about 1:15 from the docks up to Pajomel. I was drenched when we got there - exactly as if I had just jumped in the lake. The clinic was great. I worked with Kelsey, a rising 2nd year who is great. Things weren´t super busy on Thursday - we saw just three patients. One elderly woman with chronic sinusitis, a little 3 year old with acute sinusitis, and a 20 year old with sun dermatitis, which is something a lot of folks get down here, and which we just treat with antihistamine, steroid cream, and sunscreen for prevention. One of the great things about this program is that pretty often the 4th years are basically practicing independently. At Pajomel we had Guadalupe, a Guatemalan nurse practitioner who is great. But otherwise, it was just Peyton and me, the 4th years, plus a few rising 2nd years. It´s incredible practice and a ton of fun.

After clinic on Thursday, Peyton and I rode with Pete from the lake up to Xela. Pete had business at the Mexican border and Peyton and I planned to climb Friday and Saturday. The hostel we got is awesome - complete with kitchen (with frig) and hot showers! On Friday Peyton and I found our way via bus and van up to a little farming pueblo called Chicua, which sits at the base of the cliff line reported to be the best climbing in Guatemala. From Chicua it´s a 20 minute hike up through a substantial scree/boulder field to the base.

This scree field is like no other I´ve ever experienced in my life. Scattered throughout the scree on almost every flat area you can find, there are religious groups that gather to chant prayers ALL DAY LONG! They sing songs, chant prayers, give sermons, perform interventions, etc, etc, the entire day without much of a break. The groups range in size from 2 or 3 up to 25 or more. A common chant we heard was ¨Poder de Dios, Poder de Dios, Poder de Dios...¨ It´s stuck in my head now. I guess I got used to it pretty quickly, but it was one of the oddest climbing experiences I´ve ever had for sure.

We climbed Friday and Saturday. Pete joined us on Saturday. The afternoon rains limited our time both days, but even so we were able to get in a bunch of quality climbing. This one spot we stumbled upon turned out to be the best in the whole area. There was a sweete arete (5.8), two bolted face climbs (10a/b and 11b/c), and a nice hand crack (5.8). None had grades and we had no guidebook, but those were the grades we settled on after climbing them a few times.

We´ll stay here in Xela tonight and then head back to the lake with Pete in the morning. Next week holds more Spanish/clinical class and some more outreach clinics.

I´m hoping that tomorrow while in Panajachel I´ll be able to find an internet cafe where I can upload some photos to my previous blog posts. It might be next week before I can get them all up, but I think I´ve figured out a way to do it - it just requires a somewhat lengthy trip into Panajachel to get access to some faster internet.