Izalco Clinic
On Friday we visited a new location, Izalco, for half a day. We were a little nervous because didn't know the lay of the land, and we were only going to get one chance to make it work. On the bright side, it was much closer to our home base of Ateos than Tacachico. Izalco had a slightly different feel to it than many of the other towns we drove through. Brighter and more open, somehow.
The clinic was in the middle of town on the church grounds. I was surprised to find another 16th century church ruin here, similar to the one in Caluco, although a few years newer.
There were several plaques and memorials around the church grounds referencing some event that had happened in 1932. I looked it up today and discovered that it was a peasant revolt that resulted in the death of 20,000 - 30,000 people. Apparently, the outcome was so severe that it led to a disappearance of native dress and culture throughout the country, for fear of further reprisals. It's kind of interesting to think about the fact that it occurred four hundred years after the Spanish had first arrived.
You can't see through the glass on this shrine, but inside is a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The big volcanoes that are always appearing in my photos are collectively called The Santa Ana Volcano, and the pointiest one is the Izalco Volcano, which was continuously active from 1770 - 1958 and was referred to as "The Lighthouse of the Pacific". You can see it very clearly from the back of the churchyard here.
We set up clinic in two separate rooms. Triage, providers and lab in one and occupational therapy, eyeglasses and pharmacy in the other.
Triage / Providers / Lab
OT / Glasses /Pharmacy
Because of the volume of people we needed to see and the uncertainty of dealing with a new location, I wasn't able to do my usual portraiture here. Instead, I spent a good portion of my time in eyeglasses. I think I got to use more Spanish in these few hours than I had at any other point during the week.
I thought we did a great job. We got through all the patients who were waiting, then we had lunch, packed up, and headed out for our afternoon at the beach.
The clinic was in the middle of town on the church grounds. I was surprised to find another 16th century church ruin here, similar to the one in Caluco, although a few years newer.
There were several plaques and memorials around the church grounds referencing some event that had happened in 1932. I looked it up today and discovered that it was a peasant revolt that resulted in the death of 20,000 - 30,000 people. Apparently, the outcome was so severe that it led to a disappearance of native dress and culture throughout the country, for fear of further reprisals. It's kind of interesting to think about the fact that it occurred four hundred years after the Spanish had first arrived.
You can't see through the glass on this shrine, but inside is a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The big volcanoes that are always appearing in my photos are collectively called The Santa Ana Volcano, and the pointiest one is the Izalco Volcano, which was continuously active from 1770 - 1958 and was referred to as "The Lighthouse of the Pacific". You can see it very clearly from the back of the churchyard here.
We set up clinic in two separate rooms. Triage, providers and lab in one and occupational therapy, eyeglasses and pharmacy in the other.
Triage / Providers / Lab
OT / Glasses /Pharmacy
Because of the volume of people we needed to see and the uncertainty of dealing with a new location, I wasn't able to do my usual portraiture here. Instead, I spent a good portion of my time in eyeglasses. I think I got to use more Spanish in these few hours than I had at any other point during the week.
I thought we did a great job. We got through all the patients who were waiting, then we had lunch, packed up, and headed out for our afternoon at the beach.
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