McWane and Shannon headed to the colonia at 9 am to meet Oscar. Oscar served as the translator for them for a half day. McWane, Shannon, and Oscar headed up to a section of the colonia and interviewed 3 owners of 3 separate houses. At each house they asked questions about the water that the family stores, the electricity the family uses, tested the water supply the family uses for drinking, and they gave each family a garbage bag to put there waste in.
After interviewing 3 families, McWane, Shannon, Oscar, and Victor went up the to the 65,000 gallon tank on the top of the hill. They met with the women living next to the tank to see her brother. They had given her brother a garbage bag 6 days prior. After they collected the trash Victor and Oscar took McWane down to a farm on the other side of the colonia. The farm had sugar cane, mangos, and other various fruits. They acquired a sugar cane stalk and ate it as they walked. They traveled back down to the bottom of the hill and went to well #2 and measured the amperage and voltage being used for the pump at the bottom of the well. The voltage was measured to be 230 volts and the amperage was measured to be 14 amps. Later McWane measured the waste that was in the garbage that was collected.
This garbage is the second trash assessment and the results are shown below:
Overall Weight (Ibs) | Paper | Metal | Food Waste | Plastic | Rubber/Leather | Wood/Yard | Styrofoam |
7.5 | 0.25 Ib | 0.25 Ib | 5.75 Ib | 0.67 Ib | 0.28 Ib | 0.25 Ib | 0.0468 Ib |
In the meantime, the team on the mainland spent the morning at Hospital San Isidro, referred to as Hospital Tocoa by locals. We began by meeting with hospital administrators to determine the training and equipment needs of the hospital and its doctors, and then got a tour of the hospital. Ken, Dale, and Mercedes scrubbed in for a review of the hospital’s operating room. Josh got some great film footage, and Mercedes got her first opportunity to do formal translating. Did you know that gall bladder is translated as vesícula biliar? Try saying that for the first time in a crowded room with all eyes on you. Better yet, try saying opthalmólogo, or cirugía laparascópica.
Before our return, we met once again with the mayor and his wife at Restaurante Caribbean to have sopa marinera, an amazing, traditional Garifuna dish, loaded with just about every type of seafood one can think of. Both the mayor and his wife spoke very proudly and fondly of the Garifuna presence in Honduras and in their city. They informed us that after hurricane Mitch, about 600 Garifuna relocated to Tocoa.
Fortunately, on the strong suggestion of locals, who warned that the trip from La Ceiba back to Roatán was even more tumultuous than the trip to La Ceiba, Dale purchased return tickets through Sosa airlines. The tickets weren’t much more expensive than the first-class tickets on the Ferry. Though the flight was a little cramped, and there was no air-conditioning, it was only 30 minutes, as opposed to 1½ hours on the Vomit Comet and was fairly smooth.
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