We dropped anchor at 6:30 this morning in the waters surrounding Nicaragua. When I headed out to the deck for my first sight of Nicaragua, I was surprised to see just how close we were to the shore. We were still a little out to sea, several miles, but I could clearly see buildings and other structures on the coastline. It was a different side of Nicaragua than I had seen before.
I had a late call away around 8 this morning to take me to shore since we did not drop anchor until this morning. This would be our first day in Nicaragua and the site needed to be set up. Now, the military sends out an ACE team who will do all of the prep work before we actually get on site. They will scope out where we will be and create a plan for where to set up and how the flow will work. This usually is done a few days in advance of the boat’s arrival.
To get to shore in Nicaragua, we took at hospitality boat for about 30 minutes to the Corinto seaport. This was the first tim,e I had been at such a massive port. There were huge ships in the harbor. Some of them were as big as the Comfort. When I asked why we couldn’t bring our ship into the port, I was told that it would be very expensive for us to pay to dock the ship for 10 days and with our ship anchored where it was it can be seen for miles up and down the coast.
Once we arrived at the port we were told to show our IDs to be allowed in the country. This was a bit of a problem for me because the ship’s admin department had collected all of the civilian’s passports the night before in order to get them stamped. Since we had entered the country by sea, we were told that there would be a problem at the airport if we tried to leave without proof that we had entered the country. After consulting several of the officers, it was determined that no one but the lead officer would show their ID at the gate.
It is a 30 minute bus ride from the port to the first site at the Ministry of Health Clinic in Chinandega. I really enjoyed the ride because it gave be a chance to see the beautiful rocky coastline and gave me a majestic view of the white hull hospital ship that I call home. The ship miles out from shore was a awesome sight to see against the deep blue sea, bright blue sky and the dark brown boulders of the shoreline. I am sure that I will remember it for the rest of my life. I can only imagine what it is like to be a citizen of Nicaragua seeing the ship for the first time. I know I was never prouder to be part of an organization that has such a beautiful symbol of promise and hope.
As we drove down the streets and through towns, I couldn’t help but compare Nicaragua to El Salvador. There were things that were very similar and things that were very different. The bright colored buildings are the same in both countries but in Nicaragua fewer houses are what I like to call “finished. When I say finished, I mean that they have be stuccoed and painted. Another difference that I could see right away is there is a feeling of poverty that was not noticeable it El Salvador. The buildings weren’t finished, the people’s clothes were not as clean and there was liter in the streets. In addition, the roads are not marked an paved as nicely as El Salvador. One thing I will say in favor of Nicaragua is that there is some beautiful scenery. Volcanic mountains are magnificent and the coastline is unbelievable. I am impressed at where there is poverty beauty still abounds.
After our short ride to Chinandega, I was ready to get to work. I was glad to have a chance to get a good workout moving boxes around the pharmacy and unloading the pallets, but when we arrived around 10 there were no pallets to be found. The pharmacy had a total of 19 pallets to go to both sites and I know there were plenty of other departments that had pallets as well. It is a long process and takes quite a bit of time to move that much product by helo from the boat to the shore and then get it sorted out by site.
While we waited Lt. Baidoo bought us a coke from a local vendor and we explored the clinic. After we had gotten the layout of the place and developed a plan for our pharmacy room we ventured right across the street to a little store. One of the guys bought some bread. This bread was folded into triangle and filled with something very sweet. The bread tasted a bit like a Danish here. I also tried what looked to be a sugar coated emanpanada, but it was empty on the inside. It tasted like a sugar cookie and was very good.
Once we were told that they hadn’t even loaded the pallets, we sat down across the street and began to play with some kids. A small little girl appeared with a coin cordoba in her hand, and she went to purchase some candy at the store. She seemed very curious as to what we were doing. I went over and took her picture. After that, we were instant friends. I asked what her name was in Spanish. From that point on, Anita thought that I understood Spanish, and we had a very long conversation (I have no idea what she said). I took her photo again, but she told me that she wanted to fix her hair. Then she introduced me to her brothers and their friends. We played with them for a while and then Carl Caluya bought everyone some ice cream from a street vendor.
About that time word came that some high ranking officials were going to view the site, so we had to move 10 feet to be inside the clinic gate. While they waited, Anita’s brothers kept us entertained with a very fast paced game of marbles. These kids were good. I think one of the soldiers told them that he would buy the winner some candy and gave both of them their choice of candy when the afternoon was done. Once the officials arrived around 2pm, we were told that we had to leave to catch a helo back to the ship. None of our pallets had arrived so we couldn’t do what we were supposed to do. A bit frustrated, we headed to the air strip.
Nicaragua is a very interesting country in that the waves get really rough around the middle of the afternoon. For that reason, all of those making the daily commute will arrive on shore by boat and will depart by helo. Luckily, the air strip was only 6 minutes away by bus.
When we got to HLZ (Helo Landing Zone), I was surprised to see a bus full of Operation Smile patients. On July 2, the Comfort joined forces with Operation Smile for this country. For those of you who are not familiar with this organization, it is a group of medical providers and surgeons who specialize in cleft pallet surgeries. Eighty-seven patients were already identified prior to our arrival today and were waiting with their escorts to head to the ship.
The ship was using both its Navy helicopters as well as several Army Black Hawks that were loaned to us from a military base in Honduras to transport patients. Since there were so many patients and only 11 seats per helo, we waited for several hours to get back to the ship. We also had to wait until the Black Hawks were clear to fly on and off the ship. (I was told they had to qualify, not sure what that means, but they didn’t actually take people flying for several hours until their paperwork was complete).
After waiting for such a long time, we were rewarded with the first Black Hawk ride of the day. This was a great experience because it was the first time I had ridden with the helo doors wide open. The trip took about 10 minutes and the feel of the air against my skin was refreshing after a long hot day. I had so much fun and like a tourist that I sort of am I took tons of pictures from the air.
We didn’t get much accomplished today, but it still was a great experience. I was able to try some local food, had a chance to get to know some of the other soldiers on board the boat, and made new friends with the local kids. In fact, we still refer to the day as our COMREL day. COMREL stands for community relations and usually consist of a group of military and civilians who go out into the community and perform community service deeds. All in all it was a great day.
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