Moyogalpa, Ometepe Island, Nicaragua
January 22nd, 2013
Yesterday we worked in the village of Esquipulas, the home town of Fernando Ponce, a Nicaraguan veterinary student in the final stages of his education, and with whom we have been working for 4 years. The turnout there is always good, partly because Fernando has dozens of family members there, and partly because we have built a real relationship with the town over the years.
This year was no exception, and we saw 125 patients. We have been so busy this trip that we ran out of ketamine in San Pedro, and had none left for Esquipulas (we can restock for the second week in Nicaragua when
we return to the mainland tomorrow). Fortunately, both Drs Tom Parker and Silvia Colladay are with us, and both experienced at standing castrations, so we were able to proceed (partly also due to the fact that the horses in Esquipulas are relatively well handled). The balance of the caseload was routine, with the dental and farrier stations staying busy throughout the day. Fernando has an especial interest in podiatry, and worked with our farrier, Chris Hadel, all day.
At the end of the day I took a small crew (myself,
Drs. Kirstin Macdonald, from Winnipeg, and Claudia Pichinte, from El Salvador, and several Nica students) to the monastery where the yoga retreat to sponsor the NicaVets clinic in
San Pedro is to be held. There are five horses in residence there, and we had been asked just to vaccinate them, and we therefore brought only vaccine with us, but on arrival, that kind of lazy corner-cutting got the outcome it deserved: one horse had a severe corneal ulcer, and another a severe wound, and we had to send back to Moyogalpa for supplies to deal with those, working by flashlight. Yet one more opportunity to learn from experience (they seem never to end).
Later this morning, we will return by ferry to the mainland, restock for a days work with the carriage horses in Granada, and the journey up north to El Bote,
More from Granada later, and if I can find the time to set it up, a link to a Shutterfly site where several thousand pictures eventually will be posted
David Turoff, DVM