Mi mente está llena. My mind is full! Between trying to understand Spanish in various accents and speeds, to failing miserably in my attempts to speak en Español, and new sights, sounds, and faces, I’m happily exhausted.

The morning started at Avelar Café for breakfast and review of the week’s plans, then being shuttled by bus 7 km (at least 30 minutes due to traffic bottlenecked by the bridge over the Danto River) to CRILA – the Centro de Rehabilitación Integral Litoral Atlántida – for orientation, staff introduction, and more. I spoke with Dr. Melvin Urbina, the staff physiatrist, about treatment using dry needling and was given the go-ahead. So I then spent the morning with Rocío, an interpreter for our group, riding back to the homestay to pick up my dry needling supplies.

This ride back to the homestay wasn’t simply a Monday morning backcountry cruise. Due to the steady rain over the past 48 hours, the dirt roads leading to CRILA were reminiscent of the air boat tour I’d taken of the Florida Everglades years before, except this time, we were in a tiny Toyota sedan. The driver seemed unfazed as she forded streams and ponds, and I fought the urge to lift my feet as I felt convinced the floorboards would begin to slosh. Reaching the paved roads reaffirmed my gratitude that I was not the driver, as local Ceibeños have an established road rule of allowing continuous merging within lanes of moving traffic – imagine roundabouts stationed at every intersection, without the yield signs or “abouts” to round; just trusting that the next driver would allow you to nose in as you crossed lanes of traffic to turn left. 😰 We arrived at the homestay unscathed (with the American passenger sporting an elevated blood pressure), then turned back straightaway to pick up lunch to and return to the clinic.

I’d been on the fence about bringing the needles and associated paraphernalia (alcohol pump, cotton balls, sharps container, consent forms in Spanish), but decided to bring them just in case. Boy, am I glad I did! I was assigned to the pain management unit, and spent the afternoon running from patient to patient after the staff reviewed the dry needling consent form with them, calling me in with “Hay un paciente! Trae las agujas!”. Between Heather (another volunteer PT) and myself, 15-20 people were hit by approximately 100 needles. At this rate, I’ll be out of agujas by Wednesday! What a good problem to have. 😊