Live'n in the JUNGLE!

It was an awesome experience... where do I start? So, it all started with an email from London. A very good friend from London emailed me about an opportunity to join a mission team to take medicines to a remote tribe of mostly unreached people group in the jungle of Costa Rica. You know me, I am a sucker for adventure, I thought to myself, how cool is that?! I have never been into the jungle, nevertheless living in it for a week!

Boy, I didn't know I got myself into. I was surprised by many things: 1) The Love I received from the local people, 2) the bond and friendship/family I formed with various members of the team, 3) the beauty of Costa Rica, and 4) the absolute physical exhaustion that I had never encountered before this trek. Let me tell you, at the end of the week, I was very sad that I had to leave and also very sad that I didn't get to spend more quality time with people on our team.

So, here is a long journal that will document my trip, and unforgetable experience...

Day1: I flew into San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, and got to meet part of the team. Our team consisted of 9 people from the US and 13 from Costa Rica. There were 3 doctors and 4 nurses. Quite a perfect international team. Everyone on this team, as I came to find out, are all very adventurous, very flexible, great personality, lovers of Christ, and lovers of people.

Day 2: This is a travel day, starting at San Jose, after packing all of our gear and medicines atop a bus, we spend the next 8 hours driving down to the border of Panama. Then we cross the border into Panama on the Pacific ocean side at a general area called Punta Burica. Then after we reached the drop off point, we started a hike at about 3:30pm in the afternoon. We had to hike >11miles up the mountain, into the jungle, cross back over to Costa Rica, and to our camp. We didn't get there until about 10pm. We hiked about 4 hours in the dark jungle. Let me tell you, I was about to die of exhaustion and heat stroke. I had about a 40lb pack on and my hips were sore beyond belief and my leg muscles were all cramping with every step.

I think the fact that we all made it without any incidents was a miracle! There was another miracle: you see, most of us ran out of water about half way through the hike, I was the only one with some water, and I only had a 1.5 Liter camalpak in my backpack. We ended up all sucking from it for several hours. When I got to the camp and I pull out the water bladder, there was still water in there! I could've probably finished 1.5 liters within an hour in that heat and humidity, nevermind all 6-7 of us feeding on it! Thank you God!

When we got to camp, all the girls got to sleep in huts or tents, but 5 of us guys got Hennessey Hammocks, and we sat it up in a bunch of trees on the outter edge of the camp. It was so sweet, we woke up every morning with Howler Monkeys screaming and echoing in the jungle around us, and also paired green parrets over us... insects to put us to sleep... it was a sweet deal!

At the border of Costa Rica and Panama; drop off point, loading the truck to take our packs half way up the mountain.

As the sun sets over the jungle, we continued to hike up. Kevin, Brantley, local, Alex.

At the border again, 2 more hours to go to camp. Andres, Alex, Michi, Me, Ruben, Anna. The first meal we had at camp, prepared by the women of the Alto Guaymies Tribe.

Beautiful are the hands and feet of those who bring the Good News!

Part of our group: Linda, Kevin, Susan, Brantley, Evert, Deborah, Anna, Michi. The communal dinning hall.

Day 3 to 5: We ran a clinic for all those days and saw about 150 patients. Some of them had walked many miles from deep within the jungle to come to the village. We saw lots of infections, dehydration, chronic musculoskeletal issues, respiratory issues, and some burns and pulled some teeth. There were also drama and a service each night to enjoy with the locals. I had a lot of opportunities to do OMT (osteopathic manipulations) and Acupuncture, fixing things such as musculoskeletal issues, PMS, bowel issues, colds, sinusitis, back pain, leg pain... you name it. I brought about 500 needles and only had to use 150. I treated at least 20 patients with acupuncture and most with very good relief.

Marianne teaching the kids. My wonderful friend and translator, also a dentist, Susana... we were pulling some really infected and eroded teeth from our young friend Sergio. We improvised and used my leatherman tool for the job. Susana did an excellent job and was great with the kids!

Teaching kids how to brush their teeth. At the pharmacy window as Susana was preparing to give some antibiotic to the kid. I was just pretending to know something. My other wonderful friends and teammates Deborah, Susan, and Maria were our wonderful pharmacists who loved on their patients!

Picture of the dentist (Susana) and the helpers (Kevin and I) with our patient Sergio. The waiting line at the clinic.

Doctor Clint seeing patients with Andres translating. Maria at the pharmacy.

The communal kitchen and all the smoked pork... so delicious.

The honor dinner: the last night we were there, our hosts sat us in a circle and shared their hearts to us. They also spent all day making this meal that they served to us on banana leaves. We ate it with our hands in a group. It was awesome! I loved it: sharing a meal of love with family! The next picture is of 3 beautiful Costa Rica ladies on our team: Marianne, Jameled, and Susana.

Andres and Deborah and I... aren't we all giggly over this unique experience! I had seconds!

Michi and Me. Day 6: time to hike out, it is 6am.

Susana and Andres... as we hike out, of course we had to get lost from the rest of the group. However, there were some locals to the rescue! Yay, we were only 30min behind the rest of the group. But, the way I saw it was that none of the others had saw what we saw... more jungle!

On top of a 50 feet water tower. Having breakfast in Quepos... what a vacation!

The beach at Quepos, absolutely serene and beautiful. Howler monkeys at the Parque National de Manuel Antonio!

Kevin and I.

Hey Deb in the mini mouse poka dot top! and watch out, splash... Susan and Deb.

Aren't we adorable :) Well, can't beat a picture with 2 beautiful ladies... then there I was getting swollowed up by the ocean...

The beach at Quepos, what a relaxing day! I love the food, I love the people, I love the team, I love the beach, I love the jungle, I love the experience, and I have decided that I will return! Next time, I'm going to be fluent in Spanish!