Puertas Azules

On Wednesday we left at 6 am to go to Puertas Azules- a remote area of the country. The drive was about two and a half hours. The first half hour was paved roads but after that it was all rocks and dirt. We drove up the mountains and even crossed a river. There was a lot of beautiful scenery on our drive.

Crossing the River

Swinging bridge across the river

Beautiful mountain view

One of the villages we went through

Dirt Roads

Planking in Nicaragua!

We made it to the school in Puertas Azules about 8:30 am. This time our clinic was inside the school. It was just one big room with a divider in the middle that could be open or closed. The pharmacy area was pretty big, so we were able to spread out a little more! In Puerta Azules we had 4 providers- the 2 on our team plus the doctor traveling with us along with another Nicaraguan doctor working out of a clinic next door to the school. Her clinic serves about 32 communities around Puertas Azules. We knew it would be a busier day because Dan and team had passed out 150 tickets for our clinic the week before plus some patients from the clinic next door. Our clinic saw 166 patients and we filled prescriptions for 44 patients from the other clinic for a total of 210. We filled 456 prescriptions! It was very, very busy for us, so the day went by fast!

Patients at intake

Pharmacy 

Me in the pharmacy

Jason spent the day giving away more toys for the kids along with some t-shirts and shoes. He also had some clothes and shoes for the adults to give away!

New Shoes!

Princess coloring book

T-shirt and goodies!

Two of the guys were also able to put the rope we had been working on into the well in Puertas Azules. It turned out to be the perfect length! There have been a couple of issues come up with the well, so it is a work in progress right now!

Because Puertas Azules was so far from Jinotega, we stayed over night on top of the mountain in the Miraflor Visitor's Center. It was a huge house. After we got there we were able to have some time to talk about the day and have communion and worship together. Lights were off at 9 pm, but we were able to take a couple of pictures of our room first. It was very cold, so my roomies and I put our mattress pads together on the floor. We wanted to keep each other warm!

Our makeshift bed

Leigh Anne's canoe cot

The boy's room/main room

It was a long night because it was so cold and the wind was blowing so hard it sounded like a hurricane outside. We heard the wind blows up to 70 mph on a regular basis there! There was a gap between the wall and the roof which did not help keep us warm either! Thankfully, we managed to survive the wind, the cold, a few scary bugs, and a dead mouse!

2 Samuel 22:2-3 (NLT)

"The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety. He is my refuge, my savior, the one who saves me from violence."