We awoke bright and early at 5am to take the bus to El Tololar with Pamela, the dentist at the clinic in El Tololar, a rural town about 45 minutes outside of Leon. I can think of few things more surreal than traveling down a rutted dirt road at 7 in the morning on a Nicaraguan chicken bus, when Madonna’s “Material Girl” comes on the radio. As if the differences in material wealth were not clear enough, the bizarre timing of the song further emphasized this point, as well as the global ubiquity of American culture
Dr. Urrutia was not in clinic that day, but I was able to ask Pamela many questions about her use for an autoclave, which she said the clinic definitely needed; every patient she saw required sterile instrumentation. She currently keeps some instruments in a sterilizing solution, and others are trucked back to Leon for sterilization at HEODRA, the main academic teaching hospital. I worked with her clinically as well, but the pharmacy was out of local anesthetic, so unfortunately, the four tooth extractions and one incision and drainage that needed to be done all had to get antibiotics and ibuprofen and were instructed to return next week. Tomorrow, Sebastian and I are traveling to Estelí to meet up with a friend of his, which I am looking forward to.
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