Taunting Tarantulas

From Heather Hall, DPT ‘11…

This was our last day working in the San Juan de la Maguana area.  Today Cheryl and I packed up with Dr. Jim Ausfahl and several nurses to travel an hour and a half to Vallejuelo, located in the rural mountain area south of San Juan.  The local school allowed us to use their facility to assess and treat patients with various medical complaints.

Though on the map the road to Vallejuelo looked like a major highway, by our standards it was little more than a partially paved country road.  The school we worked in was a set of concrete block buildings with open windows and doors, and even open walls.  Several hundred people showed up hoping to see the ‘medicos,’ who were there to provide the health care service that to us in the United States is considered routine, but for many of them is very nearly nonexistant.  Around one hundred individuals were seen and treated in the six hours we were in Vallejuelo.

In addition to serving the health care needs of the people, we were entertained by the local wildlife.  Tarantulas are common to the Dominicans, who have no problem taunting the spiders or letting them crawl across them. The tarantula we saw was only a baby, but it was big enough to make an impression!  We also celebrated our time here with a Dominican dinner out, complete with rice, beans, salad and meat.  The time spent in San Juan has opened our eyes to another outlook on the world, something we will not quickly forget!