Arrived in Antigua

As I write this I am sipping a cup of Guatemalan coffee and enjoying the sound of a fountain in the colonial courtyard of our hotel. I flew in to Guatemala City last evening and promptly met up with my taxi driver, Julio outside the customs area. It is a short 45 km up to Antigua where we will be based for the next week. The rest of the medical team arrives this afternoon and I look forward to catching up with many surgeons, anesthesia providers, nurses, and scrub techs from Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis.

I am here in Guatemala with a group called Common Hope, based out of Minneapolis. Each year they send three consecutive teams over three weeks to operate at a Catholic-based hospital in Antigua, Hermano Pedro. Patients pay for their services based on their means and income and the hospital/this medical group supplement the rest. Most of our procedures this week will be general surgery, gynecologic and podiatry surgeries. Last week they performed large numbers of tonsillectomies so we hope to not have any rebleeds this week!!

Well I'm off to cruise around Antigua and try out my new camera. Pix to follow....