The Road to Santa Marta, El Salvador

Victoria was full of dark young men in camouflage carrying M-16’s, lounging near the town square as they used their caps to keep fly’s away. I put my pack down, the soldiers looked at me and I looked at them, no one spoke. I was worried, had never been to Victoria in the light so wasn’t sure if the armies presence was something out of the ordinary. I looked around the town square, watching the locals queuing for busses, the shops selling beans and rice, a tiny market taking place under the arches of a colonial style building. Everything seemed normal, no one was noticeably anxious and so I sat down, read my book and ate some ice cream as I waited for a pick up truck for Santa Marta. After about two hours of wondering around and being stared at I was feeling really uneasy, keen to get to the village and find out at last whether they were expecting me or not. This last point was a big issue, in a town like Santa Marta there isn’t a hostel or even a guest house and I’ve yet to find anything resembling a restaurant. If I was turning up unannounced it might be almost impossible finding somewhere to stay and, being the rainy season, I could hardly camp outside. Realizing that I should have thought about this earlier I pushed all paranoiac thoughts from my head and returned to one of the worst books I have ever read, waiting for my ride.
A few hours later I was on the road again, pulling into Santa Marta aboard a clapped out pick-up in the middle of a thunderstorm. I thanked the driver for the lift, jumped into a sea of thick mud and trudged despondently over to the health center where I discovered Dr Perez was due back any minute. When he finally arrived he stopped at the doorway and looked at me with a half smile on his face, obviously my message hadn’t got through all the way to Santa Marta. Disconcerted now, I said hello in a slightly awkward manner and asked if there was any chance I could volunteer for a week. Never one to be put off by extraordinary circumstances Dr Perez smiled a toothy grin and, realizing that I didn’t even have a place to stay, said “first we will see some patients, then we will find you accommodation." Relieved but slightly taken aback I was soon seated at my usual place beside Doc P, taking notes and doing odd jobs as best I could. In the several hours I worked that day we saw dozens of patients, mostly children with various parasites.