5am: Remind me not to drink coffee at dinnertime. Between the coffee, some cold medicine, and Marcʼs unbelievable snoring, sleep was elusive. The roosters start up about 3am, one was perched in the tree above my window. They call up and down the valley to each other. It would be so charming any other hour. I sit on the step in front of our porch, which sits right in front of the narrow dirt road that runs through our little Santa Luz coffee plantation. Homes all around us. The men walk by at dawn with their machetes to work in the fields, barely enough light in the sky to see the path in front of them. A couple of village dogs are playing with each other in front of me. They seem so glad to see each other. We have been warned repeatedly not to pet the dogs in Nicaragua because they are barely tame but these guys seems so cute.....

A little girl from next door has been visiting with me before she goes off to school. I keep trying to get her to go eat breakfast before she goes, but she isn't buying it. My Spanish is giving her no end of entertainment.

Great day in clinic. I worked the pharmacy today and we gave out so much medicine!

Toured the acreage nearby and saw howler monkeys in the trees. Also saw lots of jungle, a tree that bled red liquid when you scratched it, 5 day old puppies, chickens sitting on their eggs, cocoa trees, beautiful long oriole nests, cows in the road, men riding horses behind the cows. Got back to Santa Luz to cool off and relax. Tiring but satisfying day. Took a walk with Marc and Mary to the tiny store down the road and watched the sun set over the valley. Bought candy from an ancient woman and gave it to the shy children that watched us pass. They stand on their porches or at their doorway and just watch. Usually they will smile and wave if I wave first. Iʼll try to speak a little Spanish with them and that gets them giggling. The temperature now that it is dark is so mild and the mosquitoes aren't bad at all.

Marc found an empty bed in another building so he can snore to his heartʼs desire and we can sleep...wish me luck tonight! Those roosters better keep quiet.

I really love it here and am so happy to be on this trip. It means the world to me that I have been able to see this place and reach out to people. Makes me feel useful and alive.

P.S. A huge frog just hopped by.