http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/World-Vets/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from World Vets en-us Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:08:35 +0000 Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:08:35 +0000 A nice morning of walking in Loreto and Emilea says goodbye to Patricia and Mike. Emilea will be staying for another week taking care of Patrick's dogs and enjoying some more time in Mexico. Four more dogs are leaving today Queso Guapo and one new dog are going with Patricia. Jose is going with Mike. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Baja-California-Sur/Loreto/blog-417046.html Three people remain Patricia Emilea and Dr. Mike. The original plan for sea kayaking today was delayed by a morning storm that churned up the waters in the Sea of Cortez. The day turned into a day of sampling the foods in the area and playing with the dogs. We explored a great deal of Loreto and ate at several restaurants did a little shopping and visited some of the locals.In the evening Em http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Baja-California-Sur/Loreto/blog-417040.html If three people are enough to have fun it's also enough to run a miniclinic. Dr. Mike Emilea and Patricia volunteered one more day at Animalandia to finish a few surgeries that couldn't be done last week for various reasons. 6 spays and 3 neuters were done today. In addition to the surgeries that were planned our new friend Jose got neutered. He will be moving to Washington with Dr. Mike. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Baja-California-Sur/Loreto/blog-417026.html One more day of fun. Sea kayaks were lent to us by Alejandro and we spent several hours paddling along the waterfront and South of town. A stop at an isolated beach allowed some cooling off in the sea water as we watched some manta rays leap into the air.After a late lunch we decided to try the road up to the Mission at San Javier. The road is paved for about 10 of the 30 kilometers. About hal http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Baja-California-Sur/Loreto/blog-417025.html The day for most people to return home has arrived. Three people have decided to get a little more time in Mexico but an afternoon flight means that everyone has a little time to see the Sunday market and do some last minute shopping near the town center. Along with the group leaving today is a group of new US citizens 6 cats and 1 dog. Gremlin is on her way to her new home in Washington and http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Baja-California-Sur/Loreto/blog-417019.html Saturday there were 2 goups out for fun activities.Dr. Mike Jen and Andrew took a day trip out to the larger island and took advantage of the opportunity to do some scuba diving and see some of the reefs and sea life in the area. Many coral were seen along with some very colerful fish moray eels and manta rays. The visibility was 100 feet and the water was nice and warm. Underwater photos wer http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Baja-California-Sur/Loreto/blog-415765.html Very busy last day...we did 50 surgeries today. In addition to the spays and neuters we did reapirs on some entropions in dogs. This is a condition where the lower eyelid is turned inward and rubs the lashes against the eye. Dr. Ravi did a mastectomy to remove a mammary tumor from a dog owned by Alejandro who arranged the island tour on Monday. Alejandro also had another dog with some skin is http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Baja-California-Sur/Loreto/blog-415756.html Today was much busier. Fortyeight surgeries were completed most of them spays. In addition to the surgeries Animalandia recieved 2 anaimls from neglectful situations. One dog had a callar grown into the skin of his neck and the other had been inadvertently locked away from food and water for 20 days.The dog that was deprived of food and water was severly dehydrated and emasciated. He was st http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Baja-California-Sur/Loreto/blog-415332.html We arrived at the clinic early and went right to work setting up stations for premedicating animals with pain medication and antibiotics induction of anesthesia surgery and recovery. The first clinic day always starts a little slow to allow time for people to get used to the system and to solve any unforseen problems. There were a total of 36 surgeries completed today. Most people gat a cha http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Baja-California-Sur/Loreto/blog-415026.html 55 surgeries done today Many more done by the vet students. Choco is continuing to improve. He started eating at lunch when he was offered some grilled chicken from the great lunches that have been provided each day by the volunteers at Animalandia.Gremlin will be getting a new home in Washington State. KC has fallen in love with her and will be taking her home to live with other dogs goat http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Baja-California-Sur/Loreto/blog-415731.html Today we had a day to relax get to know each other and enjoy some of the area. Alejandro from the fisherman's coop arranged for a half price tour of Coronado Island. We were all taken aboard two boats and given a tour of the island. One of the boats was lucky enough to encounter some pilot whates on the way to the island. Once arriving at Coronado Island and seeing the geography we were pla http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Baja-California-Sur/Loreto/blog-415019.html We arrived well with the whole team at the airport in beautiful Loreto Mexico. We were greeted by the representatives from Animalandia and rode to the house Mexican style in the back of a pickup. We took a trip to Animalandia to see the clinic and do a quick introduction to how things will flow on the surgery day. We met some of the residents awaiting adoption. After stocking up on groceries http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Baja-California-Sur/Loreto/blog-412708.html Tuesday May 5 Entry by Mike Corcoran DVMHappy Cinco de Mayo Today was a very busy day at the clinic. Not only did we increase our number of sterilization surgeries to 53 spays and neuters today but we had some very important visitors. Some veterinarians from the zoo in Managua brought us a very special patient and asked for our help. They have a coyote who has been in a longterm strug http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Granada/blog-402410.html Granada Nicaragua Day twoToday is a day for the team to sightsee and spend some time bonding and recovering from our days of travel. After waking we walked together a short distance to a restaurant for a nice brunch. After eating some fantastic food Donna one of the founders of the local clinic here gave us a ride to the grocery store to buy some snacks drinks and breakfast foods. After t http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Granada/blog-398488.html Granada Nicaragua Day 3 First Day of Granada SpayNeuter clinicUp early we each ate a quick breakfast at the casa. The walk to the clinic took about 10 minutes. We could see the locals lined up outside as we approached. The clinic offered a perfect location for the project with two separate rooms and a large shady courtyard in the back. Checkins went smoothly with lots of help from Heidi a l http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Granada/blog-398444.html Collectively written by the majority of our teamhellip. Well today was the busiest and for many of us the most satisfying of the clinic days. From the moment we arrived at the clinic animals were ready and waiting for exams and surgeries. Today everyone learned new very valuable skills and techniques that they will carry with them throughout their careers who knew I would be teaching an act http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/Bay-Islands/Roatan/blog-383360.html It is tough to describe a day in Roatan. Today began with an earlymorning snorkel in the ocean. It is a great way to start the day. Theteam headed out to the clinic beginning at 815. We were greeted bypatients waiting to been seen and surgeries to be done. Today was a veryproductive day. We have really come together as a team and are able tofunction very efficiently. Total animals seen toda http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/Bay-Islands/Roatan/blog-382951.html All work and no play today We headed out to the clinic at 830am this morning. We had patients waiting when we arrived this morning and immediately got to work. There was a big morning rush and then a bit of a lull for an hour or so. The lull was short lived and soon we had a steady stream of patients for surgery and appointments. In all we treated 81 animals today 26 surgeries and 55 appo http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/Bay-Islands/Roatan/blog-382649.html Today those of us who are volunteering on this trip enjoyed two new experiences among the many we are amassing on this already amazing adventure. We got to see the veterinarians and technicians of World Vets in two hours transform a school science lab into a fully functional clinic that we expect will allow for the treatment of as many as 500 dogs and cats over the next three days. Even more excit http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/Bay-Islands/Roatan/blog-382416.html Greetings from Roatan Honduras In the interest of full disclosure the team has actually already been here for a few dayshellipitrsquos just difficult to convince anyone to sit in front of a computer for long enough to write a blog. Apparently when yoursquore staying in a gorgeous 5 bedroom house with huge back porch pool swimup bar and a few short steps down to a private beach peop http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/Bay-Islands/Roatan/blog-382343.html