Stitches, Vicodin, & Rooftop Yoga

Stitches, Vicodin, & Rooftop Yoga: Sunday at Mission Matana

 On Sunday, Liz, Abbey, and I decided we would take the day “off.”  We determined that we should start our day with a little yoga after our long hard work week.  And, we thought, where better than on the roof of the guest house we are staying in?  From this roof we have a panoramic view of the ocean in front of us, and the mountains all around behind us—it is really incredible.  Despite starting the yoga before it was even 9 am, this roof top session quickly gave new meaning to “hot yoga.”  It was at least 90 degrees (F) and in direct sun.  Still, it was invigorating, peaceful, and we’ve decided this will be our Sunday morning tradition from now on.  Best of all, the kids who live on the hillside behind us were LOVING this free entertainment and started trying out some postures themselves—note the downward dog in the picture below.

After the yoga, a big breakfast, and several hours of computer/email/blog/Skype time, we remembered two tasks from our week’s to-do list that we hadn’t yet completed.  1) Take a bottle of unused Vicodin pills (donated from someone’s family in the US) to a woman who is dying of cervical cancer, and 2) remove stitches from a toddler’s stomach and scrotum.  Writing about it now makes it sound a lot weirder than it seemed at the time… Seeing the 80 year old woman who had a full Foley catheter and was in a lot of pain was really difficult, but it felt good to know that she’d get a tiny bit of relief from the pain pills; while feeding the adorable toddler fruit snacks and holding open his squirming legs for Abbey to remove his post-hernia operation stitches (from the most delicate of areas), was just something I’ll never forget. 

Obviously, I do not have pictures of either of those two interactions, but I’ll leave you with a picture of Liz, Abbey, and I getting a coke in “downtown” Arcahaie last Saturday.