Alone in Corazón : And Other Tales from the Treehouse
22 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE
by MELISSA L . PERROTTA , MD , FACC , FAAP
Dr . Perrotta is sharing stories from her time on a medical mission in Belize 10 years ago . This three-part series began in the March and April issues ( pages 14 and 28 , respectively ) of Louisville Medicine . This article is the conclusion to this series .
Day 6 & 7 , Escape to Placencia
We debate all week what to do this weekend , as the girls already planned and paid for a beach weekend on Lime Caye and Jillian and I were apparently not invited . Jillian wants to go all the way up north ( a six-hour bus ride , at least ) to the tourist cays , probably where all those plane ladies with the diamonds and fur-lined purses have now gotten solid base tans . I am still feeling fairly crappy , and compromise with a trip to Placencia , a very wellknown beach spot about two hours north of Punta Gorda famous for snorkeling and diving . According to the weather report , we risk rain every day except maybe Sunday , but there ’ s no guarantee we ’ d have any better luck further north anyway . Jillian reluctantly agrees , and we speed-pack in 30 minutes to make the 3 p . m . bus to Independence .
We hike to the bus stop located where our dirt road meets the main paved road and make it there with 10 minutes to spare . We stand excitedly every time a bus approaches , but each time it ’ s another bus going somewhere else . By 3:07 , we ’ re getting nervous we won ’ t make the last water taxi from Independence to Placencia . Finally , at 3:17 , a bus stops which looks like a long-retired tour bus from the U . S . We board and are happy to find open seats near one another and the luxury of air conditioning . I promptly fall asleep and awaken an hour later to the strong smell of cologne and find myself on the shoulder of the 300-pound man sitting next to me . I look back at Jillian who smiles at me .
“ Nice nap ?”
The bus driver is still speeding along the road , honking angrily at the cyclists and dogs that wander into the center lane . He swerves around anything in his path , and multiple times I had to close my eyes as we nearly side-swipe the aforementioned dogs and cyclists . Rain starts pouring as soon as we pull into the Independence bus station . After a quick pit stop ( which costs me $ 1 ), we hire a taxi to take us to the water taxi stop , since we won ’ t make the 1.5-mile trip on foot in the seven minutes that remain . We arrive at the water taxi as the last passengers to board and launch from the dock promptly at 4:30 p . m .
Rain continues to pour as we walk out onto the dock in Placencia . The dock leads to a big parking lot , and there are colorful signs pointing every which way to restaurants and hotels … but we can ’ t seem to find our hotel . We wander somewhat aimlessly towards the boardwalk that lines the center of town , and a shop owner points us towards our hotel . After multiple incorrect directions , we finally make it to our hotel , which is comprised of six or so brightly colored beachfront cabanas . The owner , Miss Janice , a rather large , unfriendly , leopard print muumuu wearing lady from New Jersey , decides to put us in the “ Venus ” cabana , a bright pink structure right on the beach . We drop our things inside and head to dinner in the rain , settling on the Purple Space Monkey joint , where Jillian orders a Belizean beer called “ Lighthouse ” and I have a fresh lime juice . I stomach about half a bowl of soup before I call it quits , and