Medical Mission Trip to Guatemala

We just completed a two week medical campaign around Guatemala through Maximo and it was an absolutely wonderful experience. Jorge was our group leader and when we arrived to orientation he said that he had spent over 2 months preparing for our mission trip and it was clear that he had dedicated a lot of time and effort for our campaign throughout the entire trip. We did pop-up clinics nearly every day which was great because we got to see different sides of Guatemala and the varying cultures of communities surrounding Antigua. We also spent some time at a couple daycares and a nursery home which were a great addition to the other areas we visited. Our group was only 6 people but it was the perfect size for this project and we all got a lot of one-on-one patient contact. Prior to coming here only one member of our group had taken Spanish so in my opinion our greatest challenge was the language barrier but, now sitting here writing this review, I cannot believe how much medical and conversational Spanish we have picked up and learned in our own time. Aside from our time at the medical campaign we went to visit the Iximche ruins, a local coffee farm, hiked Pacaya, went zip-lining, and went to Lake Atitlan and Chichicastenago. It was SO easy to plan this trip with Maximo and they were so helpful and willing to let us plan exactly the trip we were looking for. They even helped us to arrange private transportation and our driver Venissio made us feel very safe and he was a fun addition to our group! Overall this trip was even more than we hoped it would be and it is an experience we will look back upon having learned a lot about practicing medicine, patient care, Guatemalan culture, and each other. I hope I am so fortunate to have another experience like this is in my lifetime. THANK YOU MAXIMO!