Finally, we were given use of an old dry-goods store in an adobe house with fat wooden beams. A Nicaraguan doctor who works with Doctors Without Borders and a French logistician are traveling with me. We're staying in the mayor's house, which also doubles as the only hotel in the area. It looks like time has stopped in this village. The streets are cobblestone and the main mode of transportation is horse.
Young men ride into town and tie their horses up in front of stores and houses.
On Thursday, we'll catch up with Mary again in San Juan de Limay. Portrait of a Volunteer Mary Lightfine is a registered nurse who has worked in emergency rooms in Florida, New Jersey and Ohio. She's a veteran volunteer with Doctors Without Borders, a private nonprofit organization founded in 1971 to provide emergency relief to people threatened by armed conflict, epidemics or natural disasters. Lightfine joined Doctors Without Borders in 1993 and has been on missions to hot spots around the globe, including Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Kenya and Uganda. Each morning she made her way to a feeding center through crowds of emaciated children and adults who had come in the night seeking food.