TRAVEL & TOURISM

Special to Honduras This Week

COPAN RUINAS --You know the food must be good at Dona Delsey's El Sesteo Restaurant when the padre, the school teacher, local merchants, archaeologists and backpackers gather there for sustenance and refreshment.

And you know that Dona Delsey, a registered nurse, must be doing something right when poor campesinos, mostly Maya-Chorti Indians from outlying villages, bring the sick, the malnourished, the enfeebled, the dispirited to her get-well-now-pay-later clinic.

It's a full life. More energetic than 10 men half her age, brimming with good cheer and endless compassion, Dona Delsey Cueva de Paguada does not just observe her faith. She practices it with apostolic devotion.

"It's not enough to lavish praise upon the Lord", she insists. "One must emulate Him, follow in His footsteps, carry on His work of love."

Dona Delsey had always been devout, attending morning and evening services, caring for her patients, doing good deeds among the needy. But it took an immense personal tragedy -- the death of her 14-hear-old son, Deyvis Eduardo, in a mountain-climbing accident nearly three years ago -- to crystallize and transform piety into an instrument for social action.

"I could not allow sorrow to vanquish hope, grief to surrender to lamentation. I needed to channel every ounce of energy into my work. I needed to look ahead. For my own sake, for Don Carlos', for the sake of all who need me."

Don Carlos, Delsey's husband, has not fared as well. Inconsolable, he often retreats behind a wall of silence and melancholy. Only Jorge Elias, an infant orphaned in childbirth -- and promptly adopted by the Paguadas -- gives him reason to smile.

"God tuck our beloved Deyvis. In his stead, He granted us Jorge Elias. Life is fragile, life is precious, life goes on," Dona Delsey tells her husband day after day as they gaze at the photo of their departed son set high on the wall above the counter. It's a mantra Don Carlos has come to depend on. For solace. For encouragement. The better to endure the unendurable. The better to celebrate the future.

The old men, the women, the children who flock at Dona Delsey's clinic face their own demons. Poverty, anxiety, malnutrition, disease. It's a predictable cycle. She sees it all: infantile diarrhea -- debilitating, often fatal. Acute respiratory infections. Dengue fever. Toothaches. Broken bones. Severe reactions to homeopathic remedies of dubious efficacy. Some travel on pick-up trucks, many come on foot from miles away. All require attention, medicines, hope, dignity. Few can afford a doctor. Dona Delsey is there for them. But many of the pharmaceuticals she dispenses free of charge, especially antibiotics, are expensive. Many have lost their potency. Some drugs are simply ineffective. She buys what she can. She depends on donations for the rest. Her stock is very quickly depleted.

You can help Dona Delsey continue her one-woman mission of mercy by contributing sterile bandages, unexpired broad-spectrum antibiotics, antibacterial ointments and creams, disinfectants, eye and ear drops, medicated shampoos, analgesics, decongestants and cough syrups, and toiletries including soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes.

Donations may be mailed directly to the El Sesteo Restaurant in Copan Ruinas. If you're delivering in person, make sure you sample Dona Delsey's generous pasta and vegetables platter. And tell her I'll be back soon.

Last in a series by TERRY CLYMIRE

Protozoa are microscopic organisms found commonly in the Bay Islands, and one of the more common disease causing species is Leishmania. There are two types, one of which is the cutaneous form caused by Leishmania braziliensis. This produces nasty sores and after a couple of years attacks the mucus membranes of the lips, nose, and genital organs, slowly eating them away. The second species infects the spleen, liver, and bone marrow. It is more difficult to detect and thus far more dangerous.

Leishmania braziliensis is carried by none other than the common little sand fly found throughout the beaches of the Islands and along the coast. Various sand flies of several genera carry the disease in different areas. All species of sand flies are poor fliers and inhabit shady areas, cracks and crevices.

When you are bitten by a sand fly, it lets in this tiny protozoan that travels under your skin and eats away the underlayer and after a while, the top layer breaks away leaving a raw, unprotected open wound. It can be constantly infected and covered with flies carrying other diseases. Treatment is antimony injections, every other day for several months.

Whether or not this tiny toothpick fish, genus Vandellia of the catfish family, deserves the dreadful tales is not certain. However, one thing is for sure: the candiru does exist!

It is very tiny and narrow, about two inches long and parasitizes larger fish by entering though the gill slits or through their cloacas. Once inside, it uses tiny arrowhead-like spines to secure itself inside and then uses its sharp teeth to eat its host from the inside out.

The candiru is reputed to be able to find its host by swimming up its stream of urine and locating the cloaca. If you are urinating in a river, it can sense your urine and swim up it and enter any orifice and lodge inside by sticking out its tiny spines, which can cause great pain. This makes removal possible only through surgery and it must be down by entering through the bladder. Always wear some type of protective clothing when entering fresh water or sitting on the beach anywhere in Central America.

Being inside your home or hotel room may give you a feeling of security, but this feeling may be false! Mosquitoes and sand flies may have entered from the outside. There could be crab lice in the bathroom, bed bugs in the mattress, head lice on the pillow, spiders, and fleas. Most are able to carry dangerous diseases. And if you have birds, cats, and or dogs to name a few, parasites are just something that come along with the job.

Dogs and cats that have mange, which is caused by mites, can transmit it to humans just by handling them. They can be treated, but animals living in the wild will die in two or three months. They can have as many as a thousand mites per square centimeter and millions throughout their coat. They eventually lose two-thirds of their weight and die from scratching and biting their own bodies.

Living on minute flakes of skin are the dust mites, believed to be the only parasitic mite that can leave its host on small patches of dead skin and still survive. It is one of the most common causes of allergies and kills thousands each year and accounts for millions of dollars in medical costs world-wide.

Air-conditioner filters are a favorite hiding place as well as carpets and upholstery. If it is not the mite that affects people directly, then it could be the mite's dung. Change pillows and bed coverings every few years and add a very small amount of bleach or ammonia to the wash loads and change filters regularly.

Head lice like clean or dirty heads. They can be picked up from dirty combs, pillows, or just being near someone who is infected. Special medicated soap and repeated washing will usually solve the problem.

Special to Honduras This Week

COPAN RUINAS -- If awaking to a panorama of unparalleled splendor as song birds and butterflies feast on morning dew and the scent of mountain-grown coffee wafts from the kitchen on the wings of a cooling breeze; if stretching your sights to the limits of vision, where formidable bluffs meet sky and ever-changing cloud formations race against the blue; if all that does not stir some primeval urge to reclaim your rightful share of Eden -- then La Casa de Cafe is not for you.

Perched high above the fertile Copan River valley and ringed by lush, gently sloping hills and the towering escarpments of Guatemala's highlands in the distance, La Casa de Cafe Bed & Breakfast Inn is an attractive Spanish-style residence set a mere four blocks from the village square and one kilometer from the famed Maya architectural and sculptural wonders.

A new wing houses five rooms decorated with minimalist charm, each equipped with private bath, hot water, beamed cathedral ceiling, antique ceiling fan -- rarely needed -- a desk and a picture window that looks out on a lush tropical garden and an idyllic scenery beyond.

The newly renovated main building offers three rooms with shared facilities and a cozy family parlor that doubles as a den, library and entertainment center, complete with CD and cassette player, color cable TV and an assortment of books, magazines and videotapes on history, travel, archaeology and anthropology.

If nights are sweet and fragrant and kind to weary travelers, breakfast is a feast: Strong, aromatic, export-quality coffee, a hearty plate of typical Honduran fare -- fresh piping hot tortillas, beans, fried plantains, eggs, ham, tropical fruits, or a selection of traditional breads, pancakes, French toast, waffles and homemade granola.

Cited in a recent issue of America's premier travel magazine,Outdoor, as one of the world's best B & Bs, La Casa de Cafe is owned and operated by U.S. expatriate Howard Rosenzweig and Honduran wife Angela. They are the perfect hosts: attentive, discreet, eager to please.

Aesthete, nature lover, existentialist, or self-confessed potato couch, each will find a reason to sing the praises of this unassuming yet enchanting establishment.

Third in a series by TERRY CLYMIRE

Some people who have had unpleasant experiences with chiggers and mites in Honduras and the Bay Islands think that they are small ticks. They start as a larva and enter the body, by either the soles of the feet or by dropping off vegetation.

Once on the host, they attach themselves with the mouth parts and secrete a digestive enzyme that eats into the skin. The combination of the enzyme and the skin's reaction to the mite form a tube or scar tissue through which it will feed during its stay. This tube is called a eschar that goes down to the germination layer of the skin.

The chigger Entrombicular batatas will remain embedded in the skin from one of 10 days and then simply drop off.

When your body starts to heal from the bite of a chigger, the mite releases an enzyme that causes an itching sensation. When you start to scratch, it removes the scab and the mite is once again able to breathe. This causes a possible secondary infection and more scratching. Sleeping can sometimes be a problem for the infected host.

There is also a female chigoe flea that is sometimes mistaken for chigger mites. It attaches to the bottom of the human host's feet or between the toes. The flea's stomach swells as it eats and produces eggs. As you walk, the eggs are dispersed from its body on to the ground. Chiggers, on the other hand, always lay their eggs on the ground.

For anyone who has spent time outside in the bush areas of the Bay Islands, they are probably intimately acquainted with ticks that prefer soft, warm areas of the body.

Ticks are able to cling to their host by fastening their mouth parts deep into the skin and drinking the host's blood. There are three stages in the life of the tick: larva, nymph and adult, each stage feeding off a different type of host. The larva stage usually confines itself to small animals such as rates or mice, while the final two stages look for large mammals including man. Some ticks carry infectious diseases.

If you go into a barrio restaurant, you can usually tell who has been out in the bush...they are scratching just like you! Gasoline or a hot match head work well in removing ticks, and there are many other methods.

When you do remove a tick, it is very important that you get the entire head out of your skin. If not, it can cause a major infection. Also, be aware that ticks can also carry nematodes. Clean the wound thoroughly and apply an antibiotic and antiparasitic cream.

Second in a series by TERRY CLYMIRE

The most common species of hookworm is Ancylostoma braziliensis, which infects cats and dogs. Their eggs are usually transported by these animals in feces, and if the ground is warm, moist and sandy, they will hatch. Here they will wait until a suitable mammal host is found. When a host passes by they will grab hold of the skin and burrow into the layers reaching the blood supply they travel to the capillaries on the lungs.

After completing their work in the lungs, they move up the pharynx were they can be swallowed, traveling down into the small intestine were they use their hooked mouth parts to attach to the intestine walls. They now start feeding on blood and laying eggs and there the cycle continues.

Walking barefoot is not recommended in the Bay Islands as many foreigners have found out. The geography worm, "Larva migrans," can enter the body through the souls of the feet, travel between the toes and then up the legs, leaving patterns like road maps.

Dry ice will usually kill them and some people have been seen digging them out with a knife. In dogs and cats they will go through the whole life cycle. In people, they will spiral around and around for 18 months and just die. Other varieties will affect people just the same as animals and can only be eliminated by heavy medication.

River blindness is a disease affecting 20 million people in the Third World. It is caused by the nematode worm Onchocera volvulus, which is introduced into the body of the host by the black fly (Simuliidae family). Different from other filarial worms (some which cause tropical elephantiasis by blocking the functioning of the lymph glands), this particular type lives within the skin.

Blood-feeders, black flies have scissor-like mouth parts that are used to chop up the skin of the host, resulting in bleeding from which the fly feeds. If the black fly is nematode infected (as some ticks can be too), the small larva migrate into its muscle tissue, continue through the salivary glands, and when the fly feeds from its host, burst through the walls of the mouth parts, infecting the mammal host.

During the fourth stage inside the mammal host, mating occurs and thousands of eggs are produced in a surrounding protective nodule. The eggs hatch and are then picked up by the next fly or tick found feeding on the mammal. Eggs can lay dormant in the body for up to two years before hatching.

Major infestations can produce a thickening and hardening of the skin complicated by months or year of severe scratching. These tiny insects can only be detected by cutting small strips of skin from suspected areas and carefully examining them under a microscope. If infected, large dosages of very potent antiparasitical drugs must be taken.

NEXT WEEK: Diggers and chiggers.