"Often I feel I go to some distant region of the world to be reminded of who I really am." - Michael Crichton

I experienced an intense feeling of vividness (to quote Tom Robbins) as we stepped outside the San Pedro Sula airport into 80 degree sunny weather. I was surrounded by the ocean to my right, the mountains to my left, and lots of greenery in between. We were looking for a man named Quique, who was supposedly hiding among the bus drivers holding up signs that read “Hola Americanos. Soy un conductor de autobús.” Quique, who was a Honduran dentist, and our driver were scheduled to take our team to the Hotel Santa Maria in a little town called Comayagua.

After about an hour of waiting (my first experience with “Honduran time”), Quique and the driver showed up and threw our luggage into the front of a run-down looking bus. Our team of 15 people squeezed into the seats and braced ourselves for a 3 hour safari through the streets and mountains of Honduras. Much of the ride was spent swerving around stray cattle and donkeys while our luggage tumbled all over the bus and Latin American music rattled the speakers. Thankfully, our driver was kind enough to stock the bus with plenty of cerveza to smooth out the ride. Cerveza is Spanish for beer in case you were wondering. It’s one of the few Spanish words I remember from my trip and one of the only ones approved for use on this blog.

If you don’t know by now, my name is Mike Cooper and I’m a senior here at IPFW. I started off as a Women’s Studies major. After failing miserably at trying to understand women, I decided to switch to something easier – either biology or quantum physics. I settled on biology and pre-dentistry which seemed more practical than string theory and quarks. Dentistry is right up my alley and choosing to pursue a career in it is one of the best things I’ve done with my life. In preparation for dental school, I decided to go on a mission trip with a team of dentists and oral surgeons to Honduras for a week. I actually just got back on February 2nd.

It’s been two weeks and I’m still decompressing from my trip. It was definitely a life changing experience. If you have the desire to study abroad during your time at IPFW, I highly recommend it. There’s nothing quite like being immersed in a country and culture that’s very different from your own. You will come back with a new perspective on everything and a much better understanding of how other people live. There are plenty of study abroad opportunities at IPFW, so seek them out!

About 50% (3.7 million) of the people of Honduras are below the poverty line. Even though many of them are poor and have almost nothing, they are still very happy. I think there is a lot to be learned from that. One of the most important things the people there have taught me is to be content with what I have. I think that is one of the keys to becoming truly happy. The Honduran people are great people to be around, especially the kids. One of the best parts of the trip was playing football (soccer) with the kids at the orphanages. They are unbelievably good soccer players. There’s probably a YouTube video out there of me getting schooled in soccer by a bunch of 9-year-old Honduran kids.

My trip to Honduras was a blast. We worked about 12 hours a day in the clinic and in the mountains either doing fillings or pulling teeth. Our team saw about 800 patients all together – about 80% children and 20% adults. The surgeons estimated that they pulled about 2400 teeth! Seeing the dental problems that the people face over there makes me thankful for the access to care that we have here in the U.S. Many adults over there had never even brushed their teeth before. It was quite an eye opener to see the health disparities that exist in other countries like Honduras, and it’s motivated me to continue medical mission work from here on out. I’d like to make a difference in this world, no matter how small it may be.

When we were not working we did have some time for fun in Honduras. I went to a few fiestas, drank plenty of cerveza (probably too much), did some Honduran karaoke and salsa dancing, and made a lot of new friends. I couldn’t have asked for a better trip.