Olopa

These are the famous women of Olopa. They are a common topic of conversation in our household, given their immense beauty, intelligence, sensibility, humor, and general all-around awesomeness.

Ángeles is on the left, swigging a beer. She is the logistician. Most MSF logisticians are male. They need to know how to fix the truck, install sanitation systems, deliver water to refugee camps, etc. Montse is in yellow. She is a doctor from Barcelona. I can´t understand her accent, but word has it that she is very funny. Gemma is in the pic below with Conrado (in disguise in my hat and glasses). Gemma drives the truck around to remote villages to draw blood samples and teach the locals about Chagas.

The women live together in a combined house/office in Olopa, a mountain village too small and poor to make most maps of Guatemala. Olopa is 2.5 hours from the nearest highway. It does not have any restaurants or hotels, but there is a small store and another business or two. The locals wear sombreros and carry machetes.