I’ve spent the last few weeks in Guatemala with my friend Maree learning Spanish, and have completely fallen in love with the charming Spanish colonial town of Antigua, a UNESCO world heritage protected site, as well as the stunning vistas of Lake Atitlan, a cloister of old Mayan communities around a stunning lake and volcanos, based about 2 hours away from Antigua.
My Spanish has improved significantly with the lessons but I still have a long way to go!! My teacher Aida was delightful and very patient with me., and the conversational Spanish has definitely been helpful on our adventures. We did a biking tour of Antigua to see some of the 42 beautiful ancient churches in the area, stumbled on a string orchestra concert in the ruins of an ancient convent, learned how to cook delicious chocolatey Guatemalan mole and I hiked the active volcano – Fuego – and ate marshmallows toasted over a volcanic vent! I did a coffee and macadamia tour in the pouring rain, and although it was wet I found it fascinating to see how coffee is grown and processed.
Last week up at Lake Atitlan, I climbed Indian Nose peak, bounced around the lake in the public boats, and caught a ‘chicken bus’ – the brightly decorated buses used by locals that have flashing lights, blaring Spanish music and a crazy driver who toots a horn that plays early 2000’s electronic dance music! It was hilarious!
My inner hippie got to come out and play with a yoga class at Eagle’s Nest, a famous yoga retreat perched high up above the lake. The walk up the steep winding path to get there gets the heart rate right up and would probably qualify for the exercise quotient for the day!
The last few days have been in the north of Guatemala where we flew into Flores to do a tour of Tikal – a huge Mayan archeological site which would have been the ‘New York’ of the Mayan/mesoamerican culture at the time, with about 300,000 inhabitants. The ruins we visited would have been the royal palaces and ceremonial sites – it was certainly awe inspiring thinking about what these ruins would have been like in their heyday! We also got to go to an island of monkeys and had one of them join the boat for a ride!
The seroma in my breast is still causing issues, despite being drained again by the wonderful plastic surgeon Dr Rogelio Davilai in Mexico City on my way to Guatemala. I had a wonderful dinner with him and Dr Andrea Marte, the dermatologist who introduced us. It’s incredible the power of the medical network worldwide, especially with social media!
I’ll be seeing my breast surgeon and plastic surgeon when I get back in a few weeks and it’s likely I’ll need surgery, which I’m hoping to plan for September.
Our team has been busy with training and seeing patients while I’ve been away, and our medical team leader Queza was flown to Thailand to be one of just 3 NZ clinicians invited to attend training with the world renowned Dr Mauricio de Maio. She has done a brilliant (and typically giggle-worthy) job of sharing her experience in this newsletter.
The consistent focus on training and upskilling of the team flows through into what we offer in our training academy for both new and experienced injectable clinicians. Our clinical trainer Marjorie has done an incredible job developing the training programs for introductory neuromodulators like Botox, Dysport and Xeomin (yes, we train all brands) and introductory fillers. We are very proud of the quality of training she has developed and she shares more about the courses this month.
It might seem strange that we are talking about bridal skin in the middle of winter, but as Bryony shares in this month’s skin article, ideally a bride will start prepping her skin months before her big day – the sooner you get in and have your consultant and plan, the more likely you are to have incredible dewy glowing skin for your big day! It’s not just brides through, winter is a great time to review your skin products with your skin therapist, or come in for a consult, so once we hit the spring and summer party season your skin is in optimal condition and not looking drab like you’ve just come out of winter!
I’m also incredibly proud of the impact we have had through Sustainable Salons, which celebrated 10 years this year with a coffee table book interviewing people who have been important in their growth and development. I was honoured to be interviewed as one of the early adopters – we were the first medical clinic to become a sustainable salon, and helped developed sustainable sharps bins. When you support us, you support the impact we provide through sustainable salons, so you can be proud of our impact too!
These last couple of weeks away I’ll be exploring Oaxaca City with Maree, and then going back to Mexico to spend time with my mum before heading home. It’s been a wonderful couple of months in the sunny Americas so I’m nervous about arriving back into a NZ winter but excited to see the team and catch up with friends.
As always, thank you for all your love and support,
Sending love and hugs,
