Hola amigos y amigas. I am now home in Birmingham, just getting back from dinner with my dear friends kelli justin and mary at "pinches tacos" which appeased my desire to hear a little spanish (at least in the menu :-)...justin thanks for offering to teach us!) Thanks to all of you sweet friends who offer to listen to stories of my adventures - its so hard to truly capture an experience by words and translate it. I have been back in Birmingham and America for almost two days now. I arrived early yesterday morning, didnt sleep very well on the plane en route here from chile (despite wine/pisco/benadryl!) but that is to be expected, so yesterday after taking care of some business I took a nice nap, then took the evening to grocery shop, unpack, unwind. Today I really longed for Santiago and the Latin American culture. Thankfully pandora.com allowed me to listen to lots of south american music (mecano, shakira...in addition to my portuguese favorite "nosa, nosa"!) while unpacking . It felt so wierd to not kiss everyone I interacted with on the cheek, so commonplace in most other parts of the world except here in America, I still wonder why? I think that spending such a large amount of time on the streets walking to work or on the metro in transit, etc, helps teach social skills and creates a sense of community. Maybe I will live somewhere like this one day :) The following paragraph was written on my last night in santiago - this blog always keeps you on your toes!....
"last night in santiago".... Buenos noches to all - my body can feel the timer on my time here in santiago counting down the seconds until my departure - i dont want this month to end. thankfully uab peds and dear friends await back in bham (yay for sweet home bama and also family in west virginia) but i could stay here forever. i wish time would stand still but i took physics in college so i get it, but the time here goes by so fast it doesnt seem fair. after a fantastic day with the valles and exploring los domenicos markets yesterday (see march 31 blog) mom and i slept well and woke up (10 30 am..again...wow!) and walked to top of cerro san cristobal and spent time with the virgin mary at top of mountain. today is palm sunday in the western church so there was service at the top of the mountain and many palms all around. this was very moving to me, that we all celebrate the same hope and faith and have many similar traditions despite being from completely different parts of the world. after much walking and venerating we went down the hill (down in funicular after steep walk up) and enjoyed some cappucino at il maestral (amazing cafe in patio bellavista) and then had ceviche and vino at lunch at azul y profundo p possibly one of my favorite places so far. mom and i shared a large platter of ceviche WOW, ended our meal with some espresso and meandered a little more in the patio. For our last full night in santiago i planned an evening with carina filippe and cony. I chilled some "espumoso" from a famous winery (undurragga). They arrived around 8 pm for a toast to good times, my mom enjoyed meeting them, we all went for dinner (in chilean style, left the apartment around 9pm...'ish'). We had a beautiful night of sharing stories, cony and philippe were so interested in learning more about my mom and our family - we talked about differences between chile and united states from a superficial level (like things my mom noticed while being here for a week). Cony was glad to know that mom and I are very close. Sadly all good things must come to an end so phillipe took us home once the wine and food were all gone and the clock struck midnight. I did not say goodbye though, we said "hasta luego" (see you next time...maybe i didnt spell that right)
I did not sleep well during my last night in santiago, my body knew something was not right....i dont wanna leave! Mom and I really packed it all into the final day (our flight left santiago at 8 pm), we went to all of my favorite spots...wonderful cafe, lastarria, saw changing of the guards (wow what a presentation), catholic university to see dr fabres and my resident friends, lunch at emporio la rosa (yummy empanadas and salad with PALTA...best avocado!), santa lucia markets for last minute shopping (i love chilean copper and lapislazuli). That pretty much wrapped up our last day, we made it to the airport with no complications, thank God, and an overnight flight later I am back in birmingham and my mom is now in myrtle beach for her spring break.
Chile was by far one of the most rewarding months during residency and definitely during my whole life. If you ever get a chance to go...go! Thank you so much for reading our adventures!
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Saturday, March 31, 2012
this one is dedicated to pato and karin!
buenos noches todos amigos y amigas! okay prepare yourself, if you have anything in your heart against chile, the mapuches, sauvignon blanc, south america etc then go ahead and close out the blog because i am enamoured with this place right now and you may not want to read any further :-)
I am back at the apartment (circa 1 am) after another day of adventure here in santiago. after waking up at 11 am (slept in AGAIN, but does it really count as sleeping in if i have a significantly negative sleep deficit?), anyhow, after waking up mom and i enjoyed some fresh fruit on the balcony and then hopped on the metro red line towards los domenicos for a saturday morning at the "pueblitos"/los domenicos market. There are lots of markets in santiago (artisinale santa lucia and bella vista) but this is the real deal. Upon arrival from the metro we were greeted by a robust and active fruit/vegetable/flower market, overflowing with activity and flavor. I cant believe how affordable figs are here. Back home figs are like a post call treat for me (kidding!), but really they are so abundant and affordable and I just feel like cleopatra when im eating them. So moving on, we bought some fruit and then procured some cafe inside the artisan market. The cafe was nestled into the market like all of the stores also were. I am pretty well versed in ordering our morning cafe by now, I can drink nescafe with the best of them, but a cortado or a cappucino here in chile is just as good as anywhere (okay italy dont worry, i wont say "better" than anywhere). Once our caffeine levels became sufficient the venturing began, along with the purchasing. The stones here are all indigenous, lapislazuli, turquoise, etc, all the mining is done here in chile, all the goods hand made and gorgeous. This jewelry is totally my style. I cant wait to give some treats to my friends back home from the markets :-) ....you know who you are! We shopped and lingered for about an hour and a half, then sweet and wonderful karin nishkinow and patricio valle along with their beautiful daughters met us at the market and took us to lunch at a local spot in vitacura. Pato was my picu fellow (most everyone reading this is peds from uab so no need for an intro), but for others, and he is now done with fellowship (was already an attending before fellowship but wanted to be the best doctor EVER so did extra fellowship at uab) and attending at picu at universidad catholica in santiago. I got to meet karin before they moved back to santiago and their adorable daughters started school in birmingham and are now back in school in santiago (thankfully they have amazing parents and were very vigorous babys with perfect apgars so they can be in a good school in chile... :-) )
We went to lunch at a local chilean restaurant in vitacura that confirmed my conviction that i must move here mainly to eat! We enjoyed appetizer of ceviche and mixed shellfish, for lunch mom and i had "salmon a la plancha" (baked salmon), salad with avocado (best avocado in the world), tomato and hearts of palm. delicious soft bread with the routine salsa mixture accompanied the meal, mom enjoyed a crisp sauvignon blanc (thanks for the taste) and we topped it off with espresso. Pato drove us all around santiago giving a tour of el golf and the "mountain brook" area of santiago - Also we got alot of good cultural info on chile - thanks for the tour pato! Those of you who know my luck with anything related to the automobile wont be suprised to hear that near our apartment there was alot of traffic because of an event in the park (see next paragraph!) so pato got stuck in traffic - im so sorry!! we ended up making a left turn and pato let us out near the "santa lucia" markets....we continue to have more shopping to do! from there i tried to do some yoga breathing teachniques to calm myself down from such an amazing afternoon (kidding..kind of!) and we bought more goodies (i blame it on you pato and karin - we were just too happy after being with you so we had to shop shop shop). The stone that is mined here is so beautiful, and even though im not one for touristy items i really appreciate having things to decorate my townhouse with that remind me of places i love. When there are only so many hours in the day we must prioritize time - 7 30 pm ...go home and set down bags and freshned up for dinner out - or straight to happy hour on my favorite street (lastarria)...hmmm what would you do?! After enjoying a drink i directed us to a "broadway in the park" event i had seen publicized..MAMMA MIA - things just keep getting better. this was an outdoor symphony plus soloist concert of all famous broadway songs. i really dont think i have ever heard music like that - absolutely moving! As much as we wanted to stay for the whole show, we knew we wanted to have dinner before miding so we left about the time they started playing man of la mancha, we got FREE WHITE ROSES and great seats, the "museo bellas artes" (spectacular building) was just minding its own business in the limelight of the concert - beautiful!! sur patagonia restaurant equipped with sauvignon blanc, congrio eel, mote (chielan grain) and bread/cheese/salad...after dinner a man came up and said he saw us at a spanish restaurant earlier in the week, i did recognize him and my mom freaked out because she said he looked like the guy on movie "taken" --- too many lifetime movies mom, he seemed nice :) we are home now and i want to blog about all of my experiences and there is just no way. i have loved this trip so much - am going to definitely be back and i know that there is not enough room in a blog to fit in all of my thoughts and trip stories. i am "triste" (or getting there) because tomorrow is our last full day :-(
Tomorrow morning mom and i will attack san cristobal mountain and other than that the agenda includes lingering, eating good food, savoring some fresh wine and hopefully sitting in a park. Our trip is coming to an end but the blog will continue because i have so many more thoughts i want to capture!
until next time, besitos!
XOXO
marta :-)
ps...this is some blogging that i started when mom and i arrived home from dinner last night, but a few sentences into the blog i fell asleep :-)
good evening everyone! (i would say buenos noches but i think that is really used to say "good night" as in "im going to bed" and I still dont know if there is something to say after buenas tardes when you are simply greeting someone "during the night time". Arent the nuances of learning a new language funny. Anyhow, I hope yall are having a wonderful friday night! We are calling it an early night (i love how an early night here refers to a bed time of around 11 or 12) and so we...(yahn, yahn, sleep!)
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
not enough time in the day: cachai?
Hola amigas y amigos!
life in chile has kept me from blogging very much (i think i am stuffing a years worth of activity into one month and i LOVE It!) so i apologize for the lack of updates - but have no fear the experiences are definitely being internalized and i cant wait to share stories with yall! each day of this month keep getting better - i dont know where to begin and i guess i will just have to pick and choose the high points - aaahh this place is A - MAZING! I think the last time i wrote was after my last minute adventure to vina del mar. thank goodness i went on a limb and accepted the invite because the columbians have quickly become dear and true friends. how fun that jennifer also is in the mix, we have made so many memories (both in the hospital and out). I cant imagine chile without them, isnt it neat how God brings those people into our life - uh i love it! Last friday night (yes this is the story that jennifer was leaving to me in her prior blog), i had a repeat of my vina del mar experience. if you didnt get a chance to read about it, quick summary is - martha mae + dance floor until 6am, and when i say 6 am i really mean it - crazy! i heard people hear party until the "break of dawn" but i never believed it could be true. the energy on dance floor reached a 5 on the richter scale around 5 am...more on the richter scale later in the blog..... So back to last friday night, our intern matias (otherwise known as GQ, or ...beautiful) reccomended a party on the top of cerro san cristobal called "wake up", apparently its where all the "cool people" go haha. towards the end of the afternoon at work we decided to go to concha y toro winery, dr menchaca had reccomended it the night prior when he took us out into the andes. the columbians asked permission to leave early for our wine tasting experience (resident priorities lol). lauras friend guillermo and angela joined us. i was overcome by a "warm and fuzzy" feeling so i bought a "premium tasting/tour" package for everyone (8 people....one extra moonlighting shift in the NICU!...will be called our chilean shift). so at concha y toro we had delicious wine, weather was great and topped it off w some local cheese and a tasting class. flash forward a few hours to 8 pm when we return to santiago. we all departed to get ready for our night out (i made a very intense caffeinated elixer!), and circa 9 30 pm were out for happy hour and a meal. yes happy hour does not end at 6 pm here and if a restaurant is empty at 8 pm its not because they are done serving meals, its because the chef is just preparing his menu for the night. a cursory summary of our night includes mojito(s)..plural?, a delicious churassico sandwich (some type of latin meat), and then heading to the tip top of san cristobal to dance the night away. this is a PG rated blog so for the juicy details of our night please invite me out for a coffee date and i will spill all the secrets. (JUST KIDDING!) around 5 am i was ready to go home much to the chagrin of my new columbian girlfriends. there was concern on jen and my's part about the taxi drivers on the top of the hill - and everyone was walking down the mountain together so we just went with the pack . dont freak out ....we got a ride with a reliable looking male and female. (NO...this is not hitchhiking!), once down the mountain we hailed a taxi (circa 6 am) - the streets are still so crowded at this hour - and i remain baffled that it seemed to some that we were "going home early". needless to say it was a very memorable night. we have a soundtrack from our trip, most of the songs coming from the dance floor and now when i hear them my heart just skips a beat (oooh ooh sometimes, i get a good feeling - yeah....nosa nosa (my portugese song...) Anyhow that is a brief summary of our friday night - thanks for hanging in there with me on my stream of consciousness.
Flash forward to sunday, we all went to isla negra (on the coast) home of nobel prize award winning poet from Chile Pablo Neruda. Laura (columbia) has taught me so much about the world while here. i had no idea who he was, i realize when i travel how i can totally suffocate myself with my own worries and problems and priorities in america and lose sight of the world. i have to add in about my lunch on sunday, so fun, totally had a cheap empanada that an older lady was selling on the street!
The next day (monday)...my last work week in santiago, i was at the catholic university (universitad catholica), which is much more similar to Childrens in Birmingham. Tertiary care center with all of the specialists --academic center and more serious than sotero. The residents seemed to be pretty busy. Highlight of the day.....running into Patricio Valle! I heard someone say his name and ran out into the hall! The other PICU attending, who sports colorful skirts and stilettos, had wanted some inside information on Patau's time in birmingham...i still have time :-)
I attended morning report and afternoon seminar with the residents. The upper levels used their cafeteria pass and got lunch for me - we ate together at a short little table that is meant for little kids - what a memory! The patients were complicated just like those at sotero. Jennifer joined me the following day and we were graced with a two hour long seminar on constipation with the GI fellow.....
My second day at cath. univ I ventured to the NICU since I had already met Daniela, Shirley and Valeria (fellow and residents from bolivia/argentina). They gave me a huge hug and invited me up to their "reunion" (literature review). Dr. Kattan (picture richard gere meets nicu) was very kind, included me in rounds. Everyone there knows UAB because of dr fabres.
For my last few days of hospital work I went back to sotero del rio - i just fell head over heels for that hospital. The spirit of the work there, and especially Dr. Menchaca, Dr. Sandoval and Dr. Cavagnaro, really touched my heart. My last few days found me taking picture after picture, bustling from one service to the next to examine interesting patients, and savoring sweet time with interns/residents whom I now consider friends. On Friday I presented my an oral presentation to several interns and residents. During the past week I prepared a talk on my reflections/experiences and what I have learned here in Chile. It includes info on the health system, specific pediatric topics I learned from interesting patients, contrasts between medicine home and here, and the fun/enriching memories I will take with me. I almost cried during the talk, I will present it during a noon conference in may for all of my UAB friends. This trip has totally encouraged me in pediatrics!
To top it all off, Friday was the interns last day of pediatrics ....which means....exam over and rotation over and time to P A R T Y! Yes, in fact we attended the intern party and it felt so good to be included! Yes the party started around midnight, but that was okay for us because we didnt start dinner with Cony and friends until around 9 45 pm! What a country. Again, this blog remains PG rated (you all know im kidding - of course its PG!!! Its martha mae and jennifer we are talking about!) Our friend Hernan is known as the "salsa king" among the interns - and it is totally true!!
I have left many experiences out because there has been just so much going on, and we will try to go back and clean up the loose ends - but I must flash forward to the present (TODAY!) in which I am returning to santiago after FOUR DAYS SO FAR WITH MY MOM! thats right, mama mae and martha mae take on Chile!!!! We are currently in a taxi going from pucon to the airport in temuco for our flight back to santiago. To get from pucon to temuco we took a bus with several other passengers en route to pucon, but leaving its harder to find a caravan so we were forced into a pricey taxi (after attempting to find a bus....you all know im a little hard headed :-)....)
back to mamas trip, I picked her up at airport saturday morning (after a few hours sleep, the interns were 100% confused why i was going home at 4 am when she didnt arrive at airport until 8:30am...whats the problem they said, you have four hours lol!)
Directly after her landing, we went on a bus to vina del mar (gotta hit the ground running, didnt want to waste transit time so did our traveling before going into santiago). My mom is such a trooper (expect a short blurb from her later....). It is such a blessing to have a fun travel partner and dear friend - love you mom! We made it to vina and I had a hunch that Hotel San Martin would be nice and may have an available room, so without a reservation we took a taxi there from the bus station - and they had ONE ROOM AVAILABLE! YES!!! Our first afternoon in vina included strolling on the water and finding lunch along with cafe cortado (chilean form of cappucino), obviously mom wanted to find the street with markets. For a couple of late afternoon hours we attempted a siesta (still just cant get into it but trying), then cleaned up for her first night out. I found a hole in the wall local bar/restaurant where we enjoyed pisco sour and caprikoska, and procured info on the bartenders favorite local seafood spot. wow, he was right - fresh seafood on the pacific in chile - life is G O O D! Circa midnight (at end of dinner) I thought it would be a good idea to hear some salsa and maybe dance a little (mom, you told me you werent that tired!). After taxi'ing it over to valpariso (sister city to vina del mar) and paying the cover for a local salsa club, mom hit her wall and started to fall asleep....OKAY...FOR ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE ..INTRODUCING...MAMA MAE...
ill take it from here, hola everyone, this is karen, martha's mom. I have the best tour guide a mom could have! After flying all nite without sleep, which if you know me, I have a problem sleeping anyway! Martha couldn't wait to get me to the beach! There are no words to describe how beautiful the area is! Pics will be posted soon! We took Vina Del Mar down! I love to shop, as you know, but now winter clothes are out! I'm pumped cause I get to see the fashions for us next winter! Too cool! Of course I wanted to eat some pescado, (fish) so we took a taxi to a nice restaurant that the bartender recommended. And yes, it was amazing. After dinner I wanted to salsa so we went to the bar with live music but WOW I was fading! Ok I admit it I was asleep at the bar and woke up and there was Martha trying to get a refund! She told the manager that I just arrived from the US and had a virus! LOL She did it! I didnt understand much but I heard the words "vomito" and "taxi a casa". Thankfully, a restful nights sleep followed! For the rest of the details including mother nature's suprise Ill let Martha come back.
Thanks mom! Chile loves you! My mom is learning a few new words each day. Our 2nd day in vina was amazing - weather perked up, we walked along the water, did some shopping (mom LOVES to shop), lunched on the water while talking with some locals we had met. During happy hour, while the sun was setting over the pacific (BEAUTIFUL,,,,see pic below!), we felt a little shake and I thought for a second we were on a boat...but no...it was a 7.0 on the richter scale with impending risk of TSUNAMI!, for which reason the restaurant/cafe cleared out. (we got our shots of sunset though). Cony, Carina and Jennifer all called to make sure we were okay. I had Carina on one line telling us to evacuate to the mountains but the hotel staff in front of me saying not to worry. Sweet Cony offered for us to stay at her mothers so that we could go to her grandmothers mountain home if conditions worsened. Once seeing that SHOA (Chilean disaster committee?) disregarded risk of tsunami, we decided to stay in vina for the night..no one else seemed worried :) We made a smart decision by going out for dinner, around 9 30 we ventured to "delicias y mar" and it was a smart decision because if the tsunami were to attack us I would definitely want that to be my last meal! (okay okay a little extreme, just wanted to make you laugh). Truly though, crisp and cold sauvignon blanc, ensalada with creamy avocado and hearts of palm, fresh salmon on top of mint gnocchi -I cant describe how delicious the food is here. All who know me and know my obsession with Italy, have no fear Im not turning my back,,,but just saying, I have certainly found its equal....sorry! The waiter at the restaurant was the same one from when I was in vina 2 weeks prior with my columbian girlfriends...hmmm...fate? again, JUST KIDDING!
Adventures continued the following day, when we bussed it back to santiago airport and flew to temuco, after which we bussed it to PUCON. The lake district of chile and gorgeous green mountains and lake and a looming volcano with ice on the top. Such different landscape in different parts of the country. It was quite a trek and my mom, as I said earlier, is SUCH a trooper. I was excited for the "cute bed and breakfast" I had found on internet, called hotel (hostal) geronimo. well upon our arrival it wasnt quite what i expected, i mean not bad, just not a - mazing. Now I thought it had so much character, but I think for mom she could handle a little more glitz. Nonetheless we stuck with it . Pucon is a a major destination (2nd behind vina del mar) for chilean holidays. It is an adventure capital, you can kayak, trek, ski (winter), hike to top of volcano, white water raft, rock climb....or....YOU CAN GO TO THE THERMAL SPA (AQUA TERMAS)...i will let you guess what we did. OMG OMG OMG OMG..okay im still recovering from my experience at "termas huife". Let me say, if you ever need a retreat, getaway, honeymoon, personal vacay, gathering with friends...head straight to termas huife. We had a man who looked like indiana jones (with adventure hat) pick us up in a caravan around 11 am and we arrived (along w other passengers) to termas in 40 minutes. I immediately booked massages (60 minute premium!), and we explored the territory. I asked a lady to take our picture, and mamma mia! She kept directing us to different locations at the termas and we went on a full photo shoot. I just couldnt tell her no and mom was along for the ride. She had us get on rocks and pose..im not kidding - 30 minutes! Our massages were awesome. We originally signed up for facial/tension tamer/reflexology, but when we each got into our room i wanted to make sure we got to experience the "mud and honey" mask that i saw on the menu - so i asked to make sure that would be included. Well, apparently I changed the hour to a complete mud/honey mask. After getting my back side lathered in mud the masseuse said "in dies minutes sec..." (wait 10 minutes for it to dry). so i was left in the massage room for 10 minutes twiddling my thumbs (attempting deep breathing and yoga type meditation...friends who know me can only imagine). After coming back in and completing the other half of mud mask, I was left for another 10 minutes. After the mud/honey all dried we were each taken to a large bath/shower that was so comfortable! Felt like a roman princess or a greek goddess...or a chilean chica bonita! I felt bad that I changed our service to only mud/honey instead of all the other things, but our skin felt so smooth and it was still relaxing. And now we have something else to come back for. After the massages we enjoyed champagne and margaritas along with lunch consisting of fresh trout (think they just caught it..see picture below), cold vegetables, bread and olive oil. We relaxed in the waters for a couple more hours after lunch and other than mom getting stung by a bee had such a tranquil time. Chile - i love you!!!! On returning to pucon we lingered through the street, enjoyed some gelato ( i had "honeydew melon" how refreshing) and caught another beautiful sunset. God is so good to grace us with these natural wonders, and how wonderful to know that the most amazing things in life are free. such peace :-)
We are now back in santiago which I am blessed to call home for another week. Jennifer just left since her sister is getting married (i miss you!) and have already taken mama to plaza des armas. We are relaxing and on our way to cerro san lucia for sunset and then to bella vista for dinner. We had our afternoon snack of a crisp fuji apple (i really think fruit is better here) and be expecting more updates this week. I have to make up for lost time - and if you would like to see all of my pictures I can present them when I get home or you can look on facebook. Until next time, many besitos!
XOXO and with lots of love and chilean excitement
marta mae and my mom (mama mae!)
sun setting over lake villaricco in pucon
moms arrival in santiago!
celebrating the sunset (and terromonto? earthquake?) in vina del mar
sunset over vina del mar (and impending tsunami)
at terma huife (wow! so relaxing) in pucon
trout (dorado) al plancha (think they just caught it!)
life in chile has kept me from blogging very much (i think i am stuffing a years worth of activity into one month and i LOVE It!) so i apologize for the lack of updates - but have no fear the experiences are definitely being internalized and i cant wait to share stories with yall! each day of this month keep getting better - i dont know where to begin and i guess i will just have to pick and choose the high points - aaahh this place is A - MAZING! I think the last time i wrote was after my last minute adventure to vina del mar. thank goodness i went on a limb and accepted the invite because the columbians have quickly become dear and true friends. how fun that jennifer also is in the mix, we have made so many memories (both in the hospital and out). I cant imagine chile without them, isnt it neat how God brings those people into our life - uh i love it! Last friday night (yes this is the story that jennifer was leaving to me in her prior blog), i had a repeat of my vina del mar experience. if you didnt get a chance to read about it, quick summary is - martha mae + dance floor until 6am, and when i say 6 am i really mean it - crazy! i heard people hear party until the "break of dawn" but i never believed it could be true. the energy on dance floor reached a 5 on the richter scale around 5 am...more on the richter scale later in the blog..... So back to last friday night, our intern matias (otherwise known as GQ, or ...beautiful) reccomended a party on the top of cerro san cristobal called "wake up", apparently its where all the "cool people" go haha. towards the end of the afternoon at work we decided to go to concha y toro winery, dr menchaca had reccomended it the night prior when he took us out into the andes. the columbians asked permission to leave early for our wine tasting experience (resident priorities lol). lauras friend guillermo and angela joined us. i was overcome by a "warm and fuzzy" feeling so i bought a "premium tasting/tour" package for everyone (8 people....one extra moonlighting shift in the NICU!...will be called our chilean shift). so at concha y toro we had delicious wine, weather was great and topped it off w some local cheese and a tasting class. flash forward a few hours to 8 pm when we return to santiago. we all departed to get ready for our night out (i made a very intense caffeinated elixer!), and circa 9 30 pm were out for happy hour and a meal. yes happy hour does not end at 6 pm here and if a restaurant is empty at 8 pm its not because they are done serving meals, its because the chef is just preparing his menu for the night. a cursory summary of our night includes mojito(s)..plural?, a delicious churassico sandwich (some type of latin meat), and then heading to the tip top of san cristobal to dance the night away. this is a PG rated blog so for the juicy details of our night please invite me out for a coffee date and i will spill all the secrets. (JUST KIDDING!) around 5 am i was ready to go home much to the chagrin of my new columbian girlfriends. there was concern on jen and my's part about the taxi drivers on the top of the hill - and everyone was walking down the mountain together so we just went with the pack . dont freak out ....we got a ride with a reliable looking male and female. (NO...this is not hitchhiking!), once down the mountain we hailed a taxi (circa 6 am) - the streets are still so crowded at this hour - and i remain baffled that it seemed to some that we were "going home early". needless to say it was a very memorable night. we have a soundtrack from our trip, most of the songs coming from the dance floor and now when i hear them my heart just skips a beat (oooh ooh sometimes, i get a good feeling - yeah....nosa nosa (my portugese song...) Anyhow that is a brief summary of our friday night - thanks for hanging in there with me on my stream of consciousness.
Flash forward to sunday, we all went to isla negra (on the coast) home of nobel prize award winning poet from Chile Pablo Neruda. Laura (columbia) has taught me so much about the world while here. i had no idea who he was, i realize when i travel how i can totally suffocate myself with my own worries and problems and priorities in america and lose sight of the world. i have to add in about my lunch on sunday, so fun, totally had a cheap empanada that an older lady was selling on the street!
The next day (monday)...my last work week in santiago, i was at the catholic university (universitad catholica), which is much more similar to Childrens in Birmingham. Tertiary care center with all of the specialists --academic center and more serious than sotero. The residents seemed to be pretty busy. Highlight of the day.....running into Patricio Valle! I heard someone say his name and ran out into the hall! The other PICU attending, who sports colorful skirts and stilettos, had wanted some inside information on Patau's time in birmingham...i still have time :-)
I attended morning report and afternoon seminar with the residents. The upper levels used their cafeteria pass and got lunch for me - we ate together at a short little table that is meant for little kids - what a memory! The patients were complicated just like those at sotero. Jennifer joined me the following day and we were graced with a two hour long seminar on constipation with the GI fellow.....
My second day at cath. univ I ventured to the NICU since I had already met Daniela, Shirley and Valeria (fellow and residents from bolivia/argentina). They gave me a huge hug and invited me up to their "reunion" (literature review). Dr. Kattan (picture richard gere meets nicu) was very kind, included me in rounds. Everyone there knows UAB because of dr fabres.
For my last few days of hospital work I went back to sotero del rio - i just fell head over heels for that hospital. The spirit of the work there, and especially Dr. Menchaca, Dr. Sandoval and Dr. Cavagnaro, really touched my heart. My last few days found me taking picture after picture, bustling from one service to the next to examine interesting patients, and savoring sweet time with interns/residents whom I now consider friends. On Friday I presented my an oral presentation to several interns and residents. During the past week I prepared a talk on my reflections/experiences and what I have learned here in Chile. It includes info on the health system, specific pediatric topics I learned from interesting patients, contrasts between medicine home and here, and the fun/enriching memories I will take with me. I almost cried during the talk, I will present it during a noon conference in may for all of my UAB friends. This trip has totally encouraged me in pediatrics!
To top it all off, Friday was the interns last day of pediatrics ....which means....exam over and rotation over and time to P A R T Y! Yes, in fact we attended the intern party and it felt so good to be included! Yes the party started around midnight, but that was okay for us because we didnt start dinner with Cony and friends until around 9 45 pm! What a country. Again, this blog remains PG rated (you all know im kidding - of course its PG!!! Its martha mae and jennifer we are talking about!) Our friend Hernan is known as the "salsa king" among the interns - and it is totally true!!
I have left many experiences out because there has been just so much going on, and we will try to go back and clean up the loose ends - but I must flash forward to the present (TODAY!) in which I am returning to santiago after FOUR DAYS SO FAR WITH MY MOM! thats right, mama mae and martha mae take on Chile!!!! We are currently in a taxi going from pucon to the airport in temuco for our flight back to santiago. To get from pucon to temuco we took a bus with several other passengers en route to pucon, but leaving its harder to find a caravan so we were forced into a pricey taxi (after attempting to find a bus....you all know im a little hard headed :-)....)
back to mamas trip, I picked her up at airport saturday morning (after a few hours sleep, the interns were 100% confused why i was going home at 4 am when she didnt arrive at airport until 8:30am...whats the problem they said, you have four hours lol!)
Directly after her landing, we went on a bus to vina del mar (gotta hit the ground running, didnt want to waste transit time so did our traveling before going into santiago). My mom is such a trooper (expect a short blurb from her later....). It is such a blessing to have a fun travel partner and dear friend - love you mom! We made it to vina and I had a hunch that Hotel San Martin would be nice and may have an available room, so without a reservation we took a taxi there from the bus station - and they had ONE ROOM AVAILABLE! YES!!! Our first afternoon in vina included strolling on the water and finding lunch along with cafe cortado (chilean form of cappucino), obviously mom wanted to find the street with markets. For a couple of late afternoon hours we attempted a siesta (still just cant get into it but trying), then cleaned up for her first night out. I found a hole in the wall local bar/restaurant where we enjoyed pisco sour and caprikoska, and procured info on the bartenders favorite local seafood spot. wow, he was right - fresh seafood on the pacific in chile - life is G O O D! Circa midnight (at end of dinner) I thought it would be a good idea to hear some salsa and maybe dance a little (mom, you told me you werent that tired!). After taxi'ing it over to valpariso (sister city to vina del mar) and paying the cover for a local salsa club, mom hit her wall and started to fall asleep....OKAY...FOR ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE ..INTRODUCING...MAMA MAE...
ill take it from here, hola everyone, this is karen, martha's mom. I have the best tour guide a mom could have! After flying all nite without sleep, which if you know me, I have a problem sleeping anyway! Martha couldn't wait to get me to the beach! There are no words to describe how beautiful the area is! Pics will be posted soon! We took Vina Del Mar down! I love to shop, as you know, but now winter clothes are out! I'm pumped cause I get to see the fashions for us next winter! Too cool! Of course I wanted to eat some pescado, (fish) so we took a taxi to a nice restaurant that the bartender recommended. And yes, it was amazing. After dinner I wanted to salsa so we went to the bar with live music but WOW I was fading! Ok I admit it I was asleep at the bar and woke up and there was Martha trying to get a refund! She told the manager that I just arrived from the US and had a virus! LOL She did it! I didnt understand much but I heard the words "vomito" and "taxi a casa". Thankfully, a restful nights sleep followed! For the rest of the details including mother nature's suprise Ill let Martha come back.
Thanks mom! Chile loves you! My mom is learning a few new words each day. Our 2nd day in vina was amazing - weather perked up, we walked along the water, did some shopping (mom LOVES to shop), lunched on the water while talking with some locals we had met. During happy hour, while the sun was setting over the pacific (BEAUTIFUL,,,,see pic below!), we felt a little shake and I thought for a second we were on a boat...but no...it was a 7.0 on the richter scale with impending risk of TSUNAMI!, for which reason the restaurant/cafe cleared out. (we got our shots of sunset though). Cony, Carina and Jennifer all called to make sure we were okay. I had Carina on one line telling us to evacuate to the mountains but the hotel staff in front of me saying not to worry. Sweet Cony offered for us to stay at her mothers so that we could go to her grandmothers mountain home if conditions worsened. Once seeing that SHOA (Chilean disaster committee?) disregarded risk of tsunami, we decided to stay in vina for the night..no one else seemed worried :) We made a smart decision by going out for dinner, around 9 30 we ventured to "delicias y mar" and it was a smart decision because if the tsunami were to attack us I would definitely want that to be my last meal! (okay okay a little extreme, just wanted to make you laugh). Truly though, crisp and cold sauvignon blanc, ensalada with creamy avocado and hearts of palm, fresh salmon on top of mint gnocchi -I cant describe how delicious the food is here. All who know me and know my obsession with Italy, have no fear Im not turning my back,,,but just saying, I have certainly found its equal....sorry! The waiter at the restaurant was the same one from when I was in vina 2 weeks prior with my columbian girlfriends...hmmm...fate? again, JUST KIDDING!
Adventures continued the following day, when we bussed it back to santiago airport and flew to temuco, after which we bussed it to PUCON. The lake district of chile and gorgeous green mountains and lake and a looming volcano with ice on the top. Such different landscape in different parts of the country. It was quite a trek and my mom, as I said earlier, is SUCH a trooper. I was excited for the "cute bed and breakfast" I had found on internet, called hotel (hostal) geronimo. well upon our arrival it wasnt quite what i expected, i mean not bad, just not a - mazing. Now I thought it had so much character, but I think for mom she could handle a little more glitz. Nonetheless we stuck with it . Pucon is a a major destination (2nd behind vina del mar) for chilean holidays. It is an adventure capital, you can kayak, trek, ski (winter), hike to top of volcano, white water raft, rock climb....or....YOU CAN GO TO THE THERMAL SPA (AQUA TERMAS)...i will let you guess what we did. OMG OMG OMG OMG..okay im still recovering from my experience at "termas huife". Let me say, if you ever need a retreat, getaway, honeymoon, personal vacay, gathering with friends...head straight to termas huife. We had a man who looked like indiana jones (with adventure hat) pick us up in a caravan around 11 am and we arrived (along w other passengers) to termas in 40 minutes. I immediately booked massages (60 minute premium!), and we explored the territory. I asked a lady to take our picture, and mamma mia! She kept directing us to different locations at the termas and we went on a full photo shoot. I just couldnt tell her no and mom was along for the ride. She had us get on rocks and pose..im not kidding - 30 minutes! Our massages were awesome. We originally signed up for facial/tension tamer/reflexology, but when we each got into our room i wanted to make sure we got to experience the "mud and honey" mask that i saw on the menu - so i asked to make sure that would be included. Well, apparently I changed the hour to a complete mud/honey mask. After getting my back side lathered in mud the masseuse said "in dies minutes sec..." (wait 10 minutes for it to dry). so i was left in the massage room for 10 minutes twiddling my thumbs (attempting deep breathing and yoga type meditation...friends who know me can only imagine). After coming back in and completing the other half of mud mask, I was left for another 10 minutes. After the mud/honey all dried we were each taken to a large bath/shower that was so comfortable! Felt like a roman princess or a greek goddess...or a chilean chica bonita! I felt bad that I changed our service to only mud/honey instead of all the other things, but our skin felt so smooth and it was still relaxing. And now we have something else to come back for. After the massages we enjoyed champagne and margaritas along with lunch consisting of fresh trout (think they just caught it..see picture below), cold vegetables, bread and olive oil. We relaxed in the waters for a couple more hours after lunch and other than mom getting stung by a bee had such a tranquil time. Chile - i love you!!!! On returning to pucon we lingered through the street, enjoyed some gelato ( i had "honeydew melon" how refreshing) and caught another beautiful sunset. God is so good to grace us with these natural wonders, and how wonderful to know that the most amazing things in life are free. such peace :-)
We are now back in santiago which I am blessed to call home for another week. Jennifer just left since her sister is getting married (i miss you!) and have already taken mama to plaza des armas. We are relaxing and on our way to cerro san lucia for sunset and then to bella vista for dinner. We had our afternoon snack of a crisp fuji apple (i really think fruit is better here) and be expecting more updates this week. I have to make up for lost time - and if you would like to see all of my pictures I can present them when I get home or you can look on facebook. Until next time, many besitos!
XOXO and with lots of love and chilean excitement
marta mae and my mom (mama mae!)
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Worn out and loving it!
Hi all! As always, I hope you are doing well. We just got back in from an awesome day trip to Isla Negra to visit Pablo Neruda's main house where he spent his last few months of life. If you're wondering who Pablo Neruda is, he's somewhat like a Chilean JFK (except communist)...here's a link to the Wikipedia page if you have time and interest to invest into reading about this complex man: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_neruda
We then went on to Valparaiso to visit the seaside market and city there. Of course, Martha and I were with our new favorite group of friends, the Chilean girls. It's amazing how close you become in a short amount of time when you're abroad, but they really are good friends that I can see remaining as such for a long time to come. We got a little bit lost in Valparaiso, but then ended up right where we wanted to be- a restaurant called "La Colombiana" (haha, with actual Colombians, no less!) that was noted to be excellent in our guide book. Let me tell you, it was totally worth it! We all had some form of fish topped off with local beer and sparkling wine. We then made our way around some of the shops and bought a few local things for everyone back home. We then almost missed the bus because it's hard to keep a lot of "reds" together and on time, but we somehow managed. I think we are all acting a little more "red" here, which, for us rigid types is a good thing! It does, however, make travelling in groups a bit stressful.
Of course, Martha has a never-ending supply of energy, so she just went back out to walk around the neighborhood and grab something to eat. I am too tired to go out tonight, so I let her go on her own, crossing my fingers all the while that she doesn't get stolen and sold into the slave market! Honestly, though, she'd probably charm her way out of it somehow :-)
We also went out Friday night until 6 AM...something I haven't done since....oh wait, last month. I'll let Martha tell you more about Friday night, because it was both hilarious and exhausting! In short, we partied on the top of the Cerro San Cristobal (the hill with cell phone Mary) with all the Chileans, and, of course, the Colombians, who were mad at us for going home so "early". I haven't seen a country party like this since I was in Spain, but it was definitely worse there (they didn't even leave the house to go out until 2AM and it was totally normal to go home around 9AM).
Each day, I am learning more Spanish and getting more used to the Chilean accent, though I have developed more of a taste for the Colombian accent since it is easier to understand. I will continue practicing and hoping that people can understand my accent, which is a "gringa" mix of American, Spain, and Mexico...haha.
Ok all, I will leave you be for now. Have a great Monday and we'll be back on soon!
Jennifer
We then went on to Valparaiso to visit the seaside market and city there. Of course, Martha and I were with our new favorite group of friends, the Chilean girls. It's amazing how close you become in a short amount of time when you're abroad, but they really are good friends that I can see remaining as such for a long time to come. We got a little bit lost in Valparaiso, but then ended up right where we wanted to be- a restaurant called "La Colombiana" (haha, with actual Colombians, no less!) that was noted to be excellent in our guide book. Let me tell you, it was totally worth it! We all had some form of fish topped off with local beer and sparkling wine. We then made our way around some of the shops and bought a few local things for everyone back home. We then almost missed the bus because it's hard to keep a lot of "reds" together and on time, but we somehow managed. I think we are all acting a little more "red" here, which, for us rigid types is a good thing! It does, however, make travelling in groups a bit stressful.
Of course, Martha has a never-ending supply of energy, so she just went back out to walk around the neighborhood and grab something to eat. I am too tired to go out tonight, so I let her go on her own, crossing my fingers all the while that she doesn't get stolen and sold into the slave market! Honestly, though, she'd probably charm her way out of it somehow :-)
We also went out Friday night until 6 AM...something I haven't done since....oh wait, last month. I'll let Martha tell you more about Friday night, because it was both hilarious and exhausting! In short, we partied on the top of the Cerro San Cristobal (the hill with cell phone Mary) with all the Chileans, and, of course, the Colombians, who were mad at us for going home so "early". I haven't seen a country party like this since I was in Spain, but it was definitely worse there (they didn't even leave the house to go out until 2AM and it was totally normal to go home around 9AM).
Each day, I am learning more Spanish and getting more used to the Chilean accent, though I have developed more of a taste for the Colombian accent since it is easier to understand. I will continue practicing and hoping that people can understand my accent, which is a "gringa" mix of American, Spain, and Mexico...haha.
Ok all, I will leave you be for now. Have a great Monday and we'll be back on soon!
Jennifer
Thursday, March 15, 2012
it keeps getting better...afternoon in the andes y mucho mas!
Well after waking up sleepy (Again) and hitting up some nescafe we enjoyed another full day at sotero del rio Today I went between 3 services (miscelaneous, lactantes and auguros ...spelling?). There are definitely a wide variety of patients, new onset hemophilia that presented with crazy big cephalohematoma, fulminant hep A, autoimmune hepatitis flare/sepsis w ascites, prune belly, etc. not to mention febrile neonates and altes (same here!)...again sorry non medical friends! we attend morning report and afternoon seminar every day. even though i am just learning spanish, i can understand the concepts of the lecture because its similar medical language and pictures. these lectures are actually helpful for helping me get geared up for boards studying as they have hit on some concepts I havent gotten alot of exposure in back home (GI, biliary atresia, hepatitis, hyperbili... so have no fear UAB, we are learning and working....and its so fun). Two of the interesting patients allowed me to take photos of them and we will present stuff when we get back home to our residency. We have lunch every day with the interns/residents. We are becoming so close with ana, laura and carolina our friends from columbia (interns).
After work today dr manchega - the director of peds program at sotero del rio, took us out for an adventure that he had planned since its one of our last days there (sad face!)...the columbians joined. we drove out into some of the most beautiful land/mountain etc area i have EVER EVER EVERY seen...the andes are A M A Z I N G. it was by far the most overwhelming mother nature type experience - notice the picture of glacier ice and bright sun in the same photo - crazy right. on the ride back into santiago we stopped at a very cute cafe and had sandwiches and wine (dr manchega had a fruit milkshake since he drove..how cute!), and wonderful desserts and cappucino). we didnt get home until 10 30 and he dropped us off right in front of our apartment and waited until we got in to drive away (our chilean dad!). wow, such hospitality. he did not let us pay. this is such a humbling experience and so heart warming. despite the junk that we see in the news and the problems we may have at work etc, it is a very wonderful world and there are people out there who always want to lend a helping hand. i can tell this is not my last international medical experience - and i think i can speak for jennifer (yes, i think we are starting to speak for each other :-)!)
Im going to try to fall asleep but with the music coming from outside our apartment (clearly thursday night begins the weekend here) and my excitement i may just be laying here but closing my eyes will at least count because we need our energy for tomorrow. this weekend will bring dancing tomorrow night, wine tasting in santa cruz and much more to blog about. we miss you all and cant wait to share our adventures in person! until then, besitos!
ciao :-) .....(cant forget my italian!)
marta XOXO
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
cant fall asleep! :-)
how is one to sleep here? its me again (marta), and its 1 am here and wake up time is only several hours away, but there is way too much excitement right now. we had such a wonderful night, after work (which continues to be awesome and thanks so much to our sotero residents who are including us) i walked over to teatro municipal and picked up a couple of extra tickets for tonights concert (espanol un corazon...heart of spain), then we headed out for the 7 oclock show. oh my gosh, gorgeous theatre, very authentic, renaissance 19th century, totally felt like royalty. we met with carolina and laura from columbia and took pictures, during intermission got some illy espresso (YES! a good pick me up after by pre concert sauvingnon blanc) and then enjoyed the second half of the show. i was amazed by the young flutist soloist (i guess that is how you say it), she was wonderful. it was neat to be out amongst locals and tourists alike enjoying good music. the enjoyment of wonderfulness continued as i led us over to the intersection of avenue londres and paris, we lingered on the cute cobblestone street onto a patio of "restobar pimenta", the food and wine was excellent. we had carmenere (vino tinto), i had congrio with vegetables (local chilean fish), the girls had seviche and jennifer had corvina with risotto marisco. (jennifer laura and carolina only let me talk in spanish). the flavors of food here are so robust - fish is amazing (mom, you are gonna be knocked off your feet), we sat outside as people walked by...super fun!
today was another good one at sotero del rio. there is a baby on the lactantes service who presented with a humongous cephalohematoma, he actually had newly diagnosed hemophilia B...crazy! i am starting to pick up on more language during morning report and afternoon seminar. lunch is a very fun part of the day bc we go with the interns to the cafeteria and eat together. today laura and i brought leftovers from our wonderful chilean meal last night (i have decided, there is only a finite amount of time here, must go out as much as possible....so you wont hear all too much about home cooking, although i am doing that for some lunches bc the market is too wonderful to pass up).
During afternoon seminar on hyperbilirubinemia this afternoon the attending asked me what our experience is with biliary atresia in the US...i could tell he was talking to me by his look and everyones eyes on me (did he not know jennifer was right beside me and speaks much much MUCH more spanish...!) i responded with...yes we take care of many of those patients...lol..im working on it! we had a great lecture today on skin stuff with our attending. tomorrow dr menchaca is taking jennifer and
my endeavors with spanish and some of my experiences here have made me think kinda philosphically about life...im gonna get deep here lol. no but really, i tell people - when i am trying to speak spanish, that i only speak in the present tense (for example, even if i want to tell someone what i did last night, since i dont know the past tense yet, i must communicate in present. this can be difficult for understanding. when i told my new chilean friends my disclaimer "i only speak in present tense", my friend said "no this is better, start simple"...what a great outlook on life. everything is much more simple if we stay in the present. getting caught up with the past or fretting about the future doesnt really help anything and takes away from the moment. wow - life lessons through learning a language. ill keep a tab on my new life thoughts and add them when i remember.
well i had better try to get some rest...expect more blogging soon (weekend plans include dinner and DANCING friday night, santa cruz wine valley, and more to come!!!)
besitos!!! XOXO
marta
today was another good one at sotero del rio. there is a baby on the lactantes service who presented with a humongous cephalohematoma, he actually had newly diagnosed hemophilia B...crazy! i am starting to pick up on more language during morning report and afternoon seminar. lunch is a very fun part of the day bc we go with the interns to the cafeteria and eat together. today laura and i brought leftovers from our wonderful chilean meal last night (i have decided, there is only a finite amount of time here, must go out as much as possible....so you wont hear all too much about home cooking, although i am doing that for some lunches bc the market is too wonderful to pass up).
During afternoon seminar on hyperbilirubinemia this afternoon the attending asked me what our experience is with biliary atresia in the US...i could tell he was talking to me by his look and everyones eyes on me (did he not know jennifer was right beside me and speaks much much MUCH more spanish...!) i responded with...yes we take care of many of those patients...lol..im working on it! we had a great lecture today on skin stuff with our attending. tomorrow dr menchaca is taking jennifer and
my endeavors with spanish and some of my experiences here have made me think kinda philosphically about life...im gonna get deep here lol. no but really, i tell people - when i am trying to speak spanish, that i only speak in the present tense (for example, even if i want to tell someone what i did last night, since i dont know the past tense yet, i must communicate in present. this can be difficult for understanding. when i told my new chilean friends my disclaimer "i only speak in present tense", my friend said "no this is better, start simple"...what a great outlook on life. everything is much more simple if we stay in the present. getting caught up with the past or fretting about the future doesnt really help anything and takes away from the moment. wow - life lessons through learning a language. ill keep a tab on my new life thoughts and add them when i remember.
besitos!!! XOXO
marta
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Ahhh.....
Greetings, all! I hope this finds everyone well and rested. I have been running around the country like a crazy person the past week, so forgive me for not updating until now. It looks like you've been kept well up to date by "Marta", however.
My brother left Sunday and went back to TN, thus my last vacation of the year came to an end. [Insert sad face here]. Since we last spoke, Henry and I went to Vina del mar, a seaside city about 1.5 hours away from Santiago. We rented a car in which I nearly had a panic attack driving in the crazy streets of Santiago, but we made it out of the city 1 hour later on nothing but gumption and sheer terror. We probably should have bought a map prior to renting said vehicle- oops, not very Yellow, am I? Alas, we did not crash nor did we get caught for speeding before we could tell which signs were the speed limit signs, AND that they were in Kilometers (120? wooohooo!). Really, Avis should require a driving exam prior to allowing rentals. The car was a tiny go-cart style vehicle that made me feel like I was playing Mario Kart (the Nintendo 64 version, is there another?). I only wished I had turtles (red ones, of course) to throw at cars in my way. Of course, if you fall off the road, there isn't a magic thingie to come pick you back up with a fishing rod and give you a new go-cart.
I started with Marta at Sotero del Rio this week, but I am on the lactantes service and she has moved to the servicio Miscelanio, which is basically like our wards service. I am learning my Chilean Spanish in leaps and bounds, but I still have a lot of trouble understanding the accents. Luckily, Marta has made friends with some Colombianas, and they have an easy to understand accent that makes me feel like I actually DO know Spanish. The ride out to Sotero del Rio is about 45 minutes, so I quiz Marta on her Spanish conjugations of normal verbs. She is really annoyed with all the irregular verbs in Spanish. I hate to tell you all, but English is waaaaay worse with the rules that have 4 million exceptions. Be thankful we already know THIS language.
So, a little about Sotero del Rio- it's like Cooper Green without air conditioning but with nurses who actually give a crap about orders you write. The interns were asking if we thought Sotero del Rio is 3rd world, but I said it was a step above Cooper Green, and they thought I was nuts. We have really interesting patients on the service, from ALTEs to a kid with a chylothorax s/p CV surgery for HLH. It's amazing that their acuity is still so high but the volume is less. The interns definitely have more time to devote to each patient, which is nice.
Marta already told you all about the ins and outs of rounding (not until 12 PM?!?), so I won't belabor those points. Overall, it's been a good 2 days at the hospital, and I am very excited to continue practicing my Medical Spanish. I am also very happy to be enjoying the scenery, both inside the hospital and out (oh man, the Chilean men are muy caliente!). Perhaps Marta and I will have more to tell on that front, but nothing fun so far. Also, the interns that we are "following" were born in 1988, just to make you feel old....barf! (Of course, my apologies to anyone born in 1988.)
Ok all, we miss you muchly, and I'll be back to report in for duty more often now that I'm not blowing my life savings on food, wine, and beachside hotels (until this weekend, that is).
Besos!
Jennifer
My brother left Sunday and went back to TN, thus my last vacation of the year came to an end. [Insert sad face here]. Since we last spoke, Henry and I went to Vina del mar, a seaside city about 1.5 hours away from Santiago. We rented a car in which I nearly had a panic attack driving in the crazy streets of Santiago, but we made it out of the city 1 hour later on nothing but gumption and sheer terror. We probably should have bought a map prior to renting said vehicle- oops, not very Yellow, am I? Alas, we did not crash nor did we get caught for speeding before we could tell which signs were the speed limit signs, AND that they were in Kilometers (120? wooohooo!). Really, Avis should require a driving exam prior to allowing rentals. The car was a tiny go-cart style vehicle that made me feel like I was playing Mario Kart (the Nintendo 64 version, is there another?). I only wished I had turtles (red ones, of course) to throw at cars in my way. Of course, if you fall off the road, there isn't a magic thingie to come pick you back up with a fishing rod and give you a new go-cart.
I started with Marta at Sotero del Rio this week, but I am on the lactantes service and she has moved to the servicio Miscelanio, which is basically like our wards service. I am learning my Chilean Spanish in leaps and bounds, but I still have a lot of trouble understanding the accents. Luckily, Marta has made friends with some Colombianas, and they have an easy to understand accent that makes me feel like I actually DO know Spanish. The ride out to Sotero del Rio is about 45 minutes, so I quiz Marta on her Spanish conjugations of normal verbs. She is really annoyed with all the irregular verbs in Spanish. I hate to tell you all, but English is waaaaay worse with the rules that have 4 million exceptions. Be thankful we already know THIS language.
So, a little about Sotero del Rio- it's like Cooper Green without air conditioning but with nurses who actually give a crap about orders you write. The interns were asking if we thought Sotero del Rio is 3rd world, but I said it was a step above Cooper Green, and they thought I was nuts. We have really interesting patients on the service, from ALTEs to a kid with a chylothorax s/p CV surgery for HLH. It's amazing that their acuity is still so high but the volume is less. The interns definitely have more time to devote to each patient, which is nice.
Marta already told you all about the ins and outs of rounding (not until 12 PM?!?), so I won't belabor those points. Overall, it's been a good 2 days at the hospital, and I am very excited to continue practicing my Medical Spanish. I am also very happy to be enjoying the scenery, both inside the hospital and out (oh man, the Chilean men are muy caliente!). Perhaps Marta and I will have more to tell on that front, but nothing fun so far. Also, the interns that we are "following" were born in 1988, just to make you feel old....barf! (Of course, my apologies to anyone born in 1988.)
Ok all, we miss you muchly, and I'll be back to report in for duty more often now that I'm not blowing my life savings on food, wine, and beachside hotels (until this weekend, that is).
Besos!
Jennifer
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