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!)

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!)

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

it keeps getting better...afternoon in the andes y mucho mas!

Buenos noches a mis amigos y amigas! Santiago continues to amaze me and we are having such a rich experience here. I dont know where to begin and then same disclaimers abide that go with every one of my blogs - be prepared for my stream of consciousness and know that I just cant hit all the high points or i would go on and on for days (and not sleep but im willing to drink more cafe for the sake of documenting our adventures)


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

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

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

and i think to myself...what a wonderful world...

Its midnight now and I am just winding down after a few really really amazing days. The past 72 hours have included dancing until the break of dawn with my new friends from columbia, getting sunburnt by the intense UV rays south of the equator (not a highlight but it occurred nonetheless), enjoying empanada while hustling to my bus, sleeping in a hostel for 14 dollars a night, and making new friendship with a group of girls from columbia. topping off the weekend was a mojito and sandwich with jennifer out in our neighborhood before our work week begins again. Its gonna be hard to go to sleep because of so much excitement...if my attempts are unsuccessful at least nescafe has such a strong presence in the hospital!

So thursday night, as you will see on the respective blog, included hosting my chilean friends to the apartment. Well the following day, friday, I went to lunch with the fellow interns on the team and we sat with some girls from colulmbia who are doing a couple of months of pediatrics here. I told them I was from america, they said "we are going to vina del mar today...do you want to come,,,"....so i thought about my weekend plans for a couple of hours after work and i knew they were leaving friday evening, so i called carolina around 6 30 and confirmed - yes Ill be there! After throwing some clothes in a back pack I took the metro to the bus station and got my ticket for vina del mar! Its been a while since I have experienced that feeling you get when you spontaneously decide to do something that you know is so not your average experience. I said to myself, "when else can i go to a random chilean beach with girls from columbia?!". The bus left at 9 45 so we got empanadas in the train station and ate them sitting on the ground. Its so refreshing to not worry about formalitys like getting clothes dirty etc :-) i Love it!
We made it to vina del mar circa 12 am and taxi'ed it to the main street, the taxi driver said the hostel that ana (on of the girls) had was sketchy, so we walked down the street and found one that looked acceptable, we stayed there (mamma mia 7000 pesos per night per person ...14 american dollars)...ladies and gentlemen "no frills" is an understatement...i said to myself when i was taking a shower "dont look down...stay focused.." lol...dont know how clean the facilities were but its okay it got the job done! on a more serious note it is humbling to have less in terms of amenities because it makes me realize how much I am blessed with in the first place..the majority of the world doesnt have it as good as we do back home, so who am I to feel grossed out by a dirty shower anyways - right? After arriving at our hostel and getting tucked in, around 12 45 am, I was ready to put on the pjs and fall to a sweet sleep, then came the famous words "vamos!"...what?! thats right, of course it was time to go out -  just as routine as it is for me to have coffee as the day gets started it is for my new friends from colubmia to go out dancing around 1 am, it doesnt even have to be a special celebration, thats just the way it is for them...well i was along for the ride this weekend and going with the group - so there I was, no latin moves in me at all and falling asleep with every step, but dancing away nonetheless. We ventured to a dance club my friend cony reccomended and then over to the casino (hotel vina del mar), where we danced until they closed, at 5 30. I was a little shocked I made it that long, I guess its less than being on call, but doesnt seem to be the same! We slept until noon, which when i saw the time i felt so lazy but then i remembered I didnt go to bed until 6 am. The following night was a basically a repeat but with a more entertaining dance club that included 4 floors and a different style of music on each floor.

My time with the girls this weekend taught me alot about life outside of the US. My traveling mates are all in med school in bogota columbia. We talked about life there and the need to really be aware of surroundings and the violence that is so embedded in their culture. There are several movies you can watch or any number of newspapers you can read to highlight all the corruption there, and so many other places.  It breaks my heart to know of such terror in the world, but it gives me hope to see such educated and strong women breaking free from it all. They really have their head on their shoulders and I am really thankful I went along for the trip.

The seafood in vina del mar was delightful, as were the local artisan markets (thank you to the sweet older artist who knitted my afghan, it really kept me warm yesterday during the cold. However, yesterdays cool temperature  made me naive to the sun that was out today, hence my atrocious burn *mom you must really take that picture off facebook!)

Well tomorrow starts a new week, Jennifer is coming along to Sotero tomorrow morning, henry has headed back home (we miss you!) and so we can make the daily AM commute together. We already have a couple of things lined up for this week and will be sure to keep you updated!

XOXO
besitos
marta

buenos noches ;)

· Its 9 15 right now and Santiago is just lighting up, my friends are on their way up in the elevator and I have fixed, what I consider, a pretty south American meal. I have the wine chilled and food out, we will start with chorizo, avocado, cheese and a slice of fruit and progress to mojo chicken and rice stuffed red peppers, also with tomato cilantro cucumber salad on the side. I love that people live out loud here. Even in the hospital people wear bright colors and flowers and kiss each other hello They answer their phones with such gusto and seem passionate about their opinions. Looking outside the sun has now gone down over Santiago and the skyline has this crazy calm duo about it – quite a paradox but amidst all the loudness of people having a good time and walking on the streets the andes bring a sense of protection, and the virgin mary looking down from cerro san cristobal does not hurt the mood (Despite the phone towers that have been put up around her.)

 Even though I don’t speak the language and probably stick out as a foreigner/tourist, I think I could stay here for a while (I do realize I say that about every country I visit…but I mean it!) Sotero del rio is an awesome hospital. I really enjoy seeing this side of medicine. When resources are slim and patients need care, the residents rise to the occasion.  Chilean time is always a little on the later side – good for me because this is my paradigm lol. I guess the Lebanese in me takes to a later schedule. The people in this city really know how to have fun, I cant believe Im just getting together w friends for dinner at 930 but when in rome, do as the romans. I still wonder how those who work in the morning pull off these late nights – maybe they just go to sleep with a fully belly  J

Today at the hospital I really started to feel in the groove of the schedule. I am on the lactantes team which I mentioned in yesterdays blog. We have some really neat cases so UAB friends be ready, im gonna come back ready to practice my Chilean medicine. I will say the highlight, sit down ladies and gentlemen this really happened, was when our little 24 day old ALTEs mom was in our room receiving CPR classes (From resident and attending) and they had me sing the infamous song ….staying alive. For real though, having our patients mom in the same room with us and the little simulation baby and discussing the ins and outs of resuscitation made me really feel like a part of something bigger than myself  and reminded me how blessed I am to be a pediatrician. The mom was very thankful and we wished her well upon discharge. Some neat factoids I learned today, all babies in chile get the Tb BCG shot and so it takes a PPD of > 1 cm to count as positive (sorry for the random medical info to all my non medical readers!), and I actually didn’t realize to order thyroid studies for neonatal hyperbili – but Dr. Sandoval reminded me. 

Now that dinner is over and friends have headed home, and given that its bedtime I will say adios. Tomorrow is sure to be a cafe drinking day given we will have a night on the town with Phillipe, Cony and their friends! Hasta luego (still working on spelling ;)....

besitos XOXO

marta

(this was written a few days ago - but didnt add - enjoy now!!)

...martha mae here (its 1:30 am and work is only several hours away but i cant help but blog at least a little about the past couple of days)....chile is amazing and wonderful and beautiful and exciting and ah! dont even know where to begin. thank you to uab for this opportunity, jennifer and i are having so much fun. yesterday i hiked up cerro san cristobal, beautful mountain w virgin mary at top (see jennifers comment re: cell phone mary), we have had ridiculously wonderful, fresh, affordable seafood meals (we are 3 for 3 on our restaurant choices...friday night doesnt count because it was bar and karaoke food...still wonderful thought!), we lingered to a basque style spanish restaurant late last night. today we woke up and went to plaza de armes to see the cathedral and go to mass, well we missed mass but were able to spend some peaceful time in the cathedral. afterwards team jennifer/henry/marta split ways for a few hours as i went exploring the markets and jennifer/henry enjoyed the historical museum and fun in the sun on top of our building. i came upon the mercado centrale and vega centrale (seafood central market...and not sure what vega centrale means but it had delectable and beautiful fruits/veggies/meats/cheeses....even dishware, clothes, jewelry, plates...lol...one of the coolest non pretentious local markets i have ever visited! i got things to cook for our "family dinner" back at the apt this week, and also sat at a restaurant and had "consomme de mariscos", the waiter brought me "pisco sour" (very strong ..kinda like ;limoncella)....

una rosa e una rosa!

im back! mamma mia, or "dios mio" rather (im switching my italian vernacular for espanole). I am again bursting at the seems with excitement and I will try to calm down enough to type a little. To add a little detail to my running out of steam, I was actually laying in my bedroom with the lights out praying i would fall asleep because I couldnt wait for the following day, its really a problem bc things go much later here which is great for me but then we go to hospital in the morning,,,,so the answer is..more cafe! and by the way, im quite a fan of the cafe down here - there is no hating on nescafe. and i love that Dottora Paulina and Sandoval routinely make coffee for our resident and interns!

Yall who know me know that I am a flight of ideas, I will try to be organized but just join in for the ride! I have so much to say about the differences between the chilean health care systems and ours in america. Also I am astounded at the medical work going on here in santiago. I started my week at Ospedale Sotero del Rio. To get there i hop on line 1 of metro at belles artes, transfer at vincent valdes, and then go to the sotero stop. in the metro its normal to cram in and wait patiently, its hot and people are close and no one is offended or feels entitled to their own space. i love it! (side note (be prepared for my steam of consciousness..i cant help it)... there is no AC really anywhere..hospital included....and people make do...i think its a good example for us back home..just saying..) My first day at Sotero I went with Carina, my sweet friend from here. I met the chief Lorena (actually chief for the month, for their program the chief is a 3rd year who does it for one month, its not a separate year), and also Dr. Manchega, my director at Sotero. He is A-MAZING! He is friends with Dr. Gutierrez from UAB (and by the way, showed me old pics of Dr. G!) He took an hour to talk w me about the health care system (so interesting, will blog about this later), and then a tour of hospital.  sotero is a public hospital so all free care (pretty much), and limited resources. the residents OWN the hospital. WOW - its amazing to see! they have all units there, ER, PICU, NICU, adolescent (18 beds), lactantes (infants..literally means 'one who drinks milk), surgery (including neurosurgery...only surg they dont have is cardiac and transplant), childhood wards, subspec. outpatient. I am on the "lactantes" service. Its me, 3 interns, a resident and 2 attendings (they alternate days and some days they are there together). Interns are Javier, Pablo and Hernan and they are awesome. They are acdtually 6th year med students and so in your 6th year here you are an intern on every specialty (kinda like "transitional year" in the US). Now remember, in chile - and rest of the world - you go straight to medical school, there is no undergrad - so they have the same training as a 3rd or 4th year med student. Carolina is the 1st year resident who is team upper level - its just her and I tell ya what, Carolina means business! She was "post call" the day i came on and she was there till 530 like it was no big deal. Im amazed that no one really complains here in their residency (im sure there is some of it and im just seeing things with rose colored glasses, but its different i promise ......) There is no 2nd or 3rd year on the team so this is really the first time carolina has done straight peds. As carina tells me, interns are left alone so much that you really learn to manage things on your own because you have to......I guess I could throw an IJ (for my non medical readers - internal jugular) if I had to ...right ?! wink wink) Then attendings on the team are stylin and profilin, and very competent/smart at the same time. Every morning I look forward to seeing what kind of shoes they are wearing. Mom - remember what I have been saying.....pack nothing!! empty suitcases!!! The team has some very interesting cases. I see a few patients a day with the interns. I am out at sotero by myself right now and Im learning some spanish - they are happy when i try and i carry my spanish book with me everywhere! There is one patient who had a cardiac arrest during her 2nd aortic stenosis surgery and now is neurologically impaired (very hypertonic and ? blindness), Dr. Paulina made sure that I was able to see her and learn from her exam. I saw roseola, ex 30 wga with BPD with resolved septic shock, meningitis, a few febrile UTIs actually (my job today was to look up the renal ultrasounds and their labs! thankfully there was no hydronephrosis! in chile they are not doing routine VCUG for utis. we pulled up the AAP guidelines today! Yesterday afternoon I was with Dr. Manchega in his clinic (let me stress - he is AMAZING, wears lots of different hats around the hospital). He has multidisciplinary adolescent clinic for suicide ideation, eating disorders, teenage pregnancy, addiction. There is a psychologist, nutritionist, social worker, nurse. He is very caring and I told him about my interest in the eating disorder population - It is encouraging to know there is work aimed at helping these women out of bondage even in other countries!! We saw a patient who was being discharged from the long term psych unit and talked w her for about a half hour and she has done very well. The only thing the psychiatrists help with are pathology such as schizophrenia, bipolar etc - but things that we tend to keep in our ER, they have a special building for them and lots of counseling.

Back to some thoughts about the wards and healthcare system. Chile has very good rates of infant mortality and good healthcare outcomes, but uses not as many resources. An example, most of the patients on wards were getting NG feeds (not much IV fluids at all), and for the NG feeds, I saw a nurse filling up a bottle and then they squeeze it for a feeds (makes sense huh - i guess we dont need pumps that make those crazy noises after all). Also, there are big rooms and about 5 patients to a ward room, everything is in the open and there is no HIPPA (hooray!..dont get me started :-) ...) One of the moms was breast feeding while we were talking about her baby - definitely no curtains anywhere. The cribs are totally sufficient, nice and colorful. Their isolation gowns are plastic which I bet cuts down on the cost. Another difference is the wards nurse is frequently coming into the rounding room (that is on the same floor as the ward), and bringing new labs, vitals, info, asking questions. She is very helpful and its like clockwork that she comes in at the same time each morning. Rounds dont start until noon...but...its not like rounds back home. In the morning everyone gets work done and sees patients, comes up with plans, at the same time. So the interns write their notes while they go in the morning and by the time rounds happen the note is done and attending hand signs it. The consulting teams come by every morning and f/u on things and ask if there is any new business - so there is no calling consults because everyone sees each other every morning. I realize this isnt possible at a huge hospital, but its refreshing to see. This week at Sotero has really opened my eyes to a part of me that wants to work with limited resources and with the needy. I absolutely love it there -

As you can tell, I have alot to say!! I want to keep typing all night long (actually...i want to be out but i promised my mom i wont go out at night alone...dont worry everyone!! so i am gonna hit the sack). Im cooking a chilean meal for my sweet friends down here in santiago tomorrow night so I will go to the fish market before work!

Oh by the way, crazy story about airplane man huh? Who knows....... JK!!!

besos XOXO
marta!

ps...im realizing that i have a ton more to talk about (going to top of san cristobal, markets and "consome di mescado", getting invited to yoga with instructor ricardo from buenos aires (dont worry he knows NOTHING about me....)...stay tuned!!!!

Boogers are fewer and far between in an arid climate

Greetings again. Martha has run out of steam today, so I'll blog again. She may be on in a while. 

I want to start by saying how much better my sinuses are here. I can actually breathe! A life without post-nasal drip is a good life indeed. My cobblestoned oropharynx is out of a job! Forget Flonase, relief is a 9 hour plane ride away!

Enough of TMI, on to other stories from our trip so far...

Guess who we ran into last night? None other than Martha's sketchy plane seat-mate! How many days have we been here and how many people live in this city? Can someone calculate the chances of that happening? Really, that's like winning the wrong kind of lottery. Anyway, we paid our bill quickly and quietly, and I shouted back to him that we had to work tomorrow. Moral of the story: awkwardness exists in all languages and cultures. 

Martha really did work today, and Henry and I continued our city exploratory laparotomy. We just cut into the guts of the shopping district. (You like what I did there? Huh? What, no? Well, ok, worth a shot.) We noticed several things today: 1) There is an entire "mall" dedicated to hair cut places, tattoo shops, and Triple XXX theatres, 2) I will probably get run over before I leave this country because I can't tell what's a cobblestone sidewalk or a cobblestone street (it's harder than you think), 3) Whenever you need directions, just ask the random guards or cops standing in the street, and 4) people tend to simulate sexual activity in the park. The last one takes some getting used to, but making love IS better than making war, right?

I realized yesterday that I forgot to tell you all about rounding in the NICU on Friday. It was really neat to see the size and type of babies they have there. They have a baby on ECMO for pulmonary HTN and they have another baby that has chronically been there on the vent for what I presume is PPHN. Dr. Carlo would be happy that, when I was asked when to feed a new 32-ish weeker, I said day of life 2, and the team gasped! The fellow said I was crazy, but I thought it was a legit answer on my part. I guess they worry more about feeding early here, but after seeing some cases of NEC, I understand the sentiment. Overall, the unit is small with perhaps 10 babies currently. They also had a baby with Trisomy 18 in the continuing care nursery, which looks more like our Newborn Nursery. I am amazed at the slight differences in the way we do things, but neither is really more correct. Dr. Fabres was even quoting studies about checking residuals from American journals. Now I see that the research from our institution helps other MD's make decisions all over the world. It's a neat feeling. 

Ok all, that's enough babbling from me. I hope you are doing well, and we miss you all muchly! 

Besitos!

Jennifer

Holla at your Chilean girl!

As promised, here I is. I hope all is going well for all of you and you have survived the storms.

Martha, Henry (my brother), and I have been running all over the place; Martha has the orphan feet and I have the blisters to prove it. We climbed the San Cristobal hill yesterday with "cell phone Mary", as Henry calls her, at the top. Really, "cell phone Mary" is a statue of the Virgin Mary visited by Pope John Paul II way back in 1987, when I was still slobbering on myself. Henry dubbed her "cell phone" because, unfortunately, there is a humongous cell phone tower shooting up to the sky straight behind her. It's a little disappointing to see technological progress trampling over a sacred and beautiful sight. Nonetheless, we do get good reception.

Our apartment is completely baller (thanks again, Dr. G!), and we have an awesome location to explore the city. More importantly, we are close to many good restaurants and supermarkets. I, personally, have to enjoy a culture through it's food and wine. The more wine I drink, the more I enjoy the culture and vice versa. So far, the cheap supermarket wine has been great, even the Sauvingnon blanc (I cannot spell French words, they always have too many vowels) that Martha bought on our first night. I usually detest that type of wine, but this was really dry and tolerable, much to my surprise.

As for the people and the language, well they are both fantastic, though the latter is somewhat more difficult to adjust to. As Dr. Fabres said, it's like learning English in Alabama, not the best example. The best part is watching Martha interact with the locals. She doesn't speak much Spanish, and when she does, Italian words slip through. (I might learn more Italian this month than I anticipated.) I think it's awesome, she thinks it's frustrating. Somehow she gets the message across, though, and the locals love her all the more for her efforts.

Martha just ran in from her day of adventure while Henry and I caught up on some sleep. She then just ran back out to explore the city more after showing us all the food she bought at the flea market. [Insert Martha jumping up and down, saying she is leaking troponins and her CKMB is elevated.] I hope we don't get e. coli, but if we do, I'll look skinnier in my sister's wedding pictures at the end of this month, although dialysis might suck.

Well, I will let you all get back to your lives now. Dialysis seems like a good place to end things.

Peace, love, and rock n' roll,

Jennifer

exploding with excitement!!!!

What an amazing adventure so far - I arrived yesterday and Jennifer arrived this morning and we each hit the ground running from the first second. I will say, I felt like I was on call but with a little more excitement because i did not sleep for 48 hours, couldnt sleep on the plane and obviously you cant nap right when you arrive in santiago! so sweet Cony (constanza pinochet) whom I became friends with in Bham, and her mother in law picked me up at the airport (after a 2 hour wait in customs...everyone was coming back from chilean holiday!). They had a sign saying "welcome to chile, martha mae", made me almost cry. Cony took me to her apt for cafe (oh by the way, nescafe is awesome...INSTANT cafe!), and then brought me to miraflores (my apartment) which is awesome. Dr. Gutierrez put us in touch with a friend who rents apartments (thanks Hector!). by the way, everyone here loves Dr. G! After the arrival to apartment it was off to the hospital where, oh my, i met Dr. Jorge Fabres the neonatologist here. He did a NICU fellowship in Birmingham, and let me tell ya, he LOVES Bham. on another note...exactly like Dr. Carlo (had  a paper up and showing a CO2 graph....i about broke out in excitement,,lol. Dr. Fabres has been wonderful in making sure our trip is organized. He treated me to lunch along w nicu fellow and peds resident. lunch included avocado which is like the national food accompaniment here and makes me so happy. After lunch cony and i walked around and i was able to rest for a few hours before being treated to sushi and chilean wine (i love being able to say that!) at.  phillipe and conys house.

now to today, friday: i made way to hospital (on foot, very short walk) and found cony who procured a cafe and media luna for breakfast. at first i thought, hmm, croisssant sweet bread is not my normal breakfast, but then i decided, im in chile and living as the chileans do - leaving all my routine back home and embracing the culture - it was delicious. cony said they are mostly typical in argentina but its a very common breakfast (simple and fast mini croissant) here in chile. I hung out with the pulmonary team who had a picu consult and a bronch. The intern, roderigo, went through the entire differential dx of a patient they were following and taught me so much. We spent some time together after rounds because only 2 people could go to the bronch since it was done in the OR for better access. At the same time, JENNIFER AND HER BROTHER HENRY WERE ARRIVING AT THE AIRPORT! carina picked her up and brought her to our apartment and even drew a map for her. roderigo and i walked back to meet jennifer to bring her to hospital for our 2 pm meeting w Dr. Abarca and Dr. Fabres, but we came to find henry taking a nap and jennifer had already taken to the streets en route to hospital there is no slowing her down - woman of my own heart :-) After returning back to hospital and attending a pulmonary meeting where they were snacking on coke light and peanuts and discussing a paper we all met for lunch and planned our rotations. We are very privelaged to be here. We will split our time between catholic university (hospedale universita cattholica) more like tertiary care/private...and sotero del dio (public, indigent). we cant wait. tonight its dinner and drinks and music (i think karaoke!!!) with our new friends (cony, carina, phillipe and some of phillipes surgery buddies). They are picking us up at 9:30 (definitely different schedules here), but since lunch is at 3 this makes sense.....like it, love it!

signing off from marta and jennifer will be on in just a bit :-) :-) :) XOXO hasta luego (...more on my attempts for spanish in the next blog,,,im learning and trying to convert my italian..difficile..)