riobamba-ecuador-2017-blog

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Week 3 - Centro de Salud

This week, I’m working with Dr. Sandra Campos, a general practitioner in Centro de Salud Numero 1. She is absolutely FANTASTIC - she loves having students and has an extremely open personality. She introduces us to every patient (which never happened at the hospital), and allows us to start the patient interview, which is a great way to practice everything we are learning in class. She is going through a divorce with two teenage daughters (and now she is caring for her 1 year old nephew as her sister-in-law died in childbirth) and yet her phrase is still “siempre sale la luz” - the light always comes out. Her attitude is infectious, and she is a phenomenal model physician. Today (Thursday) she was out of the office so we worked with another physician who attends to trabajadores sexuales (sex workers) each Thursday to prevent and treat sexual infections. It was quite interesting to learn that this is legal in Ecuador, and the range of ages we saw in the clinic was so sad. To hear of 19 year olds with multiple partners and two children at that age hurts your heart.

Other fun Ecuador happenings:

my host dad constantly says “muchas thank-yous” and it always remembers me of my own dad saying aeropuerto or some other word in Spanish haha

There’s a Korean girl named Elena who lives in the apartment the family owns. She taught us some Korean words last night while we all made banana bread together (Hilda added walnuts and raisins to the bread and it was amazing).

Four other students arrived this past Monday, and one has been with the same doctor I have. It’s cool to hear about where they want to go to residency and what they are applying into.

I cannot believe the month is almost over! It has simply flown by. I have learned a ton of Spanish -- but this month really emphasized how much I want to continue practicing it back in the states so I don’t lose so much and can get to that goal of being a bilingual pediatrician!!

Con amor, Susan

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Weekend 2 - Cuenca

Cuenca es una ciudad que está ubicada en el sur del país. Es un sitio de Unesco world heritage. Hay muchos ex-pats que viven aquí ahora. De riobamba a Cuenca, el bus dura 7 horas por todos los paros. Salimos a las 730 de riobamba (hemos ido al jueves para verificar las horas de salida y la chica nos dijo que el bus iba a salir a las 730). Pero cuando llegamos a la terminal el viernes, el hombre nos dijo que el bus iba a salir a las 7. Así que había un momento de pánico. Después de 7 horas en bus, llegamos a Cuenca! Teníamos mucho hambre. Así que fuimos al hostel yakumama para dejar las maletas y después fuimos a comer al café moliendo. Es un café colombiano y los dueños eran fantásticos (muy amables). También la comida fue muy rica y deliciosa. Después fuimos a caminar por El Centro de la cuidad. Vimos muchas iglesias y la plaza principal. Fuimos a comprar algunas frutas del mercado. Habían un montón de tiendas pequeñas dentro de un edificio grande. Después tomamos un poquito de vino en el hostel y después fuimos al lounge del hostel donde conocimos a una chica de Inglaterra. Ella había viajado 5 meses en Ecuador y quería encontrar a un hombre para casarse con el. Era un poquita loca! Después comimos la merienda en un restaurante de Italia. Solo habían 4 mesas! La comida era tan deliciosa pero no pudimos terminarla. Terminamos la merienda a las 1115! Tan tarde para comer. La próxima mañana nos levantamos y desayunamos al hostel (un desayuno gratis con café, fruta y pan). Después fuimos al centro para subir un bus de dos pisos para girar la ciudad. Habían dos rutas de la ciudad: una por la Norte y una por el sur. Primero fuimos al norte. Fuimos las única personas en el bus!! Que suerte. La guía hablo en español sobre la historia de la ciudad. Algunas de las iglesias fueron construidas en el siglo 15. Aunque hay muchas casa aquí en Ecuador que están mal construidas o necesitan reparadas, las iglesias eran bonitas. Al medio de la gira, fuimos al museo del sombrero de Panamá. Estuvo muy interesante. La guía nos enseñó sobre el proceso de hacer un sombrero y todas las detalles. También pudimos comprar sombreros de estilos diferentes. Recibimos un pedacito de chocolate de ****. Fue increíble. Después, fuimos a almorzar. El dueño del restaurante es el sobrino de Jorge Duchicela - el director de cachamsi!! Que coincidencia!! La comida era muy rica también y podía comprar café ecuatoriano allí. En la tarde, hicimos la segunda ruta por bus. Fuimos al sur donde pudimos ver el mirador puri que tuvo una iglesia muy alta en la montaña y también pudimos ver toda la ciudad. Con suerte, no llovió. Por la noche, notamos que todas las tiendas en la ciudad estaban cerradas! Dez y yo fuimos a comprar algo dulce. Tuvimos que caminar un montón de cuadras jaja pero al final encontramos una panadería muy barata. Cuando regresamos al hostel, yo vi in restaurante chileano que vendió empanadas. Así que tuvimos que comprar dos. Tuvimos tanto hambre que comimos todo, y después fuimos a comer una empanada más. El domingo, fuimos al río para verlo. Después desayunos en un restaurante muy moderno. Yo pedí un omelet de champiñones y espinaca con tostado y un café latte. Fue fantástico!! Tratamos de irnos  portal artesanal donde venden cosas artesanales. Pero no abrió hasta las 10 (y la verdad eran las 1015). Y no compre nada adentro (quería una pintura). Fue un fin de semana muy divertido y pudimos ver muchos lugares hermosos!

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Cuena is a city located in the south of Ecuador. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site. There are a ton of ex-pats that live here now. From Riobamba to Cuenca, the bus takes about 7 hours because of all the stops it makes alongside the road. We left at 730am on Friday (we had gone on Wednesday to verify the bus schedule as the times are all different due to the holidays. The girl working was super unfriendly and told us the bus leaves at 730). However, when we arrived to the terminal on Friday, we were told the bus was leaving at 7 and we were missing one of our travel mates, Laura. Luckily she arrived before the bus left (and it ended up being 730 anyway those stinkers). We finally arrived to Cuenca at 230pm with a lot of hunger. We went to our hostel (Hostel Yakumama – a really nice place with friendly people!) to drop off our suitcases and went to eat at Café Moliendo, which is a Colombian restaurant run by some amazing people. The food cost 4$ and we got a tostada tortilla with beans, spicy meat, cheese, chips and fresh avocado. It was fantastic. Paired with a Colombian café, we were set! (My host family always uses instant coffee and that stuff ain’t real). Afterwards, we walked around the city center where the principal plaza and churches are. We bought some fruits from the market. That night, we met a girl from England. She has been living in Ecuador for 5 months and is basically looking for an Ecuadorian man to marry, she was a little crazy haha. That night we ate dinner at an Italian restaurant that legit only had 4 tables in the place. It was fantastic food, though we didn’t finish eating til 1115 at night!!

The next morning we woke up and ate breakfast in the hostel. Afterwards we went on a city bus tour that had two routes: north and south. We did the north route first. We were the only people on the bus!! We asked the girl to give us the tour in Spanish, and she spoke very clearly and a little slower for us. She narrated the history of the various churches in the city center, some of which were built in the 15th century. Although a lot of Ecuadorian buildings appear to be in disrepair, the churches are pristine and well kept. In the middle of the tour, we stopped at the Museum of the Sombrero de Panama. Such an interesting museum where they walked us through the production of these sombreros – it was cool to learn. The hats are originally from Ecuador, and are so named Panama hats as the workers wore them during construction of the Panama Canal. The hats take anywhere from 2-8 months to construct, depending on how fine the fibers are. The paja plant is used to make them. At the end of the tour, we were able to try on and buy various hats ranging from 30USD to 2000USD. Afterwards, we went to eat lunch. The owner of the restaurant was the nephew of the director of our program: Dr. Jorge Duchicela!! It was such a neat happenstance. In the afternoon we did the south route of the city and went to the mirador del turi where we could look out over the entire city. We got so lucky and it didn’t rain all day. We got back that afternoon around 3 and noticed that a ton of the city shops were closing. We went to a market and thenreturned back to the hostel. We were so hungry though and nothing appeared open. Dez and I went in search of a panaderia (like a bakery) for a snack to tide us over. We bought 6 pastries for 3$ and while walking back saw a Chilean empanada store and bought two. After the four of us scarfed that down, we went back and each got our own empanada for dinner.

Sunday, we went to the river to see it. We then ate breakfast at a very modern café. I ordered an omelet with mushrooms and spinach with aji (spicy salsa) and café latte. So stinking good. We tried to go to this artisan place where they sell crafts afterward but it wasn’t open so I couldn’t find/buy the painting I was searching for. All in all, a solid weekend in such a beautiful city! Highly recommend.

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2) La familia de Colombia!

3) La casa del arbol!

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Weekend 1 : Banos

Fuimos a Baños, una ciudad turística que están una hora y media fuera de Riobamba. Llegamos la noche de viernes y fuimos a comer en el restaurante que se llama Chévere. Nos gustó mucho la comida y bebidas. El próximo dia, nos levantamos a las cinco de la mañana para irnos a las termas calientes. No había mucha gente a esta hora y el agua estaba perfecta en temperatura. Tratamos de poner los pies en el agua más caliente pero no podíamos. Era tan caloroso! Después, fuimos a alquilar algunas bicicletas para montar a las cascadas con la destinación de pailón del diablo. En la primera cascada, nos paramos para ver las cascadas y había un lugar para hacer canopy. No podía hacerlo por el miedo de las alturas! Pero yo me fui en la tarabita con una familia de Colombia que me rieron muchooooo cuando vieron que tenía tanto miedo de las alturas! Las otras chicas hicieron la canopy y les gusto mucho. La próxima cascada solo podíamos verla. Había gente que estaba haciendo bungee jump pero no había nadie que quería hacerlo. Al final, llegamos al pailón del diablo y fuimos abajo. Pudimos escalar las escaleras cerca de la cima. Estábamos mojadas! Fuimos arriba para caminar por los puentes. Tenía miedo. Pero las vistas eran magnificas. Después, regresamos al Baños en una camioneta con una chica de los EEUU que es una maestra en Venezuela. Era muy amable! Despues, fuimos a comer en un restaurante suiza pero la comida no llego por 2 horas! Estabamos tan cansadas y un poquito enojadas y con hambre fuerte! Despues, compramos un postre y fuimos a dormir! El domingo fuimos a la casa del árbol. Cuando llegamos, la vista tenía muchas nubes. Cuando estábamos esperando, las nubes movieron para que pudimos ver todo! Que vista! Despues, fuimos a comer y después volvimos a Riobamba.

We went to Banos, a tourist city that is an hour and a half outside of Riobamba. We arrived Friday night and went to eat at a restaurant called Chevere (cool in Spanish). We liked the food a ton! The next day, we woke up at 5am to go to the thermal springs. There weren’t a lot of people at that time and the water was perfect in temperature. We tried to put our feet in the water that was the hottest, but we couldn’t. Afterwards, we went and rented bikes. We rode the waterfall trail. At the first pair of waterfalls, they had zip-lining. The other girls did the zipline but I definitely chickened out and just rode the gondola and was even scared on that. I rode with a Columbian family, and they laughed at my scaredy-ness haha! The next waterfall we could only see – there were people doing bungeejumping but we didn’t want to. At the end, we arrived at pailon del diablo (the biggest waterfall on the trip) and went to the bottom. We climbed the stairs close to the top of the fall where we got soaked. We then went to the top where we walked across hanging bridges (also scary!). The views were awesome though. Afterwards, we rode back to Banos in the back of a truck, where we met a girl from the U.S. who is a teacher in Venezuela. She had also worked in the Peace Corps and 7 other countries! We then went to eat at a Swiss restaurant but the food didn’t arrive for 2 hours! We were tired and hangry at that point so bought a dessert afterwards to make up for the late food. On Sunday, we went to the casa del arbol (treehouse). When we arrived, the view had so many clouds. While we were waiting in line, the clouds moved so we could see everything! What a view!  

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Week 1 (1/2-1/6)

Una semana tan loca! Había mucho que hacer esta semana. Podía conocer a la familia mía y a los chicos que trabajan en la oficina de Cachamsi.

Esta semana, trabajaba con la doctora Cruz. Ella es una médica de pediatría y trabaja en la hospital general (es una hospital para la gente que no son asegurada). Para empezar el día, tenemos visitas médicas en que vemos a los bebes que están en neonatología. Después (a las 9 más o menos), tenemos que ir a las consultas externas de pediatría. Tenemos 8-13 pacientes. Algunos son controles (como un well child check en los EEUU) y algunos están enfermos. Había un bebe recién nacido (tenia 12 días) y los padres le dieron amoxilina todos los días hasta que estuviera mejor. Ay qué pena!

Hemos tenido dos muertes de bebitos cuando yo estaba acá en Riobamba. No hay autopsias aca para nada y eso me interesa mucho. También, el hematocrito es más alto acá por la altura.

En las tardes, Laura y yo (ella es de Santa Fe, New Mexico) tenemos clases para aprender español de medicina. El profesor se llama Pablo, y es muy amable. También es un buen profesor y hemos aprendido mucho.

What a crazy week! There has been much to do this week. I have gotten to know my host family and the people that work in the Cachamsi office! Also my classmates: we are five altogether. Stephanie will be starting PA school in March, Dez is a fellow M4, Lindsay is a nurse, and Laura is a PA in New Mexico!

This week, I worked with Dr. Cruz who is a pediatrician and neonatologist. She works in the General Hospital - which is where uninsured Ecuadorians go to receive care. To start the day, we have rounds in the morning where we quickly see the NICU babies and new admits. Then, we go to outpatient pediatric clinic where we see 8-13 patients. These visits are either well child checks or sick children (usually more “sick” children than WCC). We had one baby who was 12 days old and had had some sort of infection (the parents don’t know what) and the parents said they were giving amoxicillin until the baby “was well!” Ay. We have had two NICU babies die and one be transferred to Quito for care since I’ve been here. They don’t do autopsies at all here. Also, my doctor and I had an interesting chat about the changes in heart rate, hematocrit and hemoglobin due to the increased altitude here.

In the afternoons, Laura and I have Spanish classes with Pablo. He’s a friendly professor and teaches EXTREMELY well. We’ve already learned a ton about medical Spanish.

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Un selfie con mi mamá, Elena y yo :)

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Guano - 1/2/17

Fui con mi familia y Elena, la chica de Korea a Guano el domingo. Es un pueblito que esta muy cerca y tiene muchas cosas artesanas. Fuimos a una fabrica que produce cosas de cuero. Tambien, fuimos a un parque infantil para ver el paisaje. Al fin, fuimos a comer pan del horno de lena - era pan con panela adentro y me gusto mucho! En Guano, pudimos ver el volcan, algunas montanas que se llaman el altar, y la montana mas grande que se llama Chimborazo. Quiero escalarla!

I went with my family, and Elena, another girl living in an apartment here who is from Korea, to a town called Guano on Sunday. Guano is a little town that’s very close to Riobamba and has a lot of artisan crafts. We went to a leather factory that makes different products out of leather. We also went to a child playground where we could see different views of the volcano, el altar y chimborazo. Finally, we ate sweet bread that I obviously liked a ton.

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Los primeros dias en Riobamba, Ecuador

I’m staying in Riobamba, Ecuador, for a month participating in the Cachamsi program (or Cacha Medical Spanish Institute). I’m staying with a host family while here, and have just met them today! There’s my mom, Hilda, dad, Rodrigo, and they have three children that all live outside the house. All the family was home for Christmas and New Year’s celebrations, and it was fun to meet them. Despite the fact that there are three Rodrigos! (Grandpa, son, and grandson). I’ll be working half the day in a pediatric clinic and then in the afternoons I’ll be learning medical Spanish with a fellow participant.

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La vista de la terraza cuando está mi habitación :)

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La vista del centro de Quito!

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Estuve en un hotel que se llama Hostal al Parque y esta cerca del aeropuerto de Quito. Habia un arbol que estaba decorado por la Navidad :)

I stayed in a hotel named Hostal al Parque that’s located close to the Quito airport. There was a tree decorated for Christmas there!