Costa Rica part 2

Day 4 (Sunday)
Sunday morning found ourselves back in La Carpio, only this time my team was staying at the main clinic for the day and working with Dr. Dorset. The main clinic actually had two different clinics, the makeshift one (upstairs, also where we had orientation) and the actual, everyday clinic (located on the ground floor). Four of us went down to the actual clinic with Dr. Dorset, while the rest of the team stayed upstairs with Craig (a 4th year student who was helping out our trip).

The main difference between this day and all the others thus far was the fact that we were in groups of two... this made communication a lot harder. I was working with my friend Jamie, who spoke some Spanish... but there were still a lot of times that we had to pull Gail into the room to help figure out what the patient was trying to tell us.

Some of the team in the pharmacy (upstairs of main clinic)

The other main difference in that clinic was that the general health of the population seemed to be a bit better. Instead of seeing a lot of la gripe (which, although meaning flu, is more like a cold), we were seeing more of general muscle pain due to work.

Patient of the Day: While presenting our HPIs, Gail came in to tell Dr. Dorset that there was a special patient coming in that she wanted her to see. This led us to the opportunity to see a child with Maple Syrup Urine Disease. This is a disease in which the body cannot break down specific amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) and leads to neurological damage and excretion of proteins in the urine. Currently the child is on specialized formulas coming from the states that have a high sugar content.

After we were done with clinic we all piled into the bus and made our way to a nearby city to visit a church and see a soccer game. The church was of the patron saint of Costa Rica.

As the story goes there was a little girl who found a doll in the river, she picked it up and took it home. The next morning it was gone, but she found it again in the river. This happened for a few days and then she talked to a priest. He said that it was a sign that she should make a church at that location... and thus we have the story of the virgin patron saint of Costa Rica (sorry if the story is confusing/ incomplete, but that's all I really understood of what was going on).

Cathedral of the Virgin Saint of Costa Rica

The church was absolutely gorgeous.... we spent about an hour walking around and in the church. Interestingly, all the parishioners were walking to the alter on their knees. When we asked why (seeing as it wasn't a holy day), we were told that this church was kinda of like a mecca for people to come to, thus it was common practice. After exploring the church a few of us ran across the street to get ice cream (before getting back on the bus to go to the professional soccer game).

Inside the cathedral


Parishioners walking on their knees to the front

Birds of Paradise

The soccer game was a lot of fun. The local team (Azul) was not very good, but they were playing La Liga, which apparently is the 2nd best team in Costa Rica (Saprissa being the best).

Our team at the soccer game

La Liga is the red team, Azul is the white and blue team

The game was a good game, but half time was hilarious... this guy who was there representing a chicken chain restaurant got into this horse outfit and ran around the field while the girls tossed out tee-shirts. There was also a random group of 4 girls (non-matching outfits, but all the same colors) dancing to music we couldn't hear, but they weren't choreographed... it was just them, dancing.

The crazy guy on the horse

After the game we ran back to the cathedral, where we saw it all lit up beautifully and also got to see the end of the mass. It was such a cool experience.... when we got there we heard beautiful singing (which helped make up for the fact that we couldn't get to church since we were working on a Sunday).

The cathedral lit up at night

Day 5 (Monday)
Monday morning was a little confusing, to say the least. I usually woke up first to get a shower, but that morning when I woke up my mom starting telling me something.... seeing as Natanya spoke Spanish and I spoke none, I had no idea what was going on.

Our homestay mom then woke Natanya up and told her that we didn't have clinic that morning and that we weren't meeting up with everyone until noon. So, we went back to bed. :) W

hen we woke up we took our time getting ready and having breakfast. We then got a phone call saying that we were meeting at 10 instead, so that we could go to the pool. Luckily, we were ready and just had to grab our suits.

At the bus stop the doctors told us they were giving us the day off, because we needed it (we did... we hadn't had a real break yet). We then got on the bus and made our way to a "Artist Village", which turned out to be a tourist trap (think the Giant Clam or Mystery Spot on the way up to Mackinaw, for those of you familiar with Northern Michigan). But, we had fun looking at some of the things they had for sale... I ended up getting a butterfly box for my homestay sister (who is obsessed with butterflies) and a little something for my mom (sorry mom, you'll have to wait to find out).

We then got back on the bus and headed to the "pool", which went from being a pool to a watering hole to a bath house.... all the time I insisted that Dr. Dorset said that it was a POOL. Well, it was a pool, but it was also a WATERFALL!!!! We spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the waterfall and laying out in the glorious Costa Rican sun.

Waterfall and pool from the road above

Waterfall with two of our crazies already in it


Playing in the waterfall


Some of the girls getting some sun

Did I mention the waterslide?

Day 6 (Tuesday)
Tuesday was our last full day in the San Jose area... we spent it at an outdoor clinic in a economically depressed area (not La Carpio). We drove about 15 minutes and found ourselves in a mountain side community, with houses on top of each other and a bridge spanning a river.

We set up the clinic on a covered basketball court next to a little first-start type school. While setting up some of the students went through the community to let them know that we were there.

The kiddies watching us set up clinic

Waiting for clinic to pick up

Still waiting

The morning was really slow for awhile, but it eventually started to pick up. It was a crazy clinic though, because for the first time all 24 of us were in the same location.

Setting up the pharmacy

Erin and Michael in the clinic

Patients of the Day: Murph and I were sitting at our table when Gail came up with a group of kids. She then asked us if we could do some general health education for the kids and show them that going to the doctor was ok. Well, we weren't really prepared for this... so we grabbed the family bags and showed them how to use the toothbrush and floss. And told them a little about vitamins and being active. Then I showed them my stethescope and had them listen to their own hearts. It was a lot of fun and made me so happy... I love pediatrics....

We spent the rest of the day in San Jose proper.... we did some shopping at a little market and talked around a beautiful old museum. And then ended the day by getting coffee at a local coffee shop.

The Museum

Costa Rican Coffee Maker