Jurassic Park

We are definitely adjusting and finding ways to fill our free time here. Since last posting, Lindsay and I have seen two more births (both girls) and gotten a chance to explore the city and get to know some of the midwives a bit better.

On Monday, I had the opportunity to visit a patient at CCMC (Cebu City Medical Center) who was transported there due to hypertension. I visited with a 19 year old midwife from the clinic. We took the jeepney to the clinic and it was "fun" until I felt like I had breathed in too much exhaust. Luckily it wasn't too far. CCMC looks like a building in the US that we would call abandoned, run down or in mid-demolition. It was downright ugly and scary.

The inside wasn't much better. We went up to the OB ward only to find 2 women (and two babies) sharing each bed. It looked miserable. In addition, their husbands, mothers, sisters or family would be sitting with them; feeding them, wetting their faces with towels and trying to help them recover in a disgusting room. We only stayed for about ten minutes and while we were leaving I looked down into one of the buckets and saw a mixture of many fluids, rags, and general disgust. We peeked in the emergency room only to see the homicide police standing over the bed and quickly exited. It was an interesting experience but I'm not sure I need to go back. It is a terrible hospital and I've seen terrible hospitals in El Salvador as well. I'm not sure how much I can learn from the shock factor alone.

Anyway, yesterday Lindsay and I got our first taste of real Filipino food. We went to a restaurant with two of the midwives and had the national fish (can't remember the name), shrimp, delicious greens and a coconut desert. The desert was crazy; a hollow coconut packed with ice chips, coconut shavings, fruit, coconut milk, ice cream, sweet potatoes and some purple something. It was actually pretty good!

In the evening Lindsay and I went for a long walk in Hilary and David's neighborhood. It is up in the hills and much cooler and the view is incredible. We ventured into the area that Hilary calls "Jurassic Park" and amidst the rolling hills we saw a cow, a few local kids and some huts embedded in the palm trees. We took their cute dog Penny on the walk with us and she came back totally pooped and panting!

This morning Lindsay and I got a tour of the neighborhood. Unfortunatley, there is not much to see. Smatterings of markets, huts, urine in the streets and motos and tricycles nearly running us over. After the tour of the neighborhood we got to jump on a horse driven carriage. It was awesome! Only down side is that the horse looked so sick, overworked and unhealthy. I love horses and felt terrible about the treatment of the horse. We then stopped by the Cathedral and got a nice look at the strong catholic community here.

When we arrived back at the clinic we got to assit in Pre-natal exams. It was very basic but interesting and entertaining for us. We got to check the vitals of the woman and baby as well as measure the fundus height (how big her belly is) and listen for the babies heart beat.

This afternoon we are going to meet Father Heinz (a german catholic priest and renowned professor here). He will take us to the dump site where he administers basic health care to the children and then onto the red light district!

Tomorrow's post should be interesting....

Lauren