Cochapamba y Playa

February 17, 2013

Another week (or 5 days really) has gone by, and I find myself a little sunburned and sand-worn after a weekend at la playa. I spent Wednesday through Friday in Quito with my now familiar routine of clinic in the morning and Spanish class in the afternoon. I was at El Subcentro de Salud de Cochapamba this week, which is a primary care clinic in the northern part of Quito, just a short bus ride away from Rosita’s house.

Outside Cochapamba.

I worked with Dra. Sancho, who is a family care physician. It was really great to see a mix of pediatric and adult patients, as well as the variety of issues that come with primary care. I had a few new experiences this week, such as using a fetal stethoscope to listen to a fetal heart beat, a skill which has been replaced by Doppler-based fetal heart monitors in the US.

On Friday afternoon, Liz (another fourth year med student in CFHI) and I flew to the coastal city of Manta as we will be spending the next two weeks rotating in El Hospital Napoleon Davila Cordova in Chone, Ecuador (a more rural village in La Costa region of Ecuador). We left a bit early so we could spend the weekend at the beach in Manta. We stayed at a reasonably priced hostel (where we were able to get AC!) and spent Saturday and Sunday at La Playa Murciélago (Bat Beach, for the non-Spanish speakers). It gets its name from its shape, which is rather bat-like, not due to an excess of bats in the area. We had a couple of very nice days lounging on the beach, drinking fresh coconut milk from the coconut, eying some frigate birds, and getting some sun, which resulted in a slightly pink back for me and rather severely sunburned legs for Liz.

We left Manta this afternoon and took a 2.5-hour bus ride to Chone, where we’ll be for the next two weeks. We arrived at our home stay (which I think could more aptly be called a mansion) and received a very warm greeting from our host family. I’m looking forward to our time here and hope to see a different way of practicing medicine than what I experienced in Quito. For now, I’m pretty exhausted from traveling and am headed to bed. Buenas noches!