Express taxi

I got to know a lot of taxi drivers in Kingston. I used a company called Express taxi. All the drivers were so wonderful. Seriously the nicest group of men and so sweet. When I first got here and started to get to know them all they would all guess where I am from--which was hilarious. I asked the one why he did not think I was American and he said because I am skinny and pretty. Ha! They taxi drivers were seriously one of the best parts of my stay here. A lot of interesting conversations about Jamaica and their views of America.

This is Kerr. He is my favorite.

Past few days

I am winding down my time here in Jamaica. It has been one amazing, adventure filled month that is for sure! I am back at UWI--the University Hospital for the week. Maurilee is in Montego Bay on a rotation at the hospital there which means I get the apartment all to myself. It is nice to have some down time to reflect on the past month and past four years.

Oh, did I forget to mention? Last week of medical school. EVER. Very excited to move on with my life and be done with school but very nervous about being a real live doctor! Me? A doctor? For real for real?

Word to the wise: do not get sick in July and August because hospitals are littered with brand spanking new doctors who are....new at things....

Anyway, Sunday was most definitely a day of rest. (Jess's adventures continued with her flight being canceled and being stuck in FL for 2 days. Poor gal.) Monday I was back on at Firm B and was welcomed on Ward 9 by a lovely lovely intern who has helped me plug into the system. Monday was a great day. We started off with Ward rounds on Ward 9 and 12--gyn ward and high risk ward respectively.

To jog your memory. Here.

And here


Then I went with the resident to Booking clinic--basically where they book all the new patients that are pregnant. In the afternoon I was invited to go to Post Partum clinic where the 6 week postpartum visit is conducted. Of note: the ob/gyns here are also responsible for examining the newborn! The newborn has not yet gone to a pediatrician and has maybe gotten on vaccine at the health clinic. So this visit is for the mom and baby!

Basically, since the large majority of women are healthy young women they let me see patients on my own! I just needed to check in with the senior resident with my findings. It was such a great feeling to conduct the entire interview and exam without any observation. I surprised myself with how thorough I was! June 14th here I come. (PS: My residency at Pennsylvania Hospital in Ob/Gyn starts on June 14th.)


Oh, I have been meaning to mention this. Charts are dockets here. I love it. "Go look in the docket"

On Tuesday we had ward rounding on 9 and 12 again. This time there were--dum da dum--other students with me! Hooray! They are just starting their final year. It is really nice to see other students.

We then headed to the OT. There were no more scrubs left so I had to wear a OR dress. No, no pictures. : )



I just observed this time because the other student scrubbed in. We has some complications with bleeding and it took quite a long time so our other cases were canceled.

Today I head to gyn clinic with the other students. Tomorrow is my last day at the hospital. I am hoping to soak up the last bits of sun and eat as many patties as I can. Ya mon!

Hike of my life

So we signed up to go hiking. We thought it was a small hike that was only going to be about 5 hours. Ha! Were we ever wrong! We hiked to the peak of the Blue Mountain which ended up being close to 25 miles. We got up at 5am and caught a taxi to school where the bus was picking us up. We then drove about an hour up through the blue mountains to get to the drop off point. It was a crazy ride! There was a couple of hundred foot drop on one side of the road and a mountain on the other and we were on a dirt road! The twists and hair pin turns were crazy! I wondered what would happen if another car was coming the other way because there seemed to be only enough room for one vehicle at a time. Little did I know that I would find out what happens that night!


Ready to go!
The top of the peak of that mountain is where we are headed. I kid you not. I am still in disbelief that we did it.



Peak is getting closer! Only seven more miles.


We hiked through a small forest of eucalyptus trees. Put I forgot to get a picture of them.


This video from the seven miles to go point.

Baby goats!


We met this farmer who lives in the mountains who went and got us Jamaican peaches. They were green but still soft and sweet like our peaches!




Wild lemons.
Hiking, hiking, hiking
Jess wanted a picture with the farmer who was hiking with us for a while.

The view behind her

The farmer left us at Jacob's ladder and encouraged us to take a picture at the bottom of it. Us at Jacob's Ladder the toughest part of the hike because of the steep incline. At this point we had already been hiking up hill for four hours! (PS: I am soaked with sweat at this point, hair is soaked and I had to pee in the bush. )
Blue mountain coffee plant! The bushes growing coffee were every where!

Peak is getting closer!




These are cheese berries. It is like a yellow raspberry and we ate them off the side of the trial as we hiked up.
Jess and I took a small break. Half of the group was up above us and we waited to meet up with the half below us.

We met up with the rest of our group!
The view behind us
Hiking, hiking, hiking, hiking.



At the Portland Gap! Rest and water! Only 3.5 more miles to the peak!

The spring water was delicious!
Beautiful! There was actually a fine mist from the clouds from how high up were were!
Hanging out and resting before the rest of the hike. We also had fresh bananas that were picked around the corner.
Heading up to the peak. It was on this leg of the journey that I began to seriously doubt that 1.) I could make it to the top 2.) if I made it to the top that I would make it back down 3.) that I would ever make it back to New Jersey again. It was close to 3pm and we had been hiking since 7:45 that morning.

It was so great hiking where we were though. It was like a tropical rain forest. It was quite cool and very quiet. The trial got very narrow and at times there was only enough room to place one foot in front of the other. Keep in mind that this is still UPHILL and most of the time at a 45 degree angle. My legs were on fire!!







At the top in the clouds!

The crew who made it up! Keisha, Balie, and Phil

I look like a hot mess but I made it to the top!

Heading home! The walk down was not as difficult but still strenuous because we were using different muscles now.


The sun setting over the mountains on our way down.



The hike down

We began to reallllly struggle after about 5 miles down. My legs were shaking with every step. The group that was ahead of us was also struggling and found a truck and paid them to carry everyone down for us. They came back about a mile to pick us up. This is the second part of the journey where I really feared for my life! The edge of the cliff was about a foot away with no barrier of any sort! The guy driving had only one good eye! I kid you not!! We picked up various hikers along the way until 10 people were jammed in the back.






We made it! This is right before we boarded the bus. We look a wee dazed......

So, as it turns out the bus ride home was the third time I feared for my life. The driver, it turns out had been drinking while we were hiking and was a bit drunk. Also, remember how I said that the roads were really only big enough for one car at a time. It was quite the situation when a trunk jammed packed with people had to try and pass us. It is pitch black out, cliff on one side, mountain on the other, no where to go, in the middle of nowhere and then bam- there are like a thousand people yelling and milling around the bus. I have never been in such a scene! You can't really see anything in the video below but you can hear what it sounds like.



After we safely made it out of the mountains there was a quick pit stop on the side of the road to purchase so jerk chicken and then we were dropped off at UWI where we called a cab to take us to our apartment. I was so tired I could barely move. We got home at 9:30pm.

What an adventure.

Tomorrow I am starting my final week of medical school. I am back at the university hospital on firm B with gyn rounds on ward 9. Hoping for a good last week!

Jess is here!

So my dear friend Jess surprised me and bought a ticket to Kingston to visit it me for a couple of days! Yay! She got in on Tuesday and hung out when I was at school during the week. On her first night here Maurilee made this great Belize dish-panadas. It is stuffed with fish and topped with an onion sauce.




We went to the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston.
Walked down to Devon House and got some ice cream


The next day we went to Ocho Rios! We took the Knutsford Express bus from Kingston to Ocho Rios. Once in Ocho Rios we got a taxi cab to Dunn River Falls.

Ready to hike the falls!

It was great fun!









The view.

At the top!





This girl rocks my socks! So glad that she could come and visit! We spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach at the base of the falls. We left the camera in the locker we rented as to avoid it get stolen. From the beach we then took a taxi back to the bus stop, got some jerk chicken, got on the bus, got a taxi from the bus station and took it home. We then collapsed asleep because the next day we were getting up at 5am to hike the Blue Mountains. Which turned out to be much more than we bargained for and quite the adventure!