Maputo 4/21

I can't believe that we are down to our last week in Mozambique. It has definitely been an interesting experience for both Eric and I.

I have purposely avoided talking too much about the medical aspect of our trip. Needless to say, it has been quite the experience. This is one of the government's best public hospitals and yet it barely has any of the amenities that you could find in any basic hospital in the US. Each room holds up to 8 patients and sometimes more because they will just throw a mattress onto the floor for extra patients.   Eric's sensitive nose has also been assaulted by the wafting smell from the less than clean bathrooms (the whiff I got was quite noxious). But that being said, you have none of the entitlement that we experience all the times from patients in the US. All in all, just a very different system and makes us appreciate so much where and how we can practice.

We haven't been doing very much on a daily basis. Life is pretty routine, wake up around 6-6:30 and go to work by 7:30. Will round with the team and see new patients and try to always come up with our thoughts and how we would approach treating/caring for the patient. Hang around till 12 and head home for lunch. Now we are going in the afternoon to round some more. We are preparing an afternoon lecture talk series for the residents in Mozambique about evidence-based medicine. 

Here are some photos from around home. Since Eric is vegetarian, we have been sticking to all veggie meals. Hortensia will come to our house in the late-morning and clean/wash and make lunch for us everyday. 

This one is similar to our Chinese xue chai. We added a helping of black beans for protein source. The meals are pretty carb heavy and it took us a while to realize why we were always hungry.

To help with our hunger, these are Eric's preferred snacks of choice. Look at the smile of glee on this face....

This is Hortensia. We communicate in a mix of Portuguese, English, and gestures. I would say my Portuguese is still worse than her English but surprisingly a bit of Spanish really does help.

 

We had planned on going to an island this weekend on 4/20-4/21 but the weather report stated possible thunderstorms and we did not want to risk getting stuck on the island and not to mention a 2 hr boat ride. Saturday stormed like crazy so we didn't even leave the house the entire day.

Sunday was a really nice sunny day but not hot. We walked around with Susannah, our coordinator, who has been in Maputo for almost a year now. We walked along some gardens with ocean-front view, had ice cream, and then went to check out a craft market where I purchased my first Africa souvenir to decorate the house with (shhh... it is a surprise to show Helen!)

Here is the Natural History Museum.

A view of the ocean and bay along one of the parks. Lots of bougainvilleas in Maputo which are quite pretty. They also have a type of willowy tree that I have seen in Taiwan.

this is the garden that Susannah took us too. apparently often on weekends, a lot of newlyweds will come here to take photos but unfortunately we didn't see any....

That's bout it. No major plans this week. Will try to plan another outing to the island Inhaca. Would be nice to see the ocean and spend some time on the beaches and maybe go snorkeling. It also would be a fitting end to our stay in Mozambique.