The Circus comes to Cuilapa

Michelle: We had a serious cultural experience this week- we attended our first Latin American circus. We bought bleacher seats which turned out to be 2x6 inch boards lashed together. I thought that was a little sketchy but there were only 40 of us in attendance as opposed to 300. When I saw that the more expensive seats were right under the net I decided that I would rather be in the bleachers. While we waited for the performance to start Ryan reviewed with me the “emergency exits” we would use if the tent started on fire. I thought that he was being ridiculous and just making conversation until giant sparks started flying from one of the sound system wires and all the circus workers ran to throw dirt from the dirt floor on hot wires. The other exciting part of the circus was when they asked for a volunteer to help hold the giant anaconda; Ryan volunteered me. I guess that he had decided the snake was drugged enough to be harmless. I was afraid I was going to have to do something else while in the center ring but I just had to hold it long enough for Ryan to take a picture.

Ryan: Last week I started my rotation at the Santa Rosa Regional Hospital, which serves the entire state of Santa Rosa and two smaller bordering states as well. It’s the only hospital around for miles and miles with a full team of surgeons, CT scanner, and MRI. They are still pretty limited as though as far as lab work and newer medications. I worked with the internal medicine team the first week and now I’m in the emergency room where there’s a lot more going on. There’re aren’t very many nurses and that means I get to draw blood for labs, put in IV’s and run my own EKG’s – good practice that’s hard to get as a medical student in the US. My medical Spanish has improved a ton, and I can usually get through a patient interview without asking them to repeat themselves more than once or twice.