My Caribbean Medical School Experience: First two weeks of the semester, and my near-death experience

My return to the island has been great so far. Several friends from last semester have joined me in my building: Nick Vidal Apartments. Brad is on the top floor, and Emma is several floors below him. One of the first few nights back, a social gathering between Kim’s apartment and mine accommodated several friends, both old and new. Amongst them was our new friend Nate, nicknamed Moriarty, because Kim thinks he looks like the professor from the new-ish Sherlock TV show. After seeing the pictures, I’d say so

Another friend of ours includes Anthony, who is a fine human being from Jamaica. He broke his arm saving blind orphan children from a lion, or so the story goes. You’ll have to ask him to fill in the details.

The first few weeks were spent doing the normal med school thing including, studying, feeling behind, teaching the newbie’s, and feeling behind. The thing about med school is that you never really feel caught up, and if you do, there is likely something wrong.

The day to day life has brought me little treasures like hummingbirds, and chameleon’s, and feisty felines. Some who roam their territory with ferocity, and others mimic the guards on duty…

Above you can see the Ross Security Guards on duty: sleeping... or a cat mimicking them. same difference.

Guarding his territory

Chameleon

Hard to see, but this is a nest of baby birds. They were chirping away when mom brought them food.

My first crisis of the semester came when I ran out of clean boxers for the first time ever. To complicate the issue of the dirty undies, I have come to find out the normal laundry service guy isn’t even on the island. I called another place to pick it up (remember that I don’t have my own laundry equipment and the culture supports others doing your laundry) and they didn’t show up. So now I’m stuck with the harsh decision to ride out the next few days commando… or be resourceful and find an alternative.

So I rode the day out debating whether to turn my undies inside out to avoid doing laundry when my friends messaged me that we were going to celebrate our friend Matt’s birthday, and Mother’s Day at the same time. So Kim, Brad and I banded together and bought, beer, ice cream and an Ice cream cake from the IGA and made the trek to Matt’s new apartment. His place is huge by comparison to any apartment I’ve seen on the island, with so much space he has an extra room all to himself devoted to studying. Not bad if you ask me. So we hung out over there for a while, enjoying the dessert that replaced most of our dinners as we talked yet again about all of the crap we had been staring at all week. (Side note: one of the worst things about being on an island with med students, is that the conversation rarely eludes talk of medicine related subjects. This is cool for about 1 topic of conversation before I want to divert the conversation to anything but the subject that is torturing me day and night to the point I’m dreaming about cross sections of the midbrain, pons and medulla.)

Eventually I mentioned my lack of underwear issue and the Hensley’s so graciously offered me to use their washer and dryer to use the following day! Win. It’s nice knowing good people, and my crisis was quickly averted. Whew!

Brad enjoying his feast

Logan :-)

Brother and sister.

The next day, I packed up my 60 pound, awkwardly -shaped bag of laundry to take to Matt’s place. The second I locked my door and begin my trek, at least a half mile, the rains began to fall as if a hurricane was about to begin. (Of course I have yet to see a real storm on the island, we only seem to get rain… ) Nonetheless, I began my mission and made it half way there before my umbrella was inverting, and I was unable to see 2 feet from my face. My back of laundry nearly doubled in weight due to absorbing the water through the mesh and I waited out the worst of the rain at St James Center just off campus. When I continued, the rain let up some, but I nearly slipped several times in the Crocs that Brad gave me as a birthday present before I reached their house to begin my laundry. Between loads, I watched the little boy named Logan, and even had a little fun :-)

Jammimg away :-)

He stole my Red Bull, so I stole his juice.

As far as I'm concerned, he won that trade.

After I finished my laundry, they so graciously had me join them for dinner consisting of Lasagna soup ( it was awesome) and some wine. When I left, I was carrying my epic bag of laundry and slipped, (after avoiding hitting the ground 4 times earlier in the day) and mopped the deck with my fresh-smelling undies. Oh well. And I continued home for the night.

Later in the week I took a few shots of the many colored skies that Dominica is famous for, and there are many to come in the next year. I promise .

Today, I went did my first real traveling experience on the island since early in my first semester. We have a 4 day weekend for once, and most people decided to make the best of it. I went with the Ross excursions club to Titoh Gorge and Screw’s Spa, and had a great (yet scary) time. And here is the explanation.

We traveled about 1.5 hours in the vans south toward the capital of Roseau ( pronounced ROSE- OH) and made our way through the mountains. When we arrived we walked a short way before reaching Titoh Gorge. It was nothing like I expected. It was better. And with those expectations, I had what I felt was my first true near-death experience. The explanation.

At the entrance, you can stand in the water that to some people was freezing cold. The water was cold, colder than the coldest swimming pool I had ever been in, but it was manageable. And here is what I saw.

I took my Iphone and double wrapped it in bags to avoid ruining it so that I could take pictures while inside the cave. Mistake number one. The bag I carried inhibited my ability to swim. Secondly, the first bag ended up leaking. Luckily, my friend Brad offered to make the swim back to the front to drop it off as I made my way further into the cavern. I experienced the beauty that was dying to be photographed, but photographing this was only at the expense risking your life. The Gorge was basically a split in the mountain side filled with water. When you looked up you could see the beauty of the trees and sky, and the further you went, you could see two waterfalls. I was unable to appreciate the true stunning beauty of the gorge due to a few factors. The water took its toll on me. I thought I was a decent swimmer. I was wrong. First off, let me reiterate that the water is cold. It was deep. (well over 15 feet) and there was a current traveling toward the entrance being created by the waterfalls. At several points I felt my muscles tense with exhaustion as I looked for a place to grab on to relax. They were few and far between. Only splinters of rock existed where you could hold one with but one finger keep your head above water. I took on water as I forced my way back to the mouth, using only my instinct to keep my head above water and prevent myself from drowning. This experience was scary one, and I felt was my first near death experience. I took well over an hour to relax, and recoup. I didn’t require any medical attention or anything, just a nap to relax my fatigued muscles. While everyone else was enjoying themselves, I climbed the edge of the mountain in attempt to take pictures of the caverns below with people diving from the waterfall that I didn’t get to see in my desperation to keep my lungs from filling with water. The pictures I took don’t give the Gorge the justice it deserves. Next time I will be prepared with a floatation device so that I can enjoy the beauty that I was meant to see.

The only swallow part. The entrance to the cave is 90 degrees to the right.

The entrance to the gorge. I'm standing in 3 feet of water.

The guy in the picture is swimming over 15 ft of water.

Moving in to the beautiful cavern.

Kim sitting in the "kiddy" part of the pool.

I took this picture after I recovered from nearly drowning...

The walk up the trail to view the gorge from up top.

The second waterfall within the gorge.

People down below. The drop here is 75 ft.

View of the water below looking back at the mouth of the gorge from above.

Another view of the entrance, the flat ground that saved my life.

Kim was glad I didn't die.

Brad was glad too.

Before reaching the restaurant, we took a quick stop for the view.

After leaving the gorge we stopped at a restaurant that I swear was in BFE. Literally what I thought was the middle of nowhere. It was a fantastic outdoor restaurant with a stunning view of the island. The food was mediocre by comparison to the view, and the name of the restaurant escapes me at the moment. Here are some pictures:

Guava Juice

No windows. It was a really pleasant experience.

The restaurants personal hot spring.

After being slightly bored for a while I played some euchre on my phone and got dealt a perfect loaner hand to win the game. [I ordered the right bauer to my partner :-) ]

After the restaurant we went to my new favorite place on the island : Screw’s Spa. Other students have spread the word regarding how awesome this place is, and they were spot on. Screw’s spa is a series of natural sulfur hot spring pools that were harnessed by the owners and used to make several layers of swimming pools, all connected through waterfalls. It is in a trench that was human enclosed with cobblestone walls and architecture that is just beautiful. When you look at the sky, and the scenery around you feel truly free. And the cool rain from the sky while sitting and swimming in the warm- boiling water felt divine. The water was indeed yellow from the sulfur, but you can easily get over that with the astonishing view around you.

After the long ride home, where most people napped, Kim and I walked up the hill after our adventurous day and brought a little friend along for the walk. Kim named her Mocha. I enjoyed feeding her several pieces of ham for her company on the walk up the hill.