Lenny's Pictures and Adventures

Support Primary Care

2009-04-13T17:17:00.000-07:00

ABC News

We need more primary care physicians. The only way likely to do this is to change the current payment system to foster primary care over consultant care. Support the patient centered medical home.

Our friends the LLamas

2009-03-29T17:26:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday, Mary and I took a very long bus ride to get to the Black Sheep Inn. The bus ride was long because it was 4 hours on a bus up and down winding bumpy mountain roads. On the way we passed many farms built right into the mountain. The notable thing is that the animals had plenty of room and were feeding on grass. (Not like many American livestock places where they feed grains and are locked up in small areas.)

We got to our ecolodge and found that they had many animals too, including a dog, chickens, pigs, bunnies, and our favorite: Llama's! Here is a pic of them on the volleyball court. The next morning we found one right outside our door (see other pic). They talked to us a lot, but were very calm and fun to have around.

Equator

2009-03-29T16:51:00.000-07:00

We made it to the "real" equator. At this site they did a little trick. They filled a sick with water, then drained it. When they did it on the equator, there was no swirl. When they did it to either side of the equator, there was a swirl, but it opposite directions. My book says this is a gimmick. Is it? What's the trick?

Ecuador Loves America (and New York)

2009-03-29T11:25:00.000-07:00

this is the first in a series of blogs about our travelling last week in Ecuador:

Last week Mary and I had a wonderful breakfast at Cafe Mosaico, overlooking the city of Quito. We had a very great American breakfast of french toast and pancakes. While there we saw a little boy running around with a New York Yankees hat on. I'm not sure where he was from, and he didn't even seem to know who the Yankees were. But as we travelled around I saw many people in the cities and small towns wearing that famous NY logo on their hats. (I will admit we did sit next to one guy wearing a Boston Red Sox Hat.) I feel the hat signifies the city of New York, which for many of the people here is a sign of America's greatness. I would agree. (Although Boston is more fun to live in.)

This fondness of America seems to have re-ignited with the election of Obama. People all around Ecuador talked about Obama and my language school had the newspaper signifying his election hanging in the hall. We spoke with a rural truck driver in the mountains who was so excited about Obama. He seemed inspired that a man with colored skin could be elected to the most powerful position in the world.

One more observation that America can learn from: Breastfeeding here is the norm. You hardly see a bottle in any kids mouth. (and there are tons of kids). Women breast feed on the bus, while walking, while carrying things, while make a sale from their store. It's amazing. We even saw a boy, approximately 20 months, pull down his mom's shirt for a snack on the bus. It's good for health, and I wish America would follow Ecuador in this sense.

El Centro and El Centro

2009-03-23T15:31:00.001-07:00

Mary is here and we are having a great time around Quito.

Yesterday we started out with a giant fruit bowl at our hotel. We then climbed up lots of stairs to a park overlooking the city, and had banana pancakes at a cafe there. Then we went to El Centro (the old town), where we walked around, saw old buildings, and churches. Had a plaintain and cheese empanada for a snack. After some resting, we went to dinner in the New Town at a Mediterranean place.

Today we took a trip to the monument where the measurements were made to show where the Equator is. Took lots of pictures on the "Equator Line". Then we walked down the block a few hundred meters, to the site where current techonolical measurements put the REAL equator. Took a nice tour of that site and took more pictures on the "actual" equator.

Headed back into town for lunch at a place where they sell indigenous chocolate. And yes, we bought some. Now gotta get ready for dinner at Plaza Grande.

Hasta Luego. Me Tired.

Tarjeta Postal

2009-03-16T18:46:00.001-07:00

This is a gift to all my loyal blog readers.
If you have been reading:
1. Send me the answer to this question: What TV show does the family I'm staying with like to watch?
2. Send me your mailing address.

If you do the above 2 things, I will send you a post card.

El Bus

2009-03-13T11:11:00.000-07:00

In the last couple of days I've had my first adventures on the Quito buses, without the gracious company of my host family. (They were taking me everywhere for awhile.) The buses are quite an experience here. There are tons of them, they are efficient, but not easy for the foreigner. Here's my bus trip today:

I leave the hospital at 8am. I'm walking up the street and think I see my bus crossing in front. So I start a slight run. As the bus is moving away, the fare collector (let's call him the conductor) sees me. He shouts to the bus driver to slow it up a little (Note: Not STOP). The back door flings open and I jump on. I'm on my way cruising down the Pan American Highway.

Now I have to figure out when to get off. All I know is that I get off right after the giant Movistar (mobile phone company sign). Got it. Got to get off quickly. Press the button on the bus, and I jump off. The conductor comes to collect my fare, and because he is in a rush and give him the change in my pocket. He runs back on the bus and I realized I gave him 50 cents! (It only costs 25cents. Oh no!)

Now the hard part: finding the special bus that goes to where I'm living. So I wait on the corner. Many buses go by. Their are all filthy diesel, so I breathe in the nasty fumes as they all pass.

[Side note: People don't have right of way in the streets and it looks like cars often try and run people over. But today a dog walked out into the middle of the highway and the cars stopped for him! I guess dogs get more respect.]

The buses have 20 names in their front window: all places they might, could, and will go at some point within the next 2 hours. My job was to find the one that said, "El Ejenuto" in GREEN on one of the many signs in the window (click on the picture above for a more detailed view of the difficulty of this). To help you with this, the "conductor" yells out a million places the bus is going as it is passing. I understand none of what he says, as it's kind of like the conductor naming the stops on the NYC subway. But they try to get people on their bus, so they make more money. (And are very nice helping people on and off.)

I waited about 20-30 minutes and no bus. (The bus I need doesn't come that often.) So I ask the bus time recorder guy if I'm in the right place. And just then, a bus with many signs, one of which says "El Ejenuto" in GREEN comes my way. I jump on and am on my way again.

When you want to get off, you tell the conductor guy, give him 25 cents and they slow down the bus so you can get off. (Unless you are an older person, in which case the bus actually stops.)

Well I made it home. It was fun. But wouldn't it be nice to be taken around on one of these:

Same and Different

2009-03-11T17:10:00.001-07:00

In this edition of my blog I'll talk about things that are similar, but different here in Ecuador.

Same: Lots of pharmacies all over the place
Diff: You don't need a prescription, except for certain drugs (like narcotics)

Same: They use toilet paper
Diff: They throw the used ones in the garbage, as they clog toilet (same as most developing countries)

Same: On the trolleys people are packed like sardines (just like Green Line Boston)
Diff: The trolleys are actually buses, and the fare is only 25 cents.

Same: Lots of crazy taxi drivers
Diff: They are mostly from this country

Same: You shake hands, or kiss/hug a friend when you see them on the street
Diff: You shake hands AGAIN when you say goodbye, even if you talked to them for 10 seconds. This makes for A LOT of hand shaking. I cut my right hand the other day and now every time I meet someone it hurts.

Same: People give you a hard time for being vegetarian.
Diff: No. Pretty much the same.

Same: They love to watch TV.
Diff: Malcolm in the Middle seems to be their favorite show. (Based on my family's viewing.)

Same: Women get lots of ultrasounds in pregnancy and always carry the pics around
Diff: They often get minimal other prenatal care

Same: Drunk people get lacerations when drunk
Diff: After you sew them up, you can send them home drunk

Same: Kids go to school
Diff: They all wear uniforms to school, like good Catholics

Same: They play a lot of football on the weekends
Diff: They play fUtbol (i.e. it is soccer and not really football)

Same: Lots of dogs
Diff: They roam around all over without any collars. And they bark ALL the time.

Same: The signs on public transportation are in Spanish
Diff: They are not also in English

Ok that's it for now. This one took a lot of thinking. More next time.

Lack of Resources

2009-03-09T08:15:00.001-07:00

My 24 hours shift yesterday was rough. We had a mom who needed a STAT C section, and we don't do them at our hospital. Then the baby had problems, and I was the most qualified there to help. We finally rushed the baby to the larger area hospital. But when the baby got there, they told us they had no ventilators for babies. I guess some things cannot be done here, and I have to be comfortable living with that.

Afterwords I delivered a healthy active baby. I hope the rest are just like that.

Volcan Pichincha

2009-03-07T13:17:00.000-08:00

Today, on my day off (before my 24 hour shift tomorrow), I took the gondola up to the Pinchincha lookout The views there were beautiful. The big mountain here is the Volcano Pichincha (after which the province of Quito is named). We were pretty high up. (See the altimeter on my watch, but don't call me a dork.)

Then we went to the old city, which was quite busy with the markets bustling on a Saturday.

All the sun made my face red, so I'm going to take a nap now.

Caio!

Partos in Ecuador

2009-03-06T16:15:00.001-08:00

Last night I had my first experience with births in Ecuador. It was very interesting.
First, they don´t have any pain medicines or epidurals (or hot tubs). The women STAND in labor. Standing certainly makes it go a lot quicker (they showed me a graph of how much quicker). (However they do give birth lying down.... this confused a lot of readers.)

(A little ecuadorian boy is trying to distract me by typing on this computer, in case you see any funny characters.)

Once a person is fully dilated, they all yell ´PARTO´ and rush her to the delivery room. I didn´t understand what the rush is for a woman with her first baby... I know it takes 2 hours sometimes. Not with these woman. They immediately cut an epesiotomy (PAINFUL, although they use some local anesthesia). They don´t monitor the heart rate, except for once per hour, and they check the cervix EVERY hour, even if ruptured. And no option for C section in this hospital.

So overall, I liked the low technology, but it was a lot more interventional then I thought.

I came home and saw horses running through the street. We had no idea why.

Trolley

2009-03-05T12:12:00.001-08:00

They have trolley buses here. They are very rapid, as they have their own lanes. Because they are so easy, many people take them. I take them to go to my school downtown and it is fun but super crowded. Yesterday there were some kids practicing English behind me. I really like taking the trolley through the old city (el centro), but the new city is also nice with lots of cool restaurants (for gringos).

The family I am staying with found out I like beans and avocado, so I had that for lunch today. I am very full. I´m getting over some mild altitude sickness, and finally had a good sleep last night. However, tonight I have to work all night, hopefully delivering some babies. I´m practicing my women´s anatomy vocabulary.

If I have enough energy left after this shift (and before my 24 hour shift on Sunday), I may go horseback riding in Cotapaxi national park on Saturday.

First Blog from Ecuador

2009-03-04T15:12:00.000-08:00

Hi All,
I've arrived in Ecuador. The family I'm staying with is very nice, as is their house. A picture of the view from the roof is here. We are very high up (10000 feet), and I'm feeling a little bit of altitude sickness (very tired). I started Spanish school today, and I learned a lot. I planned to start working on Monday, but I realized things here take a little bit of work to organize. So I start tomorrow, with the midwife I'm staying with. It turns out it is best if I work 2 overnight shifts/week. So much for the easy time in Ecuador. So everything is good. I will try and write more. You can see more initial pictures on my Photos Site.
Hasta Luego,
Lenny

Puerto Rico, Last Stop

2007-03-27T21:17:00.000-07:00

For our final stop, we flew to San Juan on a little airplane (picture). They had to balance the plane out by our weights. Since I was the lightest, I got to sit up front with the pilot. Bret was jealous, but I told him that was my reward for being vegetarian. The ride was smooth and I got great views.

We ate at a PRican restaurant where the waitress finally spoke some Spanish to me. Our hotel was awesome and had a hot tub on the roof which we took advantage of at night. On our last day we explored Old San Juan and the fort of El Morro (picture).

It was an awesome trip. For more pics see my web album. Next big trip is to Israel with my family in May. Stay tuned.

Puerto Rico Stop 2

2007-03-27T21:08:00.000-07:00

We then took the ferry to the small island of Culebra. We settled in our adequate guest house (no great view here). But we were next to the night spot, as well as the restaurant where Iguanas freqent (picture). The first day did two Scuba dives in the surrounding reefs. The diving was great with awesome reefs and lots of cool fish. Bret got burned on the beach and was a lobster for the rest of the trip. The 2nd day, I got some tan on Flamenco Beach (picture). It was one of the nicest I've seen. We tried to find the "good" snorkelling beach, but after hiking for 25 min in the blistering heat, the trail ended. We turned back and did some good snorkelling at Flamenco. Finished the day with a nice smoothie.

Puerto Rico Stop 1

2007-03-27T21:00:00.000-07:00

I just returned from a trip to Puerto Rico with my friend from Cornell, Bret. For our first stop, we drove from San Juan to the rain forest in Eastern PR. The drive was fun along the water. We even stopped on the way to get fast food for lunch. I used my spanish to order the only vegetarian options: rice, beans, and plantains.

We stayed at Casa Cabuy in the middle of the rainforest (picture). Our room looked out onto the forest and we hiked from right outside our door. We hiked down to waterfalls, but the coolest flowers were right outside our door (picture). We also hiked in the only tropical rainforest in the USA (El Yunque). We made it up a "40 min" hike in 18 minutes. We were in a rush to get to night time kayaking. After of course meeting a fellow Cornellian on our trip, we kayaked into the night. After getting to a protected bay in the middle of the night, we jumped in! We started swimming and when we disturbed the water, the algae glowed! Sorry no pictures of this one, but it was the highlight of the first part of the trip.

LA Again

2007-01-21T09:29:00.000-08:00

LA is a bit crazy, but it's natural features (including the weather) can be beautiful.

There is no better season

2006-10-23T12:33:00.000-07:00

...then Fall in New England.
I love it up around Boston when the leaves are changing, the weather becomes cooler. I've been able to get out in my free time and hike, photograph, and pick apples. This past weekend was a beautiful one to watch the world's 2nd biggest crew race on the Charles River. Check out more of my fall photos at the link to my web album above.

Spanish Culture

2006-05-22T06:28:00.000-07:00

Yes the title of this blog is SPANISH culture and I'm showing a picture of Arabic writing. Spain was a cool mix of cultures. The Spanish culture was awesome with it's wierd work hours, siestas, chocolate/churos, and laid back atmosphere. But there has been a lot of Muslim rule in Spain, which brought the country interesting Islamic areas, beautiful architecture, and more vegetarian food!

Spanish Architecture

2006-05-22T06:22:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite parts of my recent Spain trip was the architecture. Here is one of Gaudi's famous buildings. Check out the cool balconies, colorful facade, and the lack of any straight lines. He rocks.

Spanish Break for Surfing

2006-01-20T08:50:00.000-08:00

Immersion Spanish is tough work. 4 hours of day in the heat is rough sometimes. Plus the rest of the day you are using your brain constantly to try to talk in a new language. Thus, I needed a break sometime. Here's one of my ventures at surfing.

Pacific Sunsets

2006-01-20T08:49:00.000-08:00

Living on the East Coast I don't see many sunsets over the water. This is one of many pictures.

Ticos

2006-01-20T08:45:00.000-08:00

The best thing about Costa Rica was the people (Ticos). I stayed with a Tico Family near Tamarindo. I had a load of fun with the kids.
In CR, they have a saying "Pura Vida". Literally, it means "Pure Life", but it also means "the Costa Rican Way." So when a nice taxi driver dropped me off and I said, "Gracias," he usually said, "Pura Vita".... Being nice is just the Costa Rican Way.

Costa Rican Beaches

2006-01-20T08:44:00.000-08:00

The beaches on the Pacific Side are beautiful. This is Playa Conchal.

Costa Rican Wildlife

2006-01-20T08:39:00.000-08:00

The wildlife in Costa Rica was great... but hard fo photograph. The wave of ecotourism in a developing country like Costa Rica has pluses and minus. While all the tourism brings in lots of money to a previously very poor country, all the development seems to destruct a lot of the precious rain forests. Luckily, the government of Costa Rica has some great plans to allow tourism to continue in an eco-friendly manner.

San Fran Sept 05

2005-11-06T18:08:00.000-08:00

San Fran is a beautiful city. The Golden Gate area and the beach were areas I really didn't visit on my first trip there. I went with my sister on a nice day and we drove around the area in a GoCart. Lot's of fun, but not as much exercise as my idea of biking over the bridge.
I was in San Fran to accept my Pisacano Scholarship. It was a wonderful weekend and awards ceremony. I really felt welcomed into a group of great people.
I'll be going back to San Fran in Dec to decide if I want to spend the next few years of my life there.

2005-06-05T11:10:00.000-07:00

Seattle is a great city. Here is a cool picture of two of it's famous landmarks: the Space Needle and the Experience Music Project (built by Ghery of Cornell!)

2005-06-05T11:09:00.000-07:00

A beautiful view near from our campsite in Orcas Island, WA.

Seattle Beginnings

2005-05-14T13:06:00.000-07:00

So I arrived in Seattle about a week and a half ago. It seems like a great city. On my first night here there were 3 concerts I wanted to see! I ended up going to Moby at the Paramount theatre, which was awesome. I had some awesome African food before the show. There are so many good vegetarian-friendly restaurants here. Love the hills, the views of the mountians and the water. Seattle is a beautiful city. There are lots of clouds, but it hasn't rained that much yet...

My friend Erica, from Boston came last week. We explored the major downtown sights. (If anyone wants some fish shipped from Pike's Place, let me know.) After stopping by the bigggest, coolest REI, we took a road trip (and a ferry) to Orcas Island, a 1.5 hour trip. We camped for two nights there in a beautiful campsite on a mountain lake... pictures to come soon. We hiked up Mount Constitution (7 miles roundtrip) and good a good view, although we couldn't see Vancouver or Seattle or Rainer because of clouds. We then went sea kayaking and saw a BALD EAGLE and Orange and Purple Starfish! On the way back we stopped at two places to taste some wine. It was a fun trip with a good friend.

I started work in Family Medicine on Monday. Swedish First Hill Med Center seems like a great place and the residents are really cool and smart. Now relaxing this weekend.
More adventures when they happen...

2005-04-17T10:26:00.000-07:00

Ian Padi Me in WV

2005-04-17T10:25:00.000-07:00

One of the famous Joshua Trees

2005-04-17T10:20:00.000-07:00

Parav and Me at AMSA convention

2005-04-17T10:19:00.000-07:00

AMSA Convention: Elizabeth and Me

2005-02-13T11:48:00.000-08:00

Storm in the Mountains near Salt Lake City (edited)

2005-02-13T11:40:00.000-08:00

AMSA Rally in Boston

2005-02-13T11:39:00.000-08:00

AMSA rally in Boston

2005-02-13T11:36:00.000-08:00

View from Our Room in Malta

2005-02-13T11:35:00.000-08:00

Photography in Tuscany

2005-02-13T11:33:00.000-08:00

Venetian Canals