ER

I had a recent experience with the Bonaire medical system.  For a little island it has an excellent hospital.  But things work a little different than in the States.

You start with your "Home" Doctor (read "GP"). You pick your home doctor at the insurance office and use that medical practice exclusively.  I think you can change doctors once a year. 

My Home Doctor, ordered a blood test, chest x-ray, fecal sample test and ultrasound after I told her of my stomach and breathing issues.

I walked to the various labs and offices at the hospital to get all the tests needed without appointments.  Even an x-ray is possible without an appointment but an ultrasound is done by a radiologist and requires an appointment.

Getting blood out of me is no small feat.  No less than 8 times did they try to get an IV in me. They finally called in "The Mesquito".  He is an anesthesiologist and the expert in finding veins.  He completed his mission quickly.  His only barrier was trying to find a place that hadn't previously been tried. My blood test was processed in an hour!  It showed an infection....this got my home doctor pretty excited and not in a good way. She said things like pulmonary edema, gallstones, blood clots (pulmonary embolisms), liver function, and pancreas infections. Holy cow, this didn't sound good!

This is when she send me to the ER.  The doctors and nurses get things done fast in the ER.  I had a CT scan, ultrasound,  and x-ray in a matter of a few hours.  All the modern equipment was housed at our little hospital.  Doctors visiting for a three month assignment from the Netherlands did the tests, read the results and discuss their findings through the ER doctor. 

They eliminated all of the ugly things my Home Doctor said could be an issue. They sent me home with antibiotics, painkillers and antacids.

This all happened a week before we are to leave on our grand European Adventure.  The doctors were happy to move things along to make sure they could solve this issue before I left. I am better now and ready to travel. This is thanks to the little, well equipped and fully staffed with medical experts hospital on Bonaire. The medical systems works pretty well here and it is a benefit of residency. 

 

 

Clogs

A woman in the neighborhood wanted to raise money for the Flamingo Rescue.  So she held a wooden clog painting event.  About 30 ladies (men don't do these things) gathered Saturday morning to paint clogs, drink Prosecco and eat goodies. We raise $730 in 2 hours.

There is an artist on the island that does scenery painting and she did this clog with a flower and the background is like cracked concrete.  It was one of the best ones.  

The clog painters featured flamingoes, turtles, flags, hummingbirds, cats, fish and palm trees.  Others attached feathers and bejeweled their tiny clogs. Some were made into bird feeders.

I stuck with basic black and gold stars. I plan to fill it with concrete and use it as a door stop.
 

Comets

 

Bonaire is the perfect place to see the annual comet show that happens in July and August. A friend set up a viewing on the northeast side of the island at the land sailing track.  From midnight to 2:00 pm we sat on the track in our beach chairs looking at the stars.  The milky way was visible and spectacular....the comets not so much.  We only saw a handful of comets.

Before we left for the track, Rick tested out his star and constellation app at the house.  This event is not spectacular for Rick.  His night blindness does not allow him to see the Milky Way.  He can see a few bright stars but nothing like what most of us see. 

In hindsight, it's probably best not to do these events that involve seeing in the dark.  I am "oohing and ahhing" about the stars and he sees nothing.  So it's really not worth it to get up in the middle of the night and drive to the other end of the island for a comet show he can't see.

We will stick with sun set and moonrise...bigger objects that light-up. 

Salsa Verde

One of our friends scored a box of tomatillos from a local grocery store.  This is a big deal because we have not seen them on the island...ever.  We all pitched in and bought several kilos of tomatillos. We had to go to the back entrance of our friend's house to pick up the private stock. It was all very clandestine.

We baked the tomatillos, jalapenos, onion and garlic until blackened. We threw everything in the blender and made a luscious salsa verde. Super easy and very tasty.

 

We dined on bacon wrapped, cream cheese stuffed jalapenos, salsa verde and corn chips. We have recipes for a salsa verde chicken casserole and enchiladas. It is always exciting to us to score something new and spicy. Now we have a dealer where we can score special ingredients.