4/1/13: I have a roommate!

The remainder of last week went quickly. I was in the operating room
on Thursday and then Maureen arrived on Friday. The case list for
Thursday included a cesarean section with tubal ligation, four tubal
ligations, a vaginal hysterectomy for prolapse, and a few dilation and
curettages. Friday was a public holiday (Good Friday) and Maureen was
scheduled to arrive midday. Skanda picked me up after completing AM
ward rounds and we were off to the airport.

We met Maureen in the international terminal. I am very glad she is
here to join me and I anticipate we will have some great memories at
the end of this trip. For those who don’t know, Maureen is an OB/GYN
who was in my residency program at Ohio State. She is two years ahead
of me so is now an attending physician. She and her husband, Dave,
live in Columbus, as he is completing a chief year in
medicine/pediatrics. Maureen and Dave have done a fair amount of
traveling together (both on medicine related trips and for pleasure).
They will be spending next year in Tanzania working for the medical
division of the Peace Corps. Maureen had quite the experience
traveling- she was kicked off a flight, re routed on two different
airlines, and arrived with no luggage…

Regardless, we went back to the hostel from the airport so she could
shower and have a rest (luckily we wear the same size cloths). As
Maureen adjusted to the time change I relaxed, did some reading, and
writing. We contacted Dave through Matt to work on the luggage
situation.

On Saturday morning, we went with Delly and her family to the Ela
Beach Craft Market. It is a market put on the last Saturday of every
month in Town. There are daily markets all over Port Moresby but most
on not safe for foreigners to wander around. The Ela Beach Craft
Market is hosted on a fenced off school yard. We wander around and
purchased a few things. Mostly it was just fun to look at all of the
paintings, carvings, woven bags, and jewelry. After we had our fill
we walked down Ela Beach to the nicest hotel in Port Moresby for some
breakfast.

Port Moresby is on the southern coast of PNG and has really lovely
scenery- green hills/mountains abutting blue/green ocean. That being
said it is not safe to walk the beaches alone or in the evening/night.
There are always a fair number of locals hanging around selling
things, swimming in the ocean, and playing volleyball. Given we were
a large group and it was midday we decided to wander around. Ela
Beach Hotel is just across the street from the beach behind a large
security fence and guards  We went into the restaurant and air
conditioning for a quick bite. Maureen and I shared a plate of fresh
fruit and cream… the mangos were so delicious. After breakfast we
said goodbye to Delly and her family. Skanda, Maureen, and I did a
quick tour of the city by car and then a walking tour of the hospital.

In the afternoon we went to Skanda’s place for WiFi to make some
travel bookings for next week as Maureen and I plan to go to the
Highlands of PNG and Loloata Island. Saturday night the three of us
went to an Asian Fusion Restaurant which was quite good. Like I have
mentioned earlier the restaurant/grocery store scene has a lot to
offer. It primarily caters to the large number of expats living in
PNG as the prices tend to be relatively high. Expats have come to PNG
for mainly 1 of two reasons- to get rich off of the natural resources
(oil and minerals primarily) or to provide aid to a developing
country. In many ways these two are related… if industrialized
nations are going to come in to exploit local resources they often
feel the need to give some level of support to the people. It is an
interesting system… for better or worse.

On Easter Sunday we woke up early to go to the fruit/veg market put on
by a local university (Pacific Adventist University). The market is
run by the students and is very nice. We also sampled some local
foods which are sold outside- Maureen had a sausage, I had a large
piece of chocolate cake, we shared a chicken roti, and we purchased
iger to have for dinner later on. Iger is a local dish which usually
includes potatoes, cooking bananas (think plantains), greens, chicken,
and spices all wrapped in large green leaves and cooked in a pit of
hot stones.

After the market we went by the airport to see if Maureen’s bag had
arrived. The attendant at Air Niugini was very helpful and said it
should be arriving on the afternoon flight from Brisbane- we were just
to come back around 5 PM. We were both a bit skeptical given the
overall efficiency of this place and the jumbled up manner in which
Maureen got to PNG (there was also no tracking number involved… just
Maureen’s name). However, sure enough, when we returned at 5 PM
Maureen’s luggage had arrived!!! Maureen and I decided it was an
Easter miracle. We played some cards in the evening and for our
Easter Dinner heated up the iger on the stove and made a monster fruit
salad with our purchases from the AM (mangos, papaya, oranges, banana,
grapes, and sugar fruit).

Today, Monday, is also considered a holiday but we decided to come to
the hospital for awhile. I tried to photo document this place as
there are fewer patients around given the holiday (I will post them on
FaceBook when I return to the US and have good internet access). I
have not entirely decided what I will do this week- likely spend a day
or two in the outpatient setting, round on the gynecology service, or
maybe return to the OR/labor ward.

As of now, Maureen and I, are flying out of Port Moresby on Friday to
go to Goroka in the Highlands. We hope to hike near Mt Wilhem and
maybe see some birds of paradise. We return to Moresby on the
following Wednesday and will then go to Loloata Island for two nights.
On the follow Friday (April 12th) we leave on separate flights back
to Australia. I will try and write more about this as we are going if
I can get internet to post again.