Cape Town

Just got back from a weekend in Cape Town late last night. It is located on the Southern Coast of South Africa. So much fun. We got there Friday morning and after getting situated in our hostel we went straight to Table Mountain. Table Mountain is a famous land mark of South Africa. We took a cable car up to mountain and hiked around. The plan was to do the 2 hour hike down the mountain ourselves, but us girls decided we would rather make go to the beach for the rest of the day. The boys, Chris and Garret however, decided to make their own hike down the mountain. After creating their own path down and getting stuck on a cliff and using their belts to get back up, they survived and decided to hike back up and take the cable care down too.
That night, we had dinner at Dina's cousin's house, who lives in Cape Town. Amazing house, great food and company! After dinner we went out on the town. Out hostel was situated on Long Street which is basically the main party, restaurant, and bar strip in town.

The next day, we did a tour of several winery. So beautiful and so much fun! That night we had a huge all you can eat sushi dinner and went out on the town. There was a lot of dancing and drinking in between, but then we got home around 4 in the morning. We all were hurting.

Sunday was our day of relaxation on the beach before our flight at 9pm. The beaches are beautiful, but the water is freezing. The beach we went to called Clifton beach had a lot of young people and of course a few topless gals too. Interesting.

Today, I started my Obstetrics rotation at the other hospital called Chris Hani Baragwanath. It is one of the biggest hospitals in the world. It used to be an old army barrack, so all the wards are spread out and you have to go outside to get from one place to another. It is very strange to see patients getting carted around outside.
It was a great day with lots of patients, starting IVs, drawing blood, delivering babies, doing cervical checks. The morning flew by. The nursing students, Alex and Dina, got to deliver babies and be first assist in a c-section. I made sure that they got to do that because they may never get a chance in the States. It is crazy here because every other patient I see is HIV positive. IT is a huge problem here and does not seem to be getting any better. It is sad that these young women will probably not live to see their kids grow up. People can not get on anti-viral therapy until their CD4 count is a certain level, unlike in the US when anyone that is HIV positive gets medication.

Speaking of HIV prevention...I met Bono from U2. U2 played a concert in Jo'burg last night and he wanted to come to the Labor Ward at Bara to promote his charity and his involvement in helping stop the AID/HIV epidemic. I guess it was good timing to be starting in Labor Ward today! He was very nice and down to earth and introduced himself to all of us individually and shook our hands.

That is all for now. I think I will have more exciting stories these next two weeks since I get to do and see more at Bara. I wish I could post some pics, but we have been chewing through internet gigs pretty fast and you pay for internet by the gig here.

We leave Thursday afternoon for Kruger National Park for our Safari. It is a 5-6 hour drive there and we are staying the weekend. Hopefully, I will get to ride a lion or rhino!