SurgCap to Ternate

Ternate is a pretty big town and sits at the base of an active volcano that last erupted in 1986. After our helicopter ride we got in taxis to get to the hospital in town. Our driver was like kamikaze driver. They drive on the left hand side of the road here in Indonesia and there are not a lot of rules to driving, passing or speed – or if there are - our driver did not care about keeping them. The main mode of transportation here is by scooter or taxi. That is pretty much all we saw on the streets. Our taxi driver just wove in and out of the scooters constantly honking his horn. I was sure we were going to squish one flat, but they seemed to take it all in stride and did not mind darting in and out of traffic themselves. It was interesting as he would swerve into the right lane at any time and seemed to think that if he was honking his horn it did not matter what side of the road he traveled on. It was great fun and we arrived at least 10 minutes before anyone else due to our crazy taxi man.

The hospital was actually pretty nice. I liked all the different ambulances that were scattered over the courtyard. I'm thinking they were poised and ready to go for when our taxi driver took out one of the scooters. I saw some scooters that were laden down with 2-3 people, huge boxes and pans, coconuts. I think I would have lost my balance and toppled over.

My job at the SurgCap was to help with OR scheduling. They had prepared us for a hot steamy day and I had plenty of water so I was ready. Instead our group was placed in an air conditioned room. It was a nice surprise. We got to see all the people who were due to have surgery and I so enjoyed meeting everyone, especially the children. I think we booked about 10 cleft lip repairs and 2 of those were grown men. I can't imagine living my whole life with such a terrible deformity.

I loved seeing the children most they are so beautiful – even with those deformed faces they smiled and their eyes lit up. I can't wait to see them after surgery. What a blessing to have such a life changing surgery and to be able to look like other children. For lunch the Navy gave us MRE's – but one the Indonesian nurses that is with us wanted me to try Indonesian food for lunch. So he ran down to a small cafe and bought me a yellow rice dish with chicken and fish. The rice was topped with some sort of clear noodle and some super spicy peppers. It was delicious. I loved the kick it had to it. The chicken was very good, and the fish was interesting. The texture was more like pork, but it definitely tasted like fish. I had opened my MRE and the first thing I had found was a pack of Reeses Pieces and had opened them and quickly little children began to congregate around me so I decided I did not need this candy and began to pour candies into their hands. They were so cute and excited to receive the candy. That was lots of fun.

At the end of the day I was scheduled on the 4th stick (helicopter ride) out and we were almost done with scheduling so I wandered outside in the hallway which was outside. There were a bunch of Indonesians taking pictures and this man ran up to me and threw his arm around my shoulder (he had a very sweaty, hot armpit) and wanted to take his picture with me. I just laughed as a whole crowd of Indonesians who had never seen Americans came over to take their picture with me. Women, men and children. I felt like Snow White in Disney World.

All in all my day in Ternate was a great time and I loved every minute of it. I got to helicopter back to the ship and what a great way to end a day of adventure and new experiences for me.