Medicine in a Third World Country

I always wanted to know what it was like to live in a third world country--not just as a tourist or visitor. My recent adventures with the flu and ear infections have exposed me to more of the local life than I would have otherwise seen. Jarabacoa-the town which I am living in has some local doctors, but the regulations are somewhat lax and there are no specialists. After struggling with an ear infection for a week I asked the local staff who I should have look at my ear. They all told me that I needed to travel to the bigger town (La Vega) an hour away if I wanted an accurate diagnosis. Having no car or other means of transport I crammed into the local bus (GwaGwa) with our Computer guy who has classes in La Vega every night. I left school early to try and make it to the clinic before it closed at 5PM. There is no time schedule for the buses--they leave when they are full and not before that. The bus driver kindly dropped my friend off at his house and dropped me near the clinic. There are no such things as appointments. You put your name on the list and wait. The first time I visited the doctor I waited for 5 hours before I was admitted to have my ear examined. The lights periodically shut down, but the generator at the hospital was decent and the lights usually came back on within a minute. The doctor was trained in Spain and seemed to know what he was doing. Trying to explain and understand a medical problem in Spanish certainly put my vocabulary to the test. The pharmacy was out of some of the medicines that I needed to buy so I waited another hour for someone to go pick up a new supply. The real adventure was trying to get home. The computer guy kindly returned to help me travel to the bus station. The last bus returning to my town leaves some time between 6 and 7PM. If I had really been stranded I could have called another teacher that had a car or waited for our Computer guy to finish his classes at 10PM. Fortunately, I managed to catch the last bus home, but it was dark by the time we arrived in Jarabacoa. I sat next to a very kind lady who found a friend of hers to take me home on the back of his motorcycle since I didn't want to walk in the dark by myself. This woman had also been to La Vega to visit a doctor; unfortunately she could not afford to buy the medicine she needed. Medicine is extremely expensive here considering the average salary. My consultation with the doctor was only $15, but the medicine has totaled to over $100. I had the local experience of having to take 8 hours out of my day to visit the doctor, but at least I could afford the necessary medicine. Despite my tired and grouchy state, I was reminded of how thankful I should be for what I do have and how gracious it was for a sick woman to be taking care of a foreigner.