Heathcare

As some of you know, my eye had been really red and irritated before leaving for the Philippines. It seriously had been two weeks since it was giving me problems and really starting to worry me. I was so nervous about how the healthcare was here as well as the cost but at this point I really had to do something about it. On Friday I had made two trips to the nearby hospital, Mactan Doctor's Hospital, as the nurse at work had recommended me to do so. I was a bit nervous to do so as you hear all sorts of stories about taxi drivers kidnapping and driving off with lone female riders, but apparently that is not a concern to anyone here at Bigfoot. I had to make two trips since the optimologist wasn't there in the morning (things are very casual here...if they're not there, they will be there "later") so I had a wasted trip. All my taxi fares there and back were about 100 pesos (which is a little over 2 USD) but on my last trip back it was only 75 pesos! I hate when they take the long way because they're just trying to take more money from me while wasting more time. -_- Unfortunately, the roads here are many and confusing so I can't tell when they ARE taking the long way.

Anyways, the facilities were okay. I'm just thankful that the guy knew what was wrong with my eye and gave me these super steroid eye drops. The check-up with the medication was only about 700 Pesos I think, which divided by 45 is its USD price (around 15 USD). And I'm happy to report that my eye is getting MUCH better already. I will note, however, that he was checking my eye without any gloves...which made me nervous because he's touching everything else in his office.

It's actually only 6AM here and I'm back to my jetlag schedule it seems. I really would like to wander out of the compound and see what the early morning life of people here are, but I'd really like to go with someone else just to be safe. Whenever I drive by it seems to be so lively and the roasting meats are very tempting to try.

Oh well, I am supposed to meet my diving instructor at 11AM so I have 4 hours to kill if anyone has Skype/MSN/AIM =)

Skype: hybiscuskiss
MSN: hybiscuskiss@hotmail.com
AIM: hybiscuskiss