http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/kevinsmith78/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from kevinsmith78 en-us Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:40:28 +0000 Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:40:28 +0000 We are home and settling into 3rd year Sorry about the delay.. but here are finally the pictures http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/blog-412348.html Arrived in Marrakech at dusk just in time to see the Djemma elFna the large square in the middle of the market area transform into an explosion of sensoral stimulation dozens of food stands selling cous cous and tajines spice stands mint tea snake charmers monkeys dancers drummers henna painters acrobatics completely and utterly fascinating and overwhelming We then spent the nex http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Marrakech-Tensift-El-Haouz/Marrakech/blog-406204.html Rome was a blast We vistited the sites and were quite happy after a month of ghanian food and recent upset tummies to feast on pasta and seafood.... and wine and campari Thanks so much Itay for the recs Not to mention that its always fun to walk down the street with a beer in your hand Our last night we befriended two italian couples qt dinner by giving them the rest of our cigarettes.. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/blog-405627.html Thanks for all of the birthday wishesWe qre long overdue for an update on our travels but have been busily traveling and having a marveloustime also... sad to say.. no pics until we return to the stqtes... we left our camera connector at home and for some reason the cqrd reader we bought in ghana no longer functions. sadSo our lqst week in accra was highlighted by q physician strike. The doc http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ghana/Greater-Accra/blog-405607.html Well we're beginning our last week in Ghana. We have definitely enjoyed our time here and are going to miss many aspects of Accra and Ghana in general. Melinda has been operating more and more importantly she learned how to wrap a baby on her back. I've been doing the same thing going through rounds and spending some time in the clinic. We also befriended the neighborhood kids and made a http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ghana/Greater-Accra/Accra/Korle-Bu/blog-402006.html Some things we learned over the last week at work and during our weekend trip to Kumasi1. Ants are ok on sterile fields.2. Operating in 100 degree heat and no air conditioning makes you sweat.3. If an ill patient does not want to sit up to have his lungs examined he is lazy... and it is ok to tell him so. 4. Working up chest pain in the ED proves quite the challenge without an EKG chest xray http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ghana/Ashanti/Kumasi/blog-400322.html After our first week in the hospital.. we jumped ship Friday afternoon and took a bus to Cape Coast. The beach itself left something to be desired areas looked more like a garbage heap than a beach but we ate great cheap seafood and met some lovely traveling Australians. Tour of the Cape Coast Castle was eyeopening... it was the largest slavetrading center in West Africa. I don't think t http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ghana/Greater-Accra/Accra/Korle-Bu/blog-398420.html Well we made it My knees may never be the same after two long cramped flights but it was nice to arrive in 75 degree weather at 9pm. To bad the next day was humid and in the 90s. We're staying in a nice place called the Dean's Guesthouse that's close to campus. They have a shower although they don't have hot water and it mainly just trickles out so we need to use buckets to bathe. But http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ghana/Greater-Accra/Accra/Korle-Bu/blog-397087.html After spending most our the past month working and only thinking about work now we can focus on our trip. The countdown is on. We leave Sunday May 3rd and now we have to figure out how to pack for 6 weeks. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/Ann-Arbor/blog-395494.html