Work and play

---

Had a nice mix of work and play today. Arrived at the health centre nice and early at 8:15 am (I was the 2nd staff member there!) and quickly got stuck into work helping to organise the patients and hand out appointment numbers etc. The Doctor didn't turn up yesterday so we were very busy today with patients that were returning, luckily we had 2 Doctors today to help with the increased patient load. I assisted with the curative clinic as usual, taking blood sugars and helping to interview and assess the patients, I also observed 5 different dressings, an amputation, 2 c-sections, an abscess on the leg and an injury on the sole of a foot where a fragment had been taken out. Some of them were really nice and gross! :D I promptly left at 12pm as I was meeting some of the other volunteers to head off to YS falls for the afternoon.



As we arrived at the YS falls entrance I was a bit confused because we were in the middle of some fields with no river anywhere to be seen. It soon became apparent though that we had to get on one of their tractor driven 'buses' to get to the actual falls. The ride was beautiful and it took us along a track with so many different trees and wildlife it was amazing, when we arrived it all looked very touristic but after a while we realised it wasn't nearly as touristic as other places *cough*Dunn's river falls *cough*. We headed on up the falls taking lots of photos as we went until we got to the top of where we were allowed to go, here there was a brilliant rope swing that people were throwing themselves off into the water in very Tarzan-esque ways. Obviously we were quick to join in!





After we'd finished with the rope swing we went further down the falls where we could walk across to a natural massaging rock (being pelted by heavy, fast flowing water while trying not to lose your bikini is oddly relaxing) and then jump off that layer of the falls into the pool below. This was really fun but as per usual I somehow managed to find a rock to hit myself on resulting in a scuffed and cut shin. Nobody else hit a rock though so it was obviously something I did wrong therefore the only thing to do was to jump again and do it properly!





It started to chuck it down with rain so we (weirdly as we were already soaking wet) took shelter. When it stopped we decided to check out the pools we had been told about at the start; one hot pool and one cold pool. We were pretty skeptic about the cold pool because nothing here in Jamaica is truly cold! We were correct, the so called cold pool was in fact very warm, it must have been about 22 degrees. After a little swim in this one we thought we ought to check out the hot pool just to see how hot it was; it was gorgeous! It was literally like stepping into a bath!



After a lovely afternoon we returned home and had a lovely dinner, saltfish with rice, fried dumplings and some sort of salad in soy sauce then for dessert (as a surprise for another volunteer who is leaving this weekend) some chocolate cake and ice cream. Delicious! After a shower it was time to get back to work again, researching and preparing for tomorrows health fair where the other healthcare volunteers and I will be promoting awareness and helping treat and diagnose diabetes and hypertension. 2 fact files later and I think I'm ready

---