Hospital Aleman

So, the real reason we've been cooped up for the past few days is because I've been under the weather.  For about 10 days now, I've had some respiratory issues and sometimes have a hard time breathing.  I've tried to wait for it to pass, and since the symptoms are so sporadic it's been hard to pinpoint what's going on.  Finally, I got my shit together and we went to the hospital to see a doctor.  I thought I'd explain how it goes when seeing a doctor in BA.
First of all, we went to a private hospital and paid cash.  I will keep the receipts and send them to our insurance company and (hopefully) get fully reimbursed.  We entered Hospital Aleman (about a 10 min cab ride from the house) and you stand in line in the lobby.  It looks a lot like waiting in line at a bank.  You get up to a booth and tell them you want an appointment.  To see a doctor it costs about $50.  Then you wait.  Each doctor has their own office and there are about 30 offices.  Here's a terrible picture of one of the hallways.

Each of those squares at the top represents an office number.  You wait until your number appears on this board:

and you go to the corresponding office.  It's actually a pretty efficient system and wait times were pretty short.  

The doctor took one look inside my throat and it turns out I have tonsillitis (inflammation of the tonsils) and she wrote me a prescription for antibiotics.  No idea how I got it because Aaron feels fine (well he doesn't have tonsils), but at least it's nothing serious.

Then we went to the nearest pharmacy (a Farmacity is on almost every corner) and got my meds.  I was so pumped that I wasn't going to die that we decided to go to a nice lunch to celebrate:

At most restaurants, they offer a Menu Ejecutivo option, which includes an appitizer, entree, dessert and drink for a pretty reasonable price.

For less than $15, this is a great deal, so I was in!  Aaron opted for ravioli. 

My first course was an eggplant parmesan.

It had breaded eggplant, a slice of ham, cheese and tomato sauce.  It was enough for two people!  So, I shared (I scraped the cheese off Aaron's piece and plopped it onto mine).  OMG so good!

My entree was a ragu of beef(?) with rice and it was insanity!

Aaron got ravioli with ham, chicken and almonds with a pesto sauce on top.  Not fantastic, but decent.

For dessert, I got a fruit salad (I'm so stuffed at this point):

Not too shabby, huh?  Plus, we have leftovers for dinner!  Then we took a (slow) walk, since it had been so long since we'd gone out.  Saw a cool glasses store:

and a beautiful church:

Old-timey cash register:

We hit up the grocery store and I always find stuff to take pictures of at the grocery store.  They have tons of types of pate!  And it's cheap!

Unfortunately, pate is the grossest food on Earth, so we won't be getting any of that.

Guess how much a bottle of Prego is:

Almost $12!!!  No joke!  

Then we came home, where we are currently relaxing until I'm all better.  Just give me a couple days and I'll be back on my feet!