Irene Santo, a fifth-year student of General Medicine, spent a summer intership at a hospital in Cuernavaca, Mexico. She sends an essay and many photographs.
After an amazing experience last year in Croatia, I decided to apply again for an IFMSA internship. This year I had the pleasure to visit not only a different country but a new continent. I wanted to experience something completely different, and so I ended up in Mexico. I was accepted in the IMSS (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, or, in English, Mexican Social Security Institute) hospital of Cuernavaca, in which I had the pleasure of spending two weeks in Gynaecology and Obstetrics and two weeks in General and Paediatric Surgery. There were many changes from the internship I experienced in Croatia last year which made this experience not worse nor better but, equally amazing in a very different way which was, I guess, exactly what I was looking for.
The IFMSA organization of Cuernavaca is relatively recent and small and so, during the month of July, I was placed together with only two other girls, one from Peru, and one from El Salvador. This was new for me given that last year I was together with thirty other people. It was unexpected but it also made us feel closer both to each other and to the Mexican doctors, nurses and the rest of the staff. I would say that after one week in the hospital everyone in the departments we were at knew our names.
If last year I stayed in a dorm, this time I was placed in a host family, I had a host mother, father and three siblings, who welcomed me with open arms and warm hearts and with whom I hope to keep in touch for years to come.
If in Croatia doctors were willing to let us leave earlier or skip a day in order to attend the social programme, this year I had a whole new version. The teaching in the IMSS hospital I was in was quite strict and we were not allowed to have any absences. Therefore, during the weeks of the actual internship we did not manage to travel as much as I did last year. You may be thinking that this fact would have made my experience worse but what I need to add is that the doctors were strict but they were also great teachers. They were willing to explain every step in labour or let me scrub in as many surgeries as I wanted. I had way more “hands on” experience than I was expecting and the most interesting part was to see how some procedures and measurements are done in an environment provided with less resources than we, Europeans, are used to.
I did have the opportunity to travel after completing the internship and to get to know at least some of the many beautiful places that Mexico has to offer. I visited the magical cities of Taxco, Puebla, Cholula and Merida, the gorgeous beaches in Acapulco and Cancun, the historical Mayan ruins and Cenotes of Yucatan, Tulum and Teotihuacan, among which I had the pleasure of visiting one of the most famous Mayan temple cities and one of the world’s seven wonders: Chichén Itzá. And last but not least, the enormous Mexico City.
Mexican food is well-known worldwide I would say but there is so much more to it than just tacos, quesadillas and nachos. Starting with Cemitas sandwiches with milanesa, Tostadas, Sopes, Panuchos, Tortas, Menudo, Cevice, Pozole, Chiles en nogada, all sorts of chorizos, Mole… Well, I continue for a while and I would still not mention half of the unbelievably delicious foods I tried. And the best part is that most of these are so called antojitos ("little cravings"), which can be found pretty much everywhere prepared by street vendors.
Street vendors and traditional markets are something you see pretty much anywhere in Mexico. In a very loud, Latino atmosphere you find anything from food, souvenirs, art, tapestries and so forth.
Mexico is, as I expected, a spectacular and massive country marked by outrageous social discrepancies and very friendly, humble and hardworking people that will welcome you into their houses with a smile and delightful food regardless of their possessions. All in all, it was a wonderful month filled with new experiences that met well my expectations.
