Welcome back! This past week at Ninos was spent seeing more of the admitted patients and doing consultations. We are getting good at picking up on the little details of the patients and I’d say our collective Spanish has improved massively. Additionally, this week we went to UCR’s campus and spent time looking at different parts of the brain under a microscope. It was really cool to get to see the organ that we’ve been focusing on these past two months. Dr. Bogantes took the time to point out different structures and mention cases that we had seen and how they related.
In terms of the project, I’ve finished with most of the “behind the device” things, like IP, Regulatory, Reimbursement, and looking ahead at ways to potentially test the device (if that were part of the project). The last big things to do are to make a low fidelity physical model using the skills from Dr. Wettergreen’s bootcamp, way back in May as well as finishing my CAD model. CAD is not my strongest skill, so I’m glad to get some practice in before the Fall semester, in case it comes up in a class. I also want to do a risk analysis of the device, just to fully round out my project and make sure that I am focusing on more than just the benefits. Both the good and bad need to be considered when designing, so that you can prepare for both the best and worst outcomes.
As for this past weekend, we can now say that we’ve been to both coasts, as we were in Puerto Viejo, in the Limón providence. 4 hour long journey aside, it was a beautiful weekend. We were joined by Rafa and Ricardo (UCR students we met during the bootcamp) and spent Saturday walking on the beach and at the Jaguar Rescue Center. While I didn’t see any jaguars, I did see a slew of other animals, including Bluey the toucan. Fun fact about this fella is that the center had released him back to the wild, but he likes to hang around the center stealing other animal’s food as well as the hearts of many tourists. That evening, we just spent hanging out, talking, and playing cards, including a very intense couple rounds of Go Fish.
On Sunday, we got up bright and early to see the sunrise, which was gorgeous, before going back to bed for a few more hours. After waking up again, we had breakfast and made our way to the Talamanca Chocolate tour. 3 hours of learning about the history of cacao and chocolate, both worldwide and in Costa Rica while getting to make a try chocolate at various stages was a morning well spent. Our instructor was a lovely person who told so many great stories (and jokes!) so I would definitely recommend if you get the chance! After that, we got lunch and just had to try the Caribbean version of rice and beans before heading back.
I’m looking forward to our last big trip this weekend, as well as the continued work on my device. Until then, be sure to keep up with the rest of the Costa Rica crew by checking out Apple, Rei, and Connor’s blogs!