When we descended upon Santiago, the boys were a shaggy bunch, so one of the first orders of business was to get shed our winter layers and get a summer do. We found a hole in the wall place that could get us in the next day, so we went for it. The lady who did it was probably 70 years old or more, and she was definitely old school. She did everything with one pair of scissors, except the final neck cleanup, which she used a buzzer for. The boy's favorite part was getting their hair washes. Cost per cut: $13. Not sure if we'll go back to her again, at least not for Drew anyways, and he likes the super short sides that only a buzzer can achieve, and I don't think that style is in this abuelita's wheelhouse. But a fun first experience none the less. Before and after photos!
Emerson and I also had our first doctor's experience. I had been dealing with crud, super sore tonsils, and pain when swallowing for the past week, and I was getting nervous that it was strep when it wasn't going away very quickly. When Emerson woke up complaining of an ear ache, I decided to bite the bullet and I booked us doctors' appointments at a private clinic about a 5 minute drive from us. I booked the appointment online at 7:45am and was able to get an appointment for 9:15am. Drew and I bought insurance for emergency level care, but not for clinic level stuff. We figured we can pay out of pocket for that since it is much less expensive here, so we got to test out the process. My appointment at a private clinic was only $40, and Emerson's pediatrics appointment was $60. I was seen right away, but I was also the first appointment of the day for my practitioner. For Emerson, we waited about 45min past his appointment time before he was seen. Not sure if that's normal or not, but I think it was because the patient before us was really little and needed extra care. At the end of the day, I did not have strep, so no antibiotics for me, just ibuprofen to reduce inflammation in my throat and a very effective, natural throat spray I had never heard of before. Emerson did had a minor ear infection, so he did go on antibiotics. All in all, positive experience.
Also got to explore how pharmacies work here. You do need prescriptions for antibiotics (which was not the case in Hong Kong), but you don't need it for other things, like the Levothyroxine I take daily for hypothyroidism. I can get 82 pills of that for $7, and no prescription needed. However, they do keep everything else related to illness behind the pharmacy counter too. That included Tylenol, ibuprofen, cough syrup, etc. You don't need a prescription, but you have to ask someone to get it for you. Not sure of the logic there but whateves. This is the cool throat spray the doc recommended. It has propoleo in it, which I had to google. In English propoleo translates to propolis, which is aromatic resin that bees collect from tree buds. It is used in the construction of bee hives and is consumed in small amounts in honey. Propolis has antiseptic and fungicidal properties, which is why it is used to treat infections and is considered to bee a good antioxidant and anesthetic. Who knew?!?
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