Added a video at the bottom. Sorry for the quality and size, the originals are in HD. Bummer. But I have a bit of difficulty uploading anything larger than about 3 Meg.
We took a trip over Gunung Lawu to Solo (Surakarta for short) to get Pat's heart med's. Two hours each way. First to the hospital which I selected from my research on the web because it has a kardiak (see, you already know some Indonesian) unit including a half dozen specialists. We had tried a number of drug stores back when we were in Madiun just to check availability and had no luck with one particular drug. Later we bought some in Magetan, at a drug store directly across from the local hospital, and got all but two. So we're off to Solo. A few weeks back we had a nice conversation with two of the owners of Hotel Sarangan, where we currently reside. He and his brother and sister inherited the old hotel which his father built during colonial times. Very nice fellows, Pak Wicaksono and Pak Wimoko. Coincidentally Wicaksono has a son-in-law, in Surabaya, who is a heart specialist, who has promised to help us if we run into difficulties. So, I said we'd make an honest attempt to do this ourselves.
We took a trip over Gunung Lawu to Solo (Surakarta for short) to get Pat's heart med's. Two hours each way. First to the hospital which I selected from my research on the web because it has a kardiak (see, you already know some Indonesian) unit including a half dozen specialists. We had tried a number of drug stores back when we were in Madiun just to check availability and had no luck with one particular drug. Later we bought some in Magetan, at a drug store directly across from the local hospital, and got all but two. So we're off to Solo. A few weeks back we had a nice conversation with two of the owners of Hotel Sarangan, where we currently reside. He and his brother and sister inherited the old hotel which his father built during colonial times. Very nice fellows, Pak Wicaksono and Pak Wimoko. Coincidentally Wicaksono has a son-in-law, in Surabaya, who is a heart specialist, who has promised to help us if we run into difficulties. So, I said we'd make an honest attempt to do this ourselves.
Akung, working here at the hotel, has a buddy, Budi who has an '80's vintage Toyota van and he'll chauffeur us. $35 round trip; we bought him lunch too.
After a visit to the hospital, you see we must have a prescription form a doc at the hospital to get med's in their pharmacy. I figured that hospital would be our best bet, kardiak unit and all. So we went to a recommended drug store first; maybe they'd take Pat's American doctor prescription. The others did. Well, they didn't have the stuff anyway, so back to the hospital. We'll talk to the doc and get a new prescription. The girl at the info desk escorts us personally to where we need to go to get in line. There are dozens of people in this room, maybe fifty. They bump us to the head of the line. Actually there was no apparent line, but we got our form (name and address) filled our right away, and she escorts us to another building across the way. We wait maybe five minutes for the doc to arrive and in we go. Well, it's not the doc yet, but a nurse who gives Pat an EKG. Then we wait another five and we see the doc. We chat, the usual about how I can speak Indonesian. The conversation is half English and Half Indonesian. A very nice guy, he writes the script and has a nurse call to see if the hospital pharmacy has the drugs, which they don't. So we're off to the first of the drug stores he's recommended. (Oh, and the bill for the EKG and consultation was about 17 USD.)
Fortunately our driver is fairly familiar with Solo, so getting around is not a problem. Without him, jumping in and out of taxis would have been a bit of a struggle. The first place has one drug but not the other. OK, we'll get one. So off to the next store. They have both, and the pharmacist is very nice, patient with my limited language skills. I have to be creative with my limited vocabulary, stop the conversation when necessary, and repeat my understanding in my very simple terms so I know what the hell we're talking about.
We're good. We got all the drugs and the pharmacist, she was so nice, caught the fact that the previous place only filled half the quantity for the one drug, and filled it too. Thank goodness, 'cause we did not catch it.
On the way to lunch we passed by Solo Inn, a white colonial facade. It was the only place in town in the old days, now shamed by all the others, glass and stainless steel. Marty Johnson and I drove to the Solo Inn on a Saturday from Magetan, three hours each way, to get a hamburger, the closest place available. I'm sure I still have a picture of the occasion. You really need to want a burger to spend six hours to get it.
Lunch this time was good, nice shrimp, bihun goreng, and a beer. We asked about finding a place where we could get a bottle of wine and all we got were laughs. And we're off, on the return trip.
These trips are always exciting, everything we see is marvelous in some way or other. And, we made it home safely. Budi is a safe driver, and we are thankful and will hire him again.
Here's a video of some of the shacks along the way as we near Solo.
