Ocho

We've never stayed anywhere that pampered us like this! We took a boogyboard to the beach and tried to surf, but were a mess compared to the surfers on gigantic waves.

We had a siesta in hammocks til it started to storm, so we moved to the bar for a serious game of rummy. We were reading on the front porch of our cabana when we realized we were both starting to burn out on "relaxing".

That's when the hostess, Nattie, ran up asking Rory if he could help someone who was injured from the rocks. We told Nattie the night before that we were celebrating Rory's completion of medical school, so she knew he was a doctor. It was dark by now, so we grabbed our headlamps and ran to the beach. We could hear him screaming from far away and Nattie said there was a lot of blood.

The man was propped up on two beach chairs, surrounded by hotel workers. Rory took charge, "Hello, my name is Rory and I'm a doctor." He started with the man's head, and worked his way down. He had cuts everywhere, his right heel was sliced off and and his left foot was a giant swollen ball. The man spoke Spanish and English which was a blessing since many of the workers spoke little English. The security guard explained that he heard the man screaming while patroling the beach. If he hadn't been there to pull him up, he could've died.

The patient was staying at a hostel a few miles down the beach, and was out for a walk when the high tide grabbed him and threw him against the rocks. Our hotel warned us as soon as we arrived, not to swim near the rocks, especially alone and at night.

A worker gave Rory a first aid kit and said the ambulance was 30 minutes away. The patient was screaming about pain, so Rory sent me to grab ibuprofen that he brought. Rory directed everyone on how to clean and bandage his injuries so he could be carried up to the road. During this whole process, Rory told the patient what he was doing and why.

The beach is a quarter mile walk from the road so four men carried the patient in a beachchair in the dark. When paramedics arrived, they spoke only Spanish so the hotel manager translated for Rory.

"Multiple contusions, 12 cm laceration to heel, flap injury, and compartment syndrome on left foot with multiple foot fracture, and mid-tibial fracture."

Medics gave him saline, morphine and loaded him into the ambulance for the hospital 15 minutes away.

Rory was gushing in sweat and we were both shaking. When we got back to our cabana, they had a bottle of wine on ice for us.

We were no longer bored of relaxing.Read more