Returning from my hiking trip in the Torres del Paine National Park, I am once again strolling pass the World’s End Bar in Puerto Natales and notice that the dog with the suspected ruptured cruciate ligament hasn’t made a lot of progress. Spending most of the day lying in front of the Bar and checking …
Author Archives: The Blue Vet
Torres del Paine
Torres del Paine, an enigmatic national park in Patagonia was one of the reason’s why I finally decided to step away from my clinic in Virginia Water and to organise my life in a very different way. If you want to go hiking in these mountains you will need to put aside at least 3 …
The Erratic Rock
Following a two hour journey through a featureless semi-arid landscape that appears to sustain only the occasional flog of sheep, small groups of guanacos and from time to time a couple of nandus, I am arriving in Puerto Natales. Located on the shores of the Ultima Esperanza Fjord with a view of the snow caped …
Veterinary Medicine at the (other) end of the world…..
It is Monday morning and I am walking along the windswept promenade of Punta Arenas with the Magellan Strait on my right side and Tierra del Fuego visible on the horizon. With the local head quarters of the Chilean Navy behind me, I am passing the cut out prow of the Yelcho and the life …
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One small profession – one large family (Lima Edition)
It was finally time to change from T-Shirts and beach wear to a business suit. The main purpose of my visit to Lima and to Peru was the annual World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) Congress where I had been ask to moderate some sessions of the scientific programme and to say a few words …
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A dog’s ….and a cat’s (!) life in Lima
I am closing the gate of Lima 18, the small and intimate hotel I am staying at in Miraflores, carefully and set out for a short morning run. The hotel is very conveninently situated next to the ruins of the pre-Incan pyramid of Pucilana, which is surounded not only by a high fence but also …
Soft tissue surgery in Surquillo
The taxi journey that should have taken ten minutes lasted already over half an hour and I was seriously wondering if the price quoted : “Diecisiete!” – seventeen – referred indeed to Soles (= circa 4$) or in fact to US Dollars. The taxi from Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima had been paid in …
The Ghosts of Cabo Blanco
Turning off to the right at El Alto, which is not more than a re-fueling stop along the Panamericana, the road starts to descend in narrow serpentines towards the ocean…. Apart from rocks, sand and a few oil wells, there is nothing here and it is hard to believe that the rich and famous had …
Humpback whales and pelicans
Benjamin, my driver, was not a man of many words….. That was fine by me, as my Spanish didn’t stretch to any meaningful conversations anyway. In addition to this is was 5 o’clock in the morning and still dark when we set off along the Panamericana in a Southerly direction. The reason why we had …
The Old Man and the Sea (or veterinary adventures part III)
Ernest Hemingway was sitting on the terrace of the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club enjoying his Martini and he was looking over the endless Pacific Ocean in front of him. It had been a good day – a rare occasion for an author who was struggling to constantly having to prove himself against an army of …
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The Blue Vet Diary 