By Life I mean a little bit of work, self-care, sea and travel.
I’m still healing from my fresh tan –and honestly from feet full of rocky beach blisters, ouch– but any time is a good time to vlog.
Cheers to my travel buddies Mara and Ken, our newly-conferred family physicians from batch Tala, our stellar consultants (especially Wednesday Service!), and to our Sinag batchmates holding down the fort. Extra cheers to PGH DFCM for designing a program where residents can occasionally take a long weekend to travel. Maybe. Kind of.
day 1 – pafp convention and conferment ceremony for batch tala at smx lanang
day 2 – group exercise because #practicewhatyoupreach and personal rest day zzz
day 3 – samal island hopping tour featuring the flooded sta ana wharf, angel’s cove, wishing island, pearl farm beach resort (from a distance), sabang cliff and dayang beach
day 4 – diy nature tour in baguio district aka malagos garden and philippine eagle
places i’d still like to visit (medrep baka naman?) – people’s park, museo dabawenyo, eden nature park, jack’s ridge and roxas night market
this is sincerely not sponsored content
music by: alamat – abkd and mbb – island
visit https://jarimon.com/travel for more
#davaocity #philippines #travel #convention #md
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The 23rd Midyear PAFP Convention
The Philippine Academy of Family Physicians hosts the midyear convention every two years. This iteration in Davao City marks its first comeback since 2018. (It also marks my first professional convention as a licensed physician, and my first ever trip to Mindanao.)
The theme for the 23rd convention was Bring It On! Family Physicians F.I.T. for UHC (Forging Innovations and Transitions for Universal Healthcare). The theme felt like a strongly-worded reminder to work on my UHC-related research. No I haven’t glanced at my paper since August.
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In a few days or weeks I plan to post my giant “life update in Family and Community Medicine aka why choose PGH DFCM” blog, partly in anticipation of the incoming pre-residency period. (Time flies by so fast!).
What I realized during this convention was that most if not all of the biggest names in Family Medicine hailed from PGH. If you value mentorship, career advancement, and a voice in policy-making, then PGH DFCM is a pretty solid choice. (Not that this homogeneity should be defended in perpetuity. With dozens of training institutions in the country, I’m certain there’ll be more flavor in the executive board in the future.)
Aside from the plenary sessions, I think I really attended for the convention freebies. Is this a career milestone? I felt like a proper doctor holding samples of antihistamines and multivitamins.
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With day 2 beginning with a group exercise –an hour of Zumba and competitive jump rope sponsored by Pocari Sweat– this experience only affirmed that FCM (and maybe lifestyle medicine?) is the right specialty and program for me. Hahaha. #WorkLifeBalance
Welcome to Davao City!
The convention missed the Kadayawan Festival by only a week or so; a bit of a lost opportunity to see what is the dubbed the “Festival of Festivals”. Still, there’s no end to the things you could enjoy on a regular weekend in Davao City.
Right before flying out, I surveyed for some tips from semi-local Marianne (who celebrated her not-birthday yesterday, LY!) and David. Eventually we landed on one day on land and another day at sea for our itinerary.
We joined Lisa’s Samal Island Hopping Tour to see some fish, buy some freshwater pearls and get a solid tan. The service and value for money were both great. The package also came with what felt like all the food in the world. Thank you to our friends from JR (and Doc PJ) for inviting us on this joiners tour.
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Notes to self for the future: (1) Bring sunscreen for your body! (2) Wear proper aqua shoes next time. Have mercy on your feet. (3) When will I finally get a better phone for those ultra HD action shots?
Visit their tour page here: Lisa’s Samal Island Hopping Tour
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We ended our day with a quick shopping spree at a nearby Pasalubong Center, plus dinner in Tola Kan-anan sa Balay Oboza, a repurposed ancestral home a few minutes’ walk from People’s Park. The paella was super sulit and the Tola soup hit just the right spots after a long day at the beach.
For day 4, we found ourselves taking a grab to the Philippine Eagle Center and Malagos Garden Resort. Davao City is crazy big. Though these places were technically inside the same city, the distance had us paying PHP800 to PHP1000 for a one-way traffic-less ride. ***It might be cheaper to rent out a van if you’re travelling as a bigger group and if you have other places to be.
Admission to the Philippine Eagle Center only cost PHP150. This already grants you access to one of the least artificial and best-curated preservation centers I’ve ever been to (not that I’ve been to plenty). While the paths were a bit confusing, the signages and information on such-and-such species provided enough guidance.
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We got to meet the one and only icon Viggo (the Philippine eagle who features in our PHP1000 bill). The relatively young celebrity was awake and ready for the long-distance cameras.
Next up: the Malagos Garden Resort is only a short tricycle ride away from the eagle center. At only PHP800 (?) for a day tour ticket, this place has to be one of the best attractions for value for money and variety in Davao City.
Admission includes buffet lunch, the Chocolate Museum (the smell is DIVINE), the Butterfly Dome (and the less impressive Museo de Mariposa), beautifully-landscaped activity grounds, art installations, the petting zoo, and more. Kids and adults honestly won’t run out of things to do on a full staycation. Ten out of ten, would recommend!
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Though I don’t have the experience to compare, I think going to Malagos Garden Resort and Philippine Eagle Center is a more worthwhile endeavor than going to Crocodile Park and Davao Butterfly Garden in the downtown city proper. But I do still want to come back to visit: People’s Park, Eden Nature Resort, Jack’s Ridge and Roxas Night Street. Some day!
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Until next time! ❤️
jari m 
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