Sorry for the delay in posting blogs up frequently, but it is just really hard considering my health and time here in La Paz. It is getting somewhat easier to acclimatize, however there is still the food to get used to. Nonetheless, Bolivia is great and I have been doing some interesting stuff.
Let's start with the latest event since my last post: Rurrenabaque. This place is beautiful and is the gateway to the Amazonian Jungle. So, I met a few American and Canadian friends who are here through Child and Family Health International. They are primarily focusing on health care delivery here in La Paz. I decided to join them on this trip to the Jungle. I was really not prepared for what was about to come. We took a flight to Rurrenabaque; its a two people in a row kind of jet, and let's just say that my seat number on the ticket did not match the seat number I ended up sitting in and the pilot, right before we boarded, turned the wind blades outside himself. That truly was a scary flight and the mantra that was running through my head was: buses and trains are more scary here, buses and trains are more scary here.
So, after we landed in an "airport", which was in the middle of nowhere among many trees and no pathway for landing really, we boarded a bus to check-in our arrival by pencil-ling our name in their name binder along with our passport numbers. Needless to say, I do not think anyone was expecting us. After all the logistics were done, we hopped onto a 4x4 to drive about 3 hours to River Beni, which runs through the Amazons. Those 3 hours of driving were horrifying! The driver did not want to stop when a bus was coming straight towards us, he had some challenging attitude, I believe. As a result, something happened to our car's aixle and the right side of our car had to be taken apart midway. After about 1.5 hours later, we resumed our route. We reached our destination and was told to aboard a canoe with our belongings. The ride on the river was spectacular. The views of the river in between all the lush- trees, grass, and animals was really beautiful. Our tour guide was kind and stopped at many places for use to take pictures. I wish I could post them here, but I do not see an option. Check Facebook. We saw monkeys, turtles, pink dolphins (yes, PINK dolphins), crocodiles and many birds. The place is very serene. Our eco-lodge was in the middle of no where, on the river, about 3 hours from shore. Our beds had mosquito bed nets, thank God! We toured the area on boat. Went on a night tour to go hunting for crocodiles. You can see them at night because of the reflections their eyes exhibit on the river. Red eyes, right underneath some trees, in the river, while you are on a small canoe, is very thrilling and scary. I was pretty afraid that one of them was going to come and bite the canoe and consume some of us, but that did not happen, fortunately. The next day we toured the Pampas. The Pampas is a vast plain of high grass signature of the lowlands in South America. Here, we were to hike through the Pampas almost in knee-deep (in my case thigh-deep) water. They provided rainboots which had many holes and the water was very, very dirty. Nonetheless, after a 45 minute to an hour trek through this water we reached an island where we can look around for anacondas and different types of insects. We spotted a bright yellow anaconda. It was wrapped around a branch on a really high tree and all the tour guides were super excited because not all tours get to see an anaconda. That was exciting. However, I got chewed by probably every single mosquito there was in the area. Resulting in a little more than 45 bites to my thighs, arms and of course, ass. Awesome! Furthermore, I forgot that the area may be infested with malaria and dengue, so I should have taken my malaria medication. Oops! But, I started them now, so it should be good protection anyways. I asked the Cuban doctor I have been shadowing for a while now in a nearby (1 hour commute daily) clinic and she said to take them anways.
So, about my life otherwise:
The Cubans are all about prevention and health education. Its pretty amazing to see how community medicine and public health really work together and how effective it is in low-resource settings. As for my public health work, what I am really here for, I am working with Cuban doctors who are providing FREE services to the community in Llojeta. This community is very impoverished and still has women resorting to home births, even after gravida 3! As for the commute, its traditonal like I have mentioned before, but the work I get to observe makes it all worthwhile. I am loving the city of La Paz and its acceptance to tourists. There is all sorts of food here- German, French, Bolivian (of course), Japanese, Thai/Indian and Korean. Surprisingly, they are all good, especially the French place with its wine and the German beers!! I have made some good friends and will probably be in touch with a select few for the rest of my life. We have been taking trips together. Recently Andrea, Dawn, and I, along with some other fellas and gals, visited the town of Coroico. It is known for its dangerous roads, which many say is not so dangerous when you take a bus ride instead of biking it. Some girls decided to bike the dangerous road, while most of us chickened out and took the bus. Well, that was definitely scary and probably more than the bike ride. But, the town is beautifully set in the middle of very high mountains that have recently been snowed on and the weather there is hot! So its practically like Lake Tahoe, but better because everything here is cheap and the landscape is very easy to visualize and absorb considering the lack of development in the area. We drank a lot and I finally chose my favorite Bolivian beer- La Autentica. Now I am back in La Paz, with some stomach problems, oh natural! Life is good still and I am glad to be here. More to come.
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