AlcohoL always makes things better

Since my fight with E coli, I now have the sniffles and congestion. If it is not one thing, then its the other. I have been running a subjective fever. Despite these things, life is good. Why? Because alcohol always makes things better. I have been living in Bolivia as if it was Vegas. I have been drinking loads almost every night. It has been incredible. I actually got drunk last night after 28 (less than 40oz) bottles of beer among 6 people.  (The preferred drink is Bock- Bolivian Beer, see photo above) The 6 people were Cuban/Bolivian doctors. They are people who are Bolivian by descent but go to Cuba to complete medical school. Now they are in their internship year and are pretty amazing people. They run several hospitals and clinics in La Paz and I visited the Cuban hospital yesterday. All the services are free. They offer OB/GYN, surgery, internal medicine and trauma/emergency services, all for free. It is a really nice hospital with very minimal resources, but they definitely are saving lives. I have been told that in the morning, starting at 4am, you cannot walk around freely because the patient population is so large. I have been conducting interviews with several directors of NGOs also and that has been very blissful, insofar as, that I actually am starting to feel useful to society. I am able to ask intellectual questions to country directors of reproductive health services, have a conversation with them and be considered an important individual. It is very awesome that I am able to meet such influential people. After my tour at the Cuban hospital and drinking, we did a little bit of dancing and headed home.

My day today (6/2/2011)- I was really drunk at 10am today (this is incident number 2, you think I would learn from incident #1, but no).  I decided to sleep in especially since I did not have to be somewhere until 230pm. I did some chores and then headed to work, forgetting that I actually did not have dinner last night and that this might be the reason why my stomach is feeling funny at 130pm. So I bought a picante empanada-delicious!

I headed to work and after many bus rides, I realized I am at the wrong place (surprise, surprise). It was definitely a miscommunication. So I chewed some coca leaves because the new place is at a higher altitude and I wanted to prevent nausea. So, it now is approximately 4pm and I really think the whole day was a waste. But, wait. I am in Bolivia, and of course, no day goes by without feeling some sort of awe. I was told that we were going to take a few buses and head up this other clinic in Pasankeri (rural La Paz). But, of course, my preceptor decides to take me the back route via walking. I was kind of upset at first, but once we went through this hike through all these trees and dirt and mountains (the paths are very narrow), I came upon the view of the entire city- rural and urban. It felt like I was in a plane. The aerial view of the whole city is spectacular and now, all my tiredness and frustration with trying to get to this place has diminished into the thin air surrounding me. Finally, I arrive at my clinic and started to do my interviews with the women. I am conducting a study here among the women in Pasankeri and El Alto- to understand what women think and know about cervical cancer/pap smears/violence (both domestic and sexual). The women are so sweet but scared in the beginning. I am asking questions about their past sexual lives, so it is a bit difficult to become comfortable right off the bat. Nonetheless, life is action packed nowadays and my time here is definitely going to start flying now. I have made some local friends and now I need to practice my Spanish even more when tipsy; I think that is the best way when compared to in-class learning (at least for adults, do not recommend it for children, of course).