Week 3 - Centro de Salud Hospital San Lorenzo

I spent this week working with Gynecologist Dra. Mary Yucras in her consultation in Hospital San Lorenzo. San Lorenzo is a pueblo about a fifteen minute drive outside of Tarija. Thankfully the Dra picks me up in the morning and I don't have to worry about trying to catch a bus to get out to San Lorenzo.

Dra. Yucras is a very extroverted women and loves teaching and having me practice everything she does to become familiar with the procedures. Over the week, we performed several PAP Smears, did some routine pregnancy check-ups, diagnosed various infections, and gave information about and performed various methods of birth control. By the end of the week I was able to conduct many of the visits all by myself thanks to all of the practice I got working with Dra. Yucras.

Week 4 - Plataforma de Chagas

I spent my fourth week working in a clinic for Chagas Disease.

Chagas is a tropical disease caused by the parasite T. Cruzi, usually carried by the vinchuca bug. This bug lives in many natural environments but has also been found in many homes in the farming regions of Bolivia. The disease is found in all of Bolivia, as well as Argentina, Peru, chile, and many other South American countries. It has also recently been encountered in the United States and Spain.
There is a cure for the disease, but because it can go up to twenty years without displaying any symptoms, many people do not know they have it or do not want to seek treatment.

In the platform, I worked in the diagnostic laboratory, in the consultation of Dr. Rodriguez, and with the nurses. At the end of the week I had an exam on Chagas to make sure I had learned as much as possible while I was working there.

Educacion y Futuro (EdyFu

So for my month in Tarija, instead of taking more Spanish classes I decided that my Spanish was good enough to speak conversationally and that I could put my time to better use. Instead, every afternoon I volunteered at the local children's center, EdyFu.

EdyFu is a center for poor children to come to in the mornings or afternoon to either get help on homework for those struggling in school, or to take classes in trade jobs like gardening, electricity, or cooking. They have a kitchen which provides breakfast or lunch to kids who need it and they have an actual temporary housing facility for children.
Lastly, they have a system of godparents they use to get children sponsors in other countries.

While working at EdyFu, I spent some days assisting the gardening class (including taking the money that would have gone to my Spanish lessons and using it to buy earth, flowers, and seeds to build a new outdoor garden). I spent the other days assisting in the school help class. I also took two days to teach swim lessons in the pool they have on site!

Cochabamba

After I finished my program in Tarija; which, by the way was very hard to leave. My friends and I had a big going away party and I'm really going to miss that place! I headed to the bustling town of Cochabamba. Cochabamba is a huge city by Bolivian standards, with many large buildings and a super warm climate.


Going into it, I had heard that the city was also pretty dangerous, and that I had to stick to the safe parts of the city, which I did so no problems there. When I arrived I checked into my hostel, made a friend, and went off exploring the city. We hiked up to the Christ statue; the second largest in the world! And I know you're probably thinking the biggest is in Rio; it's not. The biggest is in Poland.

The next day I met up with two friends from Tarija, who were also there and we explored some more, including getting lost in the largest market in South America!! It was a really beautiful city with a lot of life and almost no gringos, which I've really grown to love.

Now for the bad part: BLOQUÉO. Bolivians love to protest by blocking off major roads throughout the country. There's always one going on somewhere and the police do nothing to stop it. Probably something to with the fact that current president Evo Morales (the one who never finished high school and imposed a tax on those who didn't have children) used to participate in them himself. At this particular time people were protesting tax increases by blocking off the road from Cochabamba to La Paz. My flight out of La Paz was on a Wednesday morning and I intended to leave Cocha on Monday night by bus to arrive Tuesday morning. The bus company told me that should be fine because bloquéos usually ended before my 10:30 bus would be leaving. I confirmed at 6pm that my bus was still leaving that night and they said yes! No problems. Well, I got there at 10 and as it turns out: problems. They refunded my ticket and I was PANICKING. I had to wait until the next day to rush to a travel agency and buy a last minute plane ticket. The earliest they had was 6pm. So I got to La Paz at 7pm. Took a minibus from the far away airport to my friends apartment. Slept. Got up at 5am and was back to the airport to head home!