Shooting, Lab Coats, and Paralysis

Happy Sunday!

What I thought for the first couple of days after I'd arrived were loud children outside my house, I have decided are actually birds that make noises I have never heard before. They are really loud and may be pets because sometimes the neighbors yell at them to "shut up."

It is Sunday and I guess everything here shuts down on Sunday. My new Irish friend told me this, and he is absolutely right because I heard about 1/8 of the street noise I usually hear. Today I read and finished a book Rachel lent me called "One for the Money" that involves crime and shooting and violence. I alternated between my doorway, which gets all the intense sun, and the rest of my room which is too good at insulating itself from all the heat so it is a bit chilly in the middle of the day in 80 degree temps. I heard firecrackers throughout the day that sounded a lot like gunshots, which fed my already on edge nerves from reading this book all day. (I loved the book Rachel!) So that was today- but let's go back to Friday.

Friday was my visit to my volunteer site, and my introduction to how to get there. A really nice Bolivian employee at the office went with me to show me where to go to catch a Taxi Trufi, which if I haven't already mentioned, is like a shared cab that has a specific route like a bus. So we walk a few blocks to a busy street and hail the 132, which took us like 15 minutes to find one. It was already really crowded but we got in and traveled about 15 minutes to the Health Center. You pay 1.50 bolivianos when you get off (about 20 cents or something), and to stop you say "Pare por favor!" or "Voy a bajar." The clinic was filled with moms and their young children. I met the director who asked me what I wanted from my experience. I wasn't expecting an interview and it was conducted in spanish so I was really sloppily portrayed because my first response was "no se..uh.." which means I don't know. I eventually came up with an answer that seemed ok. Anyway he was nice and showed me around the clinic and I met the staff which are half med students from the area. Then I watched a nurse give an infant a shot in the shoulder, and the director showed me a desk with a computer and said something about it not working but I have a hunch that my first assignment has something to do with using it. At least I hope so.

We returned to our neighborhood via a bus, called just "trufi," this way she said, I would know both ways. I didn't understand everything she said but I do not intend on using the bus system, it was less comfortable and dropped me off in different spot that has no easy landmarks, albeit a block closer to home. Tomorrow I am doing this on my own and my work day is from 8am to noon. I was informed by Sustainable Bolivia that I need a lab coat. And I had two options for where to go to buy one:

I could A) go to the med school that the employee pointed out on our way to the clinic, or B) go to the corner of Columbia and Laza, which is what the volunteer coordinator believed would lead me to a shop where they sold this stuff, but she wasn't sure. Since I didn't remember how far it was to the Med school, and what exactly it looked like, I tried the cross-street given to me by my volunteer coordinator. It was only 8 or so blocks away so I walked. It was the middle of the day and very very hot. I didn't expect the altitude to affect my walking stamina but it did. I got to the corner and walked up Columbia and down Laza one block in each direction, but found nothing. So I back tracked and walked up the street where the Med School had been. When I was about 2 blocks up on this street, I noticed a Western looking guy pass me by, so I followed him down the street because,...well I don't know why. After about 5 more blocks of following him and looking for the med school, I ran into a big black dog that was barking at everyone. It didn't start barking at the western guy until he was almost past him, so that guy got past fine. Then, it walked towards me and kept barking so I sat on a bench trying to act cool, but I reverted to my intense fear of dogs and got up and crossed the street and headed back towards my house. (It barked at a Bolivian family too and they also freaked out so it wasn't just me!) A 4 year old tried to take my water bottle on my walk back to the house which is strange because this isn't the type of area where kids commonly do that. I decided I wasn't meant to get the lab coat that day and I'd have to hope the Clinic Director could help. I was also frustrated that this was a requirement but no one at the office could tell me where exactly to go. Anyway I've decided not to worry about the lab coat. The dog was a strong enough signal of that- as it turns out I was heading towards the bus terminal where people commonly get pick pocketed. So.. yay scary dog! Oh just a side note- Cochabamba has an alarmingly high number of stray dogs. All of whom, except scary black dog, ignore people and hold their heads down sniffing along the sidewalks.

Oh also! My mom treated all my jeans and all my button down shirts with mosquito repellant for clothing. It is supposed to last a week or so. The day I got here I started to notice my nose feeling tingly every time I touched it. I also noticed the tips of my fingers feeling tingly too. I didn't want to overreact, how could I have contracted some fatal paralysis disease already! Friday morning while waiting at the office to leave for the clinic, it hit me. My nose has been kind of sniffly because of the temperature shifts here, and I've been touching it with my shirt sleeve or my hand. My hands have been constantly touching my jeans and my shirt to roll up my shirt sleeves! This stuff is strong! I made an effort all day Friday to not touch my clothing and it started to lessen. Now that I've gone two days without wearing the treated clothing over the weekend (I've been in sweats and t-shirts), it hasn't happened at all.

Talk to you soon!

Love,

Hillary