La Hospital

Well, since I returned from the beach, everything went back to normal. We have tarea in the afternoon, and we are very short on volunteers, so we are all helping each other out with all of the projects. There are five core people who volunteer with the projects every day, plus the two psychologists, and occasionally the president...we had a meeting yesterday, and we realized how clear it was that we are walking a very fine line between complete coverage and insanity. For scale...the biggest of our projects is the health project, most of which involves taking 50 odd kids to the dentist for a check up, and any further treatment that is needed. All of the children need at least two appointments but most of which need 4 or more. Some of the kids appointments are so long (three hours or more), that only one child can to go the dentist at a time. That involves four hours on the bus (to collect child, take to dentist, return child, return home). So far, Sabina has been doing all of it. Occasionally, now, three of us will fill in for her, because we need to make sure she doesn´t lose her mind, and as well, can work on her bachelor´s thesis, and plan for other projects she is involved in. I admire her involvement, but at this point, do not envy it so much.

As for me, I will deliver breakfast for two schools, each with sixteen kids, twice a week...and go to the dentist about twice a week (it´s a full seven or eight hour day!) as well as homework help every day. It still leaves me time for Capoeira, some running in the mornings, some sleeping in, and time to go to the center to shop for food or whatever. I am currently in pursuit of finding this enviornmental organization that runs both in Arequipa and another region in Southern Peru...I have a map, but it´s not helping. The addresses are very confusing, even for homes, as they don´t have street names most of the time, they are only by district and building name and number. I am sure I will get the jist of all this nonsense by the time I leave, but until then, I am running around like a lunatic, not knowing which way is which.

So, after the beach, I decided I would go get tested for parasites because my stomach problems have not subsided entirely, which worries me a bit. I walked to the hospital in my district (which is a nice one) and couldn´t believe how many people where milling around in there. It was as crowded as a DMV on a Saturday morning. I didn´t see anything graphic that I can remember...so I presume the emergencies enter somewhere else. The hospital is set up a bit differently, and it feels more like a massive doctor´s office with lots of walk in appointments. Apparently you can get appointments, but for some reason, the man helping me assumed I wanted one right that very second. I ran around different offices for an hour or more, clueless as to what the hell was going on. All I could do is trust that he knew what he was doing. Part of the reason I didn´t want an appointment at that very moment was because I didn´t have any money. After the stolen wallet, I was living off 100 dollars, thinking that would be adequate until I got my cards in the mail (It lasted two weeks, I think). I was on my way to the bank when I thought, yes, appointment, how civil and orderly this could be. Well, it was, sort of. I did see a doctor (who, according to my helper,speaks very good English.) Wow, not so. So, we spoke in Spanglish, or mostly him speaking English, me speaking Spanish. He ordered tests, and told me near the city center, there is a laboratory I need to go to. Super. They don´t have a lab at the hospital, or can´t send off samples to the lab...I have to go. Three times. Today is my last day, and tomorrow I will get the last of the results. The women who work there are very nice, prompt, and patient. Compared to so many of the places I have been, the one woman who worked there really made me question...What the hell is she doing here? Her aura just seems so incredibly confident and smart...more so than the creepy gastroenterologist, or all of other crazy people of whom have no sense of professionalism.

So, I decided to go to Coporaque again this weekend. We will leave at 3 30 am for the 3 and a half hour bus ride to Chivay, plus the combi ride to Coporaque which is a bumpy, isolated, one track road through the beautifully vibrant farms. Fun word- chacra, which is farm. I am both excited and nervous to travel to Coporaque, as there are no stops or bathroom breaks included, at at 3 30 it´s really cold on the bus. It will be really great to see the family again that we stay with when we travel (a make shift hostel-traditional home). Everything is so close to everything (because mostly, there is nothing) that it makes learning your way around very easy. It´s always much easier to settle in if you´ve already been there once. The children will feel more comfortable, and they will better understand my level of Spanish compared to a stranger. I know I have so much more to learn, it seems an insurmountable task with out an exsessive amount of energy and time spent soley on studying. When I go back, if I get accepted into Clark University, I think I will continue my studies in Spanish. I am working on very little it feels like. Why are there so many conjugations? The good thing about Spanish is that most of the words are some kind of cognate with English...and that there is a set structure for changing Spanish into English, or vice versa.

Well, I am off on the long walk to the lab, and then I will try to find someone who knows where the hell this environmental organization is. I will go to the dentist today instead of tarea. I am not bored with this, because it is still a challenge to get everything organized. Right kid, right bus, right time, right dentist office...yowsers.

Oh yes, and yesterday, as I was walking home, I thought I´d take a peek down into the little stream where sometimes there are cows tied up, peeing pooping sleeping and eating in the same 25 square foot spot, only to see some kind of hide. I thought, wow, another dead dog. Super, that can´t be good being right in the water like that. Then, I looked harder, and realized, my god, that is a huge dog. No, no. It was a cow hide. A cow must have died right at the watering hole type spot, and no one thought to drag him away from the water to decompose, as cows are very heavy as it is, I suppose a dead one would be impossible to budge. They are maltempered, even in death. How stubborn.