...and so did I. SSShhh, don´t tell my brother (he thinks I´m bad ass). But yes, I think it all got to me or it was a lovely combination of the poverty, deaths, pain, sickness and sadness that I saw. I am patting my friends back, trying to get him to breath. He has gradually escalated into a state of shock, hysteria. He is struggling as tells me about his life--his hard hard life--how he held his little sister in his arms and watch her take her last breath as she slipped in to the hands of death, how at such a young age is living on his own, how he was recently beaten up and robbed...life is just too much to bare for some...but as he relays these terrors to me through heaving, panicked breaths and tears flowings down his cheeks, it literally took all the power in me to avoid allowing my own tear filled eyes to release the waters that I held back. Why is life so unjust to some? We ended up having to take him to the hospital as his shock worsened, on the way he was revived twice. Thanks to God he is now stabilized and recovering at home. Please keep him in your prayers. There is much more going on in his life than this one instance of hysteria.
"Yesi por favor, ven a 27 de Mayo (una clinca) necesitamos tu ayuda...¡da prisa!" "Come quickly
Jessica to our other clinic, we need your help." says Dr. Omar. It turns out that the center was crowded with patients, the dentist hadn´t arrived yet, and a young 13 year old girl was un-
stabled with dilated pupils, unresponsive, and continued to pass out. Of course I went, as quickly as possible...getting transportation isn´t always the easiest seeing that you had to flag down speeding mini-buses (that is if it wasn´t full either). I began attending patients, while the doctor and other nurse cared for the 13 year old who had apparently taken pills from a classmate that she couldn´t remember the name and didn´t know what they were.
26 de Agosto
Today is the day where we remember the elders and thank them for everything they do for us and remind them how special and important they are in our community. I get to dance with them in the center of town and celebrate their life. They are quite impacting, full of character. One threatened to punch me since I hadn´t saved her any bread, joking I think or at least hope, ha (remember that lovely picture of me selling bread out of a huge basket as I scream tempting offers to draw in people? get to do that every tuesday) At the same time another is teasing me about how I yell, compra pan....pan caliente! And yet another behind me is trying to teach me aymara--maya, paya, quimsa, pusi, phiska...1,2,3,4,5...and that is about all I learned with the numerous distractions.
So I´m going to surprises the hermanas, Anitawa and Janet. Yeah I know they aren´t that old, but they are older than me. So Irene, Wilma and I are cooking up an American style breakfast to start their day off right and respect them also on this day of celebration! Hope I wake up before them...
Los Revisiones
Who ever thought the idea of holding a thermometer in your mouth would be so difficult? Half of the kids want to bite it and the other half think I´m trying to give them a shot. Maybe the fear
comes from the threatening parents who say I´ll give them a shot if they don´t listen. The idea of a doctor visit is not common for these kids. You know in the states, the doc comes into the room and the kid is ready with his mouth open for the thermometer. Here they are terrified of the white coat doctors, that apparently will come to their house and give them shots if they disobey. I really wish the parents would use a different form of threatening their kids. Also, herbs and religion are more common among the aymara to cure sickness....not modern medicine. What is a pill going to do anyway?
Titicaca
Highest and deepest lake. Thought to be a volcano at one time, or maybe still is. A hidden city lies below along with a sea monster to protect it. A lot of superstition here...but it was enough for me to not want to jump in to test the suspicions, not to mention is was freezing! I love how bolivians view time. We were supposed to leave for the lake at 6:30 AM...we left at 10:30. But it was such a great trip. It was meant to be a day trip, but with
the warmth and beautiful view of the lake, plans were changed and we stayed at a friends place and got up at 4AM the next morning to make it
to work in time.Tiquina is a quaint little town. Donkeys, sheep, pigs and all. We walked along the lakes shore, shared some Bolivian beer, played soccer, and drank tea. It was so relaxing we decided to stay and build a campfire, relax more, and tell ghost stories. We may have slept only about 3 hours that night...and yes we arrived very late for work the next morning. It was a combination of the multiple modes of transportation: 4 AM taxi, 5:30 AM boat, 6 AM bus, 8 AM mini-bus, 8:30 AM another mini-bus, 9 AM walking to finally arriving to my destination-showering, changing and then rushing off to go be a nurse. It was worth the lack of sleep, I was able to get to know the people I work with better and meet another family. Who were so kind and absolutely thrilled that I was a Christian. They gave me gifts to remember them and asked me to come back if I
was ever close by, so hospitable. And like all Bolivians, showed their hospitality by stuffing every space in my body with as much food as they could offer!
Only one more weekend left to travel! Hmm...where should I go?
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