Ya, Con Anima y Ganas:)

The other day I was running down a dirt jungle road. And a different other day I was laying in my bed staring out an open jungle window. Both of these times I was REAL excited. Within these moments I realized the amazingness of my surroundings, physically and experientially. I also realized that what I see is not always what there be. Basically the point of my circumvention is to state that one day soon I am determined to spot a monkey in a tree and not have it fly away. So far each excited monkey spotting has actually been a false monkey yet real (in the end equally cool and more colorful) bird spotting. Do you get me? Lions, tigers and bears, not yet. Monkeys, yes, but they are hiding from me. Birds and super cool guide owls galore. Oh yes and speaking of spots, my extended torso area has been invaded by red dot aliens. I asked the Docs… and they said besides my rare sensitive and overly active blood vesseled skin condition (that they think is cool cuz you can draw the letter D on my back and it stays a clear D for a record amount of time), I’m gonna be ok.

So how’s the job going? I sat down to blog it up on Jan 7th to pronounce my one month survival point (and to reward myself a shiny #1 Best Crazy trophy). It turns out several minor emergencies prevented me from posting my excitement and awe at that particular moment.. Side linguistic note: Urgency seems to come up a lot in my daily responsibilities. The word emergency yes still means the same thing but is dealt with (by me) on a much more tranquil, matter of fact manner than I EVER would have imagined.

All in all, everything is going well. Let’s just say, in a short time I’ve learned a long distance and I’m in buen camino (good road) to discover more. I can’t remember (through ambulance trips, patient deaths, political blockades and holiday break) whether or not this past Wed-Sat was my first full week out at the clinic (jungle/Palacios). I’m pretty sure it was. After the break I received my new group of Medical Gringos. They are a small, good and valiant crew made up of 1 retired doc of maybe 70 plus years, two 4th yr med students, and one non-medical volunteer. (We would have more but the current political situation has prevented other less valiant volunteers and their Universities from permitting travel to question mark Bolivia at this time). This group’s level of Spanish is high which makes for a pleasant and consistently immersive experience for all. I know it’s really hard to explain and really hard for you to imagine what it is that I actually do here. It doesn’t make sense but pretty much everything that goes on I coordinate and pretty much any decision that needs to be made (besides the medical diagnosis) I control. In relationship to the Medical Gringo groups I pretty much always feel like I am the mama of 8 or more kids. I drive, I announce the time and manner of departure and arrival, and I give the directions, field the questions and deliver the answers as best as I can. Not only to the Medical Gringos but to pretty much everyone connected to the clinic (besides Boss Man Dr. Doug) I am the “Si, se puede” Yes you can or No you can’t” authority extraordinaire. My job does have a lot of power and responsibility but unfortunately everyone assumes that I have the answers and solutions to everything, no matter if the problem discussed is my personal responsibility or even related to my short time here, or not. This is a constant challenge but as all manageable in that crazy way.

The jungle clinic week was good. Friday was another “If I survived this I can survive anything” day. 100 plus patients, 1 urgent surgery, 1 emergency surgery, 1 straight up emergency and ZERO minutes of phone credit (for god knows what reason) made for an action packed day. Horse and buggy is quite the invention. Telephone technology still leaves a bit to be desired. Things at the clinic are kinda basket case at the moment. I’m stuck with an empty pharmacy, poor and unpredictable community organization (of the villages scheduled to come--- Thurs we had 10 patients. Fri we had 120. The number of doctors scheduled was exactly the same.), and lots of questions that lead to the expectation that I will fix it all. Head honcho Dona Maria (the listed above tasks are in her job description, not mine) is leaving for vacation on Monday…good timesJ. It’s always a bit stressful but I do my best to keep my cool, guide and help people when I can, take on extra work if my time allows and tattle troubles to Boss man and Stateside Founders (ie. I’m not supposed to be an authority figure in this manner). With the energy I have left, I leave the rest to fate and jungle tranquility.

Oh yeah and the social world in Palacios (jungle clinic) is well set. It’s common for the Gringo Clinic Volunteers to play scheduled volleyball, basketball and futbol games for night time activities with the entire village. We had our first fulbito game (soccer on a cement court) Thursday night. For the game I “estrellanar”ed (used for the first time) my new zapatillas, indoor soccer shoes I bought with buddy Zoila in the market. It was a pretty fabulous time and all of Palacios is quite surprised that their new gringita Coordinadora is no foreigner to the fulbito skills. The residents of Palacios have some mighty skills themselves. Anywhoo Wed. night Basket, Thursday night Fulbito, Friday night reunite all at the “neighborhood bar” aka the palm roof mud hut on the dirt road to the clinic. It is some dude’s house with the words Bilar painted on the side. I hear when people arrive he happily brings out a table and serves some cerveza beer and all have a great time.

My patient and hospital work in the city (Mondays and Tuesdays) is going well as well. I’ve streamlined my operations a bit (and am well on the way to making buddies with all the right people) so those days are equally busy and fun when I can take a moment to dance and enjoy through them. I’m getting into the Camba (the Santa Cruz) way and have totally realized if you expect to get work done you have to put in an equal amount of concentrated play time (jokes, gossip, chat, saltena eating and juice drinking). It’s sort of like people here in the tropics need to be warmed up first (don’t ask me why, it’s the hott hott summer here) before they are willing to entertain work ideas. Now that I’ve got the job more or less down, and have made a peace pact with the always emergent craziness… my next goal is to start my life life here. I’m scoping out some friends and will do my best to animate and explore when the “work” day is over. I have offers to go out dancing, explore the city and the upcoming carnival celebrations. I haven’t really felt like I have much time outside of work but hopefully soon I’ll feel comfortable enough to take on the extra social challenge. I’ve received lots of Coordinator Survival advice from Bolivians and past-Coordinators. The recurring theme seems to be separate myself from work (this includes the gringos who come and go) and find something in Santa Cruz that’s for my enjoyment and distraction. My time in the city is short but I’m all about finding a balance between work and play. So far I’ve had two café dates with a friend, and 1 evening of Carnival procession with Tesoro (super sweet and helpful secretary at Galene-clinic in city). It’s a small start, but paso a paso (step by step) I’m always on my way.

Love and lots of it. Happy stateside and Go Barack! Or I haven’t read the news in a few days, is he still in style?