Uyuni and around

So last weekend, the crew and I took a 12 hours bus ride to Uyuni, a town down south of Bolivia. Yes it was long, arduous and certainly uncomfy. With 12 hours, I could easily take a plane to SG! But it was all worth while. Uyuni and its surroundings were absolutely gorgeous. On the 1st day, Fri the 23rd, we visited the "train graveyard". Uyuni was a railway junction for trains that enter into Bolivia from Chile and Argentina and was the main gateway to the outside world- a symbol og modernity and industrial progress. Today, there's nth much in Uyuni (the town itself I mean) besides it being a drop off point for tourists visiting its spectacular scenery around. Here are some pics of us at the train graveyard and semi abandoned tracks.




The superhero, saving the damsel in distress! lol.



We then made our way to see Salar de Uyuni, the biggest salt lake in the world. It really looks like snow in the pictures. Below the surface it is largely saturated by water but its uppermost layer consists of a thick, hard crust of salt, capable of supporting the weight of a car! During the rainy season, the Salar turrns into a enormous mirror and reflects the surrounding mountain peaks and the sky! It did have a little reflection when I went as it was rainy the day before I arrived. Here are some pics:





harvesting salt for industrial purposes

The whole journey through, we traveled in a jeep and I was Dj venus controlling the music at the front passenger seat! oh yeah!! I love car rides and road trips. Here's a super funny video of us passing time in the car!


The scenary was absolutely amazing as we drove more down south and came across loads moutains, volcanoes and lakes. I was absolutely captivated/enchanted by mother earth's beauty. I don't think I'll ever have such a close encounter with spectacular view for a very long time. On the 2nd day, we visted more lakes- Lake Colorado and Lake Verdad. Lake Colarado has a bizarre red colour because if iron lies on the top of that lake. Its full of algae and acts as a great source of food for flamingos. Let some pictures take you away.














One the last day, we went to the hot springs on the southern shore, where I accidentally kicked into a rock and my big toe nail was quite badly injured-bleeding and all. But I decided to remain in the hot springs as it was too good to miss! Well, found the next day that that wasn't the best decision as my toe got infected! whoops. I literally just recovered from my bad ass blister and this comes abt. DIOS MIO!






But all in all, although there was a lack of hot water to take a bathe and it was very very basic accomodation. I enjoyed myself thoroughly and had a great time with these guys! I'm so gonna miss them when I leave! The 24 hrs travelling time was totally worth it!


P/s: There will be more photos on FB soon. So go check them out if you're interested.

Meet the surgery crew

So I have been in peds surgery rotation this week, and I must say I realised I feel like I belong in the OR. I've been having an amazing time learning from specialist in neumology, infectology...etc but nth has ever striked my interest as much as surgery. Ann Marie's on surgery rotation with me, so luckily for me, I have her to explain all the procedures and what not.

Rounds with the residents and interns:


And here's a picture of Ann Marie, the anaesthesiologist, Dr Gallindo and I in the OR.


Ann Marie wants to be a future anaesthesiologist. And the anaesthesiologist actually let her do all the work for a surgery and walked away!? A wee bit cringe.. but she's had experience and is in her 4th year in medicine in the states. It was an experience holding that struggling boy down. Who ever knew that a kid would have that much strength!?


And my first scrub into a surgery!! :D I look ridiculous in the picture but oh well. It was a mark in my life! :D Doubt I'll be able to scrub in again till clinical years!



Tmr's my last day at the hospital and I'll be travelling for another 2 weeks before I head back to UK. Just booked my flights and I'll be leaving La Paz on the 11th of May as there are no earlier flights after I come back from Buenos Aires on the 6th. So I have 5 extra days in La Paz, and I'll be flying on my bday.. Sad times. I'll just have to make up for it when I'm back in UK or SG! I gtg now.. Need to buy farewell/thank you gifts for my spanish teacher and the Docs! But I do indeed have to update you guys abt my trip last weekend to Uyuni. Stay tune! ;)

A mess

SO... I'm meeting my mum in Buenos Aires, Argentina this sat. Have I gotten my tickets? No... I recently found out that I cannot re-route my ticket to travel from Buenos Aires back to London. So I have to fly back to La Paz and change the date of my return ticket. And the next available flight back to UK is only on the 11th!?!? I'll be on the damn plane... miserably and stinky on my bday. :( Just great.. Which also means I have 5 more days in Bolivia before I leave back for UK and Smitha and Ann Marie would be home by then as my prog ends this fri. Just my luck! :(

Anyway, I know I havent been bloggin much. But thats because I'm super busy. Sorry to my girls for not being in contact too! I've been having an INCREDIBLE time at rotations this week. I'm in peds surgery this week AND I SCRUBBED IN TODAY. Tried my best not to look like an absolute noob with Dr Galindo, hope it worked.

I have loads of pics and adventures to update my blog with. Maybe I'll do it tonight. But right now, I just wanted to complain abt my return flight! MEH.

Lago Titicaca y Copacabana

Amazing. Stunning. I don't have any other words to describe the gorgeous view that overwhelmed me as the bus approached Lake Titicaca. Because yes, my vocbulary is that limited. So I'll let the pictures take you away.





So we took a 4 hours bus ride from the city of La Paz to Copacabana, where I slept most of the way (as usual.. thats what the angels would say). But for the times I didn't sleep, I was captured by the scenic views of Bolivia. Sometimes, it would be more than just scenary.. like scenes of people working in farms, walking in El Alto, vendors by the road.. but whatever it was, I was always very enthralled. Our hostel in Copacabana was very very cute. Designed by a German guy who now lives in Copacabana. Each little hut has its own bathroom and a wee kitchen, comfortable beds, towels and hairdryer provided! I wouldn't really call it a hostel but thats its name. Everything was so adorably designed with hammocks indoors and outdoors and not to forget, the amazing view of lake titicaca. The restaurant at that "hostel" had amazing food. So we had our meals there most of the time. The most common dish in Copacabana is Trout- whether grilled, diced, steamed blahh.. Thanks to the lake of course. So for the last 2 days, I have been having loads of fish! A good change, I must say, to the fried everything I get here in my homestay!

So the view was amazing. The food was amazing. The shopping... oooh lala.. so many more stuff compared to La Paz! I bought 2 rings, earings.. an alpaca woolly jumper and socks! I also bought a wee jumper for Kiera! That was the first day I actually shopped. So I'm allowed! haha. Here are the shops:



On sat evening, Cliff wanted to do this hike up a hill. So Sitha, Lindsy and I decided to join. Not having brought an appropriate pair of hikinh shoes...I went up in FLIP FLOPS! climbing steep stairs and rocks! I was very proud of myself for making it to the top without falling!



Here's a video for you, taken on top of the hill we hiked.



On sunday, we took a boat ride on lake Titicaca to Isla del Sol and saw some Inca ruins. Another very beautiful island near copacabana that my limited vocabulary cannot describe. It was more of being on the boat otw to Isla del Sol which excited Ann Marie and I quite abit. It was a bit cold sitting on top of the boat but oh wells! The view paid the price.








After my wonderful trip, I'm not back at La Paz.. the city of strikes. Thank goodness there weren't any today. Not that I'm complaining not having to go for Spanish class if there were to be a road block. opps. haha. My teacher refuses to explain in english what I don't understand. Which is incredibly annoying and frustrating for the both of us because I still don't understand her charades and spanish explanation! grr. Anyway, it'll be good for me.

In the hospital, I'm back with Dr Velasco who specialises in infectious diseases. Sadly, we have a new bunch of local med students, none of who know how to speak english! CRY. That's the only way I can push myself (even further) to learn I guess.

Anyway, that's all for now folks! Hope everyone's doing well!

Uneven pavements and honking cars...

Sipping my watermelon juice, ppl-watching and second-hand smoking... I'm in a cute cafe near my homestay.. chillin'.. and finally havin' some private laptop time.

For the last 3 days, I've been interning with Dra Maria at a Service for Adolescents quite far away from where I stay. I've gotten pretty used to taking a minubus by myself travelling alone in La Paz, since I'm the only one with her this week. The rest of the participants are still at Hospital Del Nino. Basically, the work I do with Dra Maria is doing regular check ups for young adults, ages between 15 to 22ish who are pregnant. It was rather fascinating especially the first time I heard the baby's heartbeat... I was amazed.. It was beautiful. So sometimes, the patients may have some sort of vagina infection, but that's probably the most interesting that clinic gets? Like I'm definitely learning a lot.. but I still crave that adrenaline. Maybe I'll change my final rotation to peds surgery. hmmm.

So I've also started my Spanish lessons here. I have 3 hours of Spanish a day! Its quite tiring for my brain. esp when I only get like 1 and a half hr lunch break in between work at Spanish class. My teacher's quite old and strict. I'm trying to crack her, but it has proven to be quite difficult the last couple of days. At least I get a coffee break after 1.5 hrs into the class.

So making my way all over the city... I've been walking a lot.. not to mention, tripping a lot. Like literally ppl.... hahah. The uneven pavement makes me miss Singapore.. and even UK.. haha. I could take minubuses, but I dont really know where to take them from cause they dont actually have proper bus stops here. ppl just hop on and hop off! This is example of a minibus.. Minibuses are usually a fmaily/friend run business. See the guy sticking his head out... as the bus drive past the people walking on the pavement, he shouts out loud destinations that the bus is heading towards and ppl just hop on...



So they honk SOOO much here its ridiculous. Smitha says is exactly like India here. So maybe Sita, you can imagine how the roads are here. With no exact lane definition or differentiation. Its quite a crazy mess on the roads here. Hence the ppl in zebra outfits. Lol. Smitha and I are learning how to be crazy road crossers. I squeeze in between cars and "jayrun" across the road. opps. I would have gotten fined like a million times in my fine city!

Anyway, I dont have new photos to be uploaded. But I'm going to Copacabana this weekend. Should be loads of fun! Btw ppl, my whatsapp has died. So I'm only reachable if you call me! :)) Love and kisses to all homies!

The weekend.

So.. a bunch of us went to Tiwanaku- an ancient ruined city. It is one of the most monumental and intriguing archeological sites in South America! It was home to the Andean civilisation which then founded the Inca empire. There's only like 10% left of the city. Everything else is pretty much in the Museums and blah.. Our very animated guide definitely made our trip worth it. Here are some pictures!





The Sun Gate! Yeah they worshiped the sun.


Our very cute guide who was demonstrating how mummies were put in tombs- in the fetal position.


On sunday, Smitha and I left the house for downtown at 930am. Maya (if thats how u spell her name), our domestic helper, took us out and walked us around. She such a lovely girl. I only wish I can explain to u how nice the ppl are here. Anyway, we walked round town and visited Inglesia de San Francisco where I stayed for mass! The church is soo beautiful. The inside was almost as gorgeous as the basilicas I saw in Rome. Nice to have mass at my patron saint church!




After mass, I met up with the girls again and we continued walking through Mercado de Hechiceria! aka, the witches market. Here I saw dead aborted baby llamas! Apparently, the culture is to burn one of them and other stuff as an offering to heaven and hell asking for things from mother earth. Here's a sample pic of a offertory basket.



We also covered Plaza Murillo and saw Palace Presidencial and Palacio Quemado. The plaza was basically bustling with pigeons everywhere!! Don't think they are educated to know that pigeons are criminals to spreading diseases! The locals just chill at the Plaza on a lazy sunday afternoon and feed the pigeons. Totally "leh pak" lifestyle! (If thats how you spell it) LOL.



This pic reminds me of Mr bean in London. haha.





Anyway, blogger takes ages to upload pics. I'll upload more pics on FB sometime. I gotta go join my mates for dinner now and stop being a globalisation geek.

Before I end, just wanted to say... SITA MAHAN I MISS U. Everytime I see smt in the witches market (thats sells loads of stuff), I keep thinking you'll like it! hahahaha. Hope u had a good bday babe!! We'll do a post celeb when i get back! <3

Amigos

So, meet my life savers during rounds.. The bolivian med students are so nice! Here are some pictures of us and the local med students during work.. :)



A 4 days old baby who was abandoned at a home because her mum was schizophrenic. :S So poor thing. She was adorable though. That's Dente in the photo with me.


Work has bee quite hectic... especially trying to pick up the spanish part. But I'm learning so much and I'm so glad to be here! :)

A taste of La Paz

Met Karl, Ann Marie and Smitha..




Typical Bolivian women dressing...


A street fruit shop..


Typical textile...



So I'm currently chilling in Cafe Alexander where I get great fresh juices and free Wifi! too bad it doesnt work for phones though.. I had a great day tdy with Dr Velasco in the Department of Infectious diseases. The room was small and each bed had a door and a glass window for us to look into. Doing rounds in that room was horrible. Danica told me ppl fainted in that room before as windows aren't opened and following ONE Dr Velasco, were abt 15ppl. 4 of us, medical students, residents, nutritionists and nutrition students and nurses! I felt so suffocated. I left the room like twice to take a breathe of fresh air outside. gees. Anyway, having said that, I got to see patients with pneumonia (again), TB, pressure ulcer (you cld see his muscles and bones through his wound!) and more pneumonia. Dr Velasco taught us how to differentiate through an X-ray the different kinds of pneumonia- whether it was comprimiso pleura, comprimiso alveolar, a mixture of alveolar and interstitial, just interstitial and Atrapamiento Aereo (where ure air sacs inflat like balloons and pushing ure ribs such that they almost appear horizontal in xrays and not slunted like how they shld be). It was very interesting. Made friends with the medical students who are soo nice. They are so patient with us and are always translating for us.

Anyway, I can't wait for fast and furious 5!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

What I signed up for...

So, my first day at the hopital was muy interesante. More culturally interesting than medically. I was assigned to Doctura Tejerina. She's such a lovely lady. She specialises in pediatric pulmonology. So we were doing morning rounds in the pulmonology ward. Let me remind you, that I'm on a pediatric internship.. soo our patients were no more than 4/5 years old.
Everything was ok... till rounds started. I suddenly felt like I was flung into a different world- Medical Spanish. Obviously, doctors have no time to waste and Dr Selenas was speaking soooo rapidly I felt like my world was spinning trying to catch up. Lag time for each word- 4mins. There was no time to build my beautiful castles in the air, I felt like I late for a train! Dra Tejerina sensed my moments of panic and kindly said that she'll go through the patience one by one all over again when rounds ended. I was like... Praise the Lord.. LOL. It was also really helpful that a medical student knew how to speak english and was translating what was going on as much as he could. Very kind of him.

I won't bore you non medics with details about each patient.. as it would also take me ages.. but one thing I learnt from Dra T from my first day was that she had excellent rapport with the patients and their worried parents. She spoke to the parents one by one, moving from bed to bed, explaining their child's condition. She communicated with the parents on a human to human level so well. Something I definitely wanna take home with me. She held their shoulders and she spoke to them... gave them hugs... yadayada.. obviously, Bolivia's culture allows that kinda thing. I can imagine, one day, if I attain my dream of becoming a pediatrician and speak to like an ah beng father or something.. He'd be like "Eh whhaat. why u touch touch me? Don't touch me caan. Wait my wife see la!"

So anyway, by the time I've posted this, I would have already worked with Dra T with down syndrome babies (which is technically what I'll be doing my tmr as I'm typing this). I didn't find much information on spanish terms related to down babies in my Medical Spanish guidebook. So fingers crossed!

Lastly, something intrigued me otw to Hospital del Ninos.. I saw this...



Yes... La Paz hires ppl to dress in zebra costumes to work as "Zebra crossings"! This is because of the high rates of pedestrian related accidents within the last few years! How amusing is this idea!? Que mono! I believe the person in that costume must be roasting his ass off under the hot sun! Zebra meat anyone?

Orientation

Met Mr Gonzalo. An awesomely pleasant gentleman (which you can hardly find at this day and age). He's our program coordinator and basically showed us round the area we will be needing to know and bla. He also gave us a lecture on

Cultural Competency and Global Health

. For the former, I think cultural competence has a lot to do with the ability to communicate with people from different parts of the world and RESPECTING their way of life(AND THINKING). Its kinda like EQ which, I think I have....or so ppl tell me...In La Paz, Mr Gonazalo said nobody cares about ethnicity... whether you're Gringo (Ang mohs for the singaporeans reading this.. or just basically, whites), Chinese or Indian. Everyone adapts to a common culture, relates and develops from there. Apparently, Bolivia has a very high Human Development Index? and the country doesn't have to be rich to attain this. Eg, The Arabs are filthy rich cause of their natual resources..oil.. but they are not the most developed country... Anyway back to La Paz, working in the medical scene, I must understand that there are certain beliefs amongst the ppl here because of its tradition. And these beliefs clashes with modern medicine. What these beliefs are? Beats me.. must be some... "I am sick and I will drink coca tea and pray to the sun god" kinda thing. LOL. So having said that, that is a current problem doctors now face in Bolivia. The difficulty of integrating traditions, beliefs and modern medicine. I think this problem will eventually evaporate after more constructive development in Bolivia. How long will it take? I have no idea. No one has.

After lunch, a lovely meal prepared by Elizabeth and her maids, Karl, Smitha, Ann Marie and i "trekked" (it was very far for me... u know me.... walking kills me...) to the language school- Central Boliviano Academy to take a Spanish placement test.. which I clearly failed. LOL. Actually all the MCQs were ok... I could still eenie meenie it out.. but then there was the written section.. lets just put it this way.. opps? haha. After the test, we went for a wee walk around that left me panting... Kerry and Roz would totally call me a weakly..haa

In the evening, we met Dra. Uribe. She's lovely. She gave us a lecture on the most common problem among children in La Paz- Congenital Dislocation and Developmental Dysplasia de la cadera(of the hip). We learnt the cause of the problem, how to diagnose the problem, treatments (depending on the severity)-harnesses, metal rods, etc... However, all she spoke was in SPANISH. Thank goodness I've done the lower limbs. So I understood quite a bit...ish...

Anyway, everyone I met so far is soo nice. All the participants, the mentors... the ppl in La Paz... absolute gift from God. So thankful to have gotten this lucky so far. Alas, some luck has appeared in 2011. Hope it stays this way!

Ciao amigos y madre...

Breathless

I don't mean the beuaty of Bolivia... nor the culture shock...nor the feeble attempt at trying to communicate in what little Spanish I have knowledge of... I literally mean my body lacks oxygen. Breathlessnessdyspnoea. It is 3568m in La Paz, Bolivia and boy is the high altitude hitting me. I'm not sure if it is the 250pounds worth of food I ate in London over the last 3 days before leaving for La Paz that's causing this unfitness, or the altitude, but when i climb up one flight of stairs, I feel like I just hiked Mount Everest or smt. Gees. I choose the believe the latter. Evidence? My bleeding nose (Solo un poco).


Anyway, besides feeling like such a weakling, I've fully unpacked my overweight luggage and settled in. My homestay lady is so lovely. Her name is Elizabeth. She has 5 kids and only her youngest boy is staying at home(He's 18). The rest of her kids are married and one of her hijas dances! So she currently lives with her son, Mauricio, her mother and her maid, Maya. In the house, there's another guy that lives on the 3rd floor who's like 64 years old and is a mining engineer here in La Paz for the last 4 years. He seems really nice and has offered to take us around the area to show us where to get the cheapest but good quality fruits and where to change money and yadayada. By us... I mean my roommate of course.. Smitha! She's lovely. Her parents live in India but she lives with her husband in Chicago. Yeah she's Indian. (Just can't escape them can we? hahaha sita....) Most imptly, we get along very well and I feel so comfortable around her... (scatching my armpit openly and what not. LOL.. standard..) Here's a pic of us when we met at the airport with our old school Nokia phone provided by the organisation.





The house.. omg the house is gorgeous. It is waaayyyyyyyyy past my expectations.. Its 3 storeys and very nicely furnished. Que bonita! Elizabeth is probably very much more fortunate than most Bolivians. Here are some pics of her house and us faffing abt.


The Living Room.



The Dinning Room.



The Attic.


Well, I start work tmr. Clinical rotations in the morning and language courses in the afternoon. Hope Smitha and I get similar shifts so we can go to the hospitals tgt! Anyway ppl, my Bolivian number is +591-60107803. Stop being stingy and call me! I can't seem to call out with my number cause international calls cannot be made out but I can receive! Kyna..... thanks for trying.. but fail la you.. haha. So I think that's it for now.. pretty excited for clincals tmr. Ciao peublo! :)

And so the journey begins...

Currently at Miami airport now.. waiting for my next flight to Bolivia which is in an hour!

Just met 2 other participants doing the same program as me in Bolivia. We had dinner together at Miami airport (Sushi... duhhh haha). Ann Marie's a 3rd year medic in Kansas and Karl is applying for medicine this fall. We had such a good dinner and they seem really nice! Initially, on my way from Heathrow to Miami, I was thinking.. 'shit Lydia... why did you sign up for this!?' I was like getting cold feet on the plane and panicking... a little... but now, after having met Ann Marie and Karl, I feel so much better now!

I carried a backpack as a hand carry (Thanks Katie) and thought to myself... I can never last on a backpacking trip or smt. My dislocated shoulder felt like it was gonna pop out again! Definitely not hiking or trekking this trip then...


Ok, I'm kinda making no sense or random sense because I'm about to board soon and am just making a quick post to say Ive landed in Miami safely and otw to Bolivia now! Take care everyone in UK and back home and I'll update this blog whenever I can! :D