Things Just Fall Into Place

Ive always been a guy who sees the glass half full and rolls with the punches. This trip has help secure these beliefs as everything seems to have just fallen perfectly into place and besides a few setbacks (bound to have a couple of those), everything has worked out perfectly.

So last I emailed you I had been working at the childrens clinic. I am still working there and am really enjoying it. Its definitely a difficult position and I am becoming more impressed with people who work with children or people with disabilities. Even though none of the children can walk and a few can barely talk (although its in spanish so that makes it alot more difficult), it really is a rewarding experience to play and help these kids. They are starting to recognize me and when I show up, I am greeted by a huge smile and the word allí (means there because they want me to stroll them outside). Although I am really not doing much, I feel like I am making a difference in their lives so that is really cool.

I started last week at Centro Medico de Santiago. It is a clinic of Es Salud, a private hospital here. I have really enjoyed my work so far. During the first two hours I am helping out in the lab drawing blood. Then after that I move to the triage where people check in where i help with height, weight, blood pressure and blood sugar level. I then eventually move to a thing called topico. Its where people get all their work done after they consult the doctor, ranging from pain medication injections to wound cleaning to EKG readings etc. I have only been observing so far but this week I think I will be getting to do more. Everyone at the clinic knows I want to go into medicine and so they want to help me get a lot of experience so that is really nice. Really happy that this worked out.

Have an interview tomorrow in the public hospital to work in the emergency department. Not sure if that will turn into anything but I figure I should give it a shot. Walked through the emergency department today and it is exactly what you would expect in a poorer country. Think it would be really cool to get some experience in there.

Been working at the discoteca on the weekends and been having a blast. Its a ton of fun plus a great way to practice spanish and get to meet new people. This weekend met a couple recent med school graduates who want to help me with the application process so that was pretty cool. Everyone at the bar is great but this next week I will splitting time between the crazy discoteca and the more tranquile lounge bar downstairs. Should be a nice mix.

Besides that life is going pretty well. The lab tech invited me to play soccer with him on Saturday and that was a blast. Called fulito cause its small sided soccer on a pitch about the size of indoor soccer but there are sidelines. They thought i was pretty good so they invited me to play with their full sided team this weekend. That should be fun. They also invited me to lunch on my birthday this wednesday to eat some traditional food called cuy. If u dont know what that is, lets just say im not totally thrilled on the idea of eating guinea pig but guess its popular here so we shall see how that goes.

Guess thats it for now. hope all is well back home and am so excited that I am more than halfway done and will be back to the states soon

What a Lovely City

I have been here for about a week and a half and I have absolutely loved it. Cuzco is an incredible city with lots of history but also lots to do.

So the first couple days here were spent in a hostel as I tired to figure everything out with the school and volunteering. Last thursday I went to salsa lessons with the school to try and meet some people which was really chill. Salsa was fun and I got to know a lot of the San Blas kids (San Blas is the school I am in). Friday I didnt have much to do so I just toured around the city. Ended up sitting at a bar just chatting it up with the bartenders (Yes, it was in spanish and i understood most of it). After about 2 hours of just hanging out talking, the manager must have heard that I was around for a while and liked me because he offered me a job as a bartender at a discoteca. Wasnt sure if he was lying or not but sure enough, last saturday, I learned how to bartend. It was quite an experience but really enjoyed myself. Hope to continue doing it twice or so a week for the rest of my time here.

Saturday I also moved in with my host family. They are super sweet grandparents who have two of their married daughters living in the house. They have a nice house and I have a comfortable bed with my own bathroom so that is pretty sweet. There is an elderly couple also staying at the house and studying at the school from Sacramento so its nice to hear some english every once in a while. I am planning on sticking with this family for at least this month and maybe the rest of the time here in Cuzco.

My interviews last friday were a little disappointing at first because they both seemed to be what i wanted. I had a follow up interview with a doctor at the hospital on Monday and he informed me that there was no work for me at the hospital but he did have a friend at a clinic who needed help. So i met with him on Tuesday and talked about what I will be doing. Sounds like I will be doing exactly what I wanted (taking vitals, dressing wounds, other stuff they need) so I am super happy to start that on this coming Monday. As for the Children´s clinic, it did not turn out like i wanted. I am helping autistic kids in a day care. It is a very mentally challenging position as all of these kids are in wheelchairs and most of them can not speak, just mumble. For most of the time there I walk them around outside and help feed them. I plan to do this twice or three times a week depending on my schedule. First day was very tough but the second day was quite inspiring as the kids got to know me and I started to see how to entertain them and make them laugh. So as of now, I am really excited about the work I will be doing here in Cuzco.

I havent had much time to get to exploring all of the cool stuff in and around Cuzco. Most of my time has been spent just getting to know the city and trying to meet people. I hope to get out and see the sights in the next week or two and hopefully book my Machu Picchu trip soon (probably going in late April). Hope all is well back at home and I cant believe I am almost half way through with my trip. Before you know it, I will be home sharing all my stories and experiences

Northern Argentina and Salar de Uyuni

Here are some of the pictures I took while on my adventures. Hope you enjoy

Northern Argentina: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2125129&id=7304822&l=54a089e26b

Salar de Uyuni: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2125207&id=7304822&l=acbfd58af7

Made it to Cusco

Sorry that I have not had a chance to update you with all of my adventures these past two weeks. It has been a crazy two weeks with so much going on, I have not really had time for anything. Most of my travels where arriving in the city by night bus, touring the city, and then off to a new one that night. So not much chance to write and keep you up to date. But I am proud to say that I made it to Cusco safe and sound. Here is what I have been up to:

From Buenos Aires Tyler and I took a night bus to Cordoba which I really liked. It was a pretty cool town with a lot of young people. Guess there are a lot of universities in and around the city. Toured there for two days and saw all of the tourist sites. Jesuits had a big impact there so that was pretty cool being from a Jesuit highschool and college and all.

Then we took a night bus to Salta which was a smaller town then Cordoba. Toured around the city in a day and then decided, after hearing how cool the surrounding mountains and landscape were, to raft. So we signed up to do some white water rafting which turned out to look beautiful with all the reds and blues and purples and greens. It was only class 1 and 2 rapids so very easy.

We then took a night bus to the border which turned out to be quite a hassle. Tyler and I ended up having to pay 135 US dollars in order to get into the country. Guess it costs that much for Bolivians to enter the US so they tax us. After talking with some people, found out that most of the people of Bolivia hate it because it cuts way back on US tourism to the country. We sat around the border town of Villazon for a half a day and watched a super pitiful carnival celebration. We then caught the train at about 330pm for a supposed 10 hour ride.

Let me tell you, this was the worst train ride ever. The sites and canyons we went through were amazing. But once it got dark, it started to rain. At about 11pm I noticed the train had stopped for a longer time than usual. I looked outside and saw our engine had disconnected from us and was traveling back the way we had come with no cars. A conductor announced that the tracks had been flooded and we would need to stay the night where we were and would be updated about midday. We sat in the same spot till 330pm the next day, thats 14.5 hours in the same spot in some random country side. No food no nothing. It was pretty bad. We eventually go to Uyuni after a 27.5 hour adventure.

In Uyuni we decided to do the 3 day salt flat tour which was surreal. It was one of the coolest things I have done this trip. First day was spent traveling on the salt flats that had about an inch of water on them in a 4wd car. Ill put some pictures up so you can look at them. It was the coolest thing i have seen. We then slept in a really small village in a building made of salt. even the beds were made of salt (mattresses on top of course) but the walls and tables were all made of salt. Pretty cool. Then the next two days were spent traveling around the south western corner of Bolivia visiting a bunch of colorful lakes. Pretty cool to see. Climbed to over 5000m so altitude did have an effect on some of us. Tyler and I werre with an Argentina couple and a Swedish couple although the guy was from Bolivia. Gave Tyler and I a lot of chance to speak and practice our Spanish.

Once we got back, we headed to La Paz. Toured around the city but wasnt to fond of it. It was a big city with people everywhere and horns honking everywhere. Pretty crazy. Went to a bunch of the tourist attractions the first day. Ate dinner at the hostel which ended up giving me really bad food poisoning. So the second day was spent trying to recover from that. Talked with some people and if you dont get food poisoning in Bolivia, you aren't experiencing it well enough. I could have done without.

After touring around La Paz a little more, Tyler and I caught a bus to Cocacabana to visit Lake Titicaca. Little tourist town was cool and was a great jumping point to some of the islands. We decided to head to Isla del Sol. This island was where the Incas believed life was created. The island was very cool and everything was terraced. No cars existed so everything was transported by donkeys. That was pretty funny. Lots of trails all over the island and had some great views of the huge lake. It felt like we were on the ocean.

After a day of that, Tyler and I split up. He went back to La Paz because we is flying home in the next couple days. I took a bus from Cocacabana to Cusco. It was a long bus ride but I am glad I finally got here. I arrived at night so went straight to the hostel. Been walking around a little bit yesterday and today. Got in contact with a spanish school that is going to set me up with a host family to live with. I am going to talk with another to set up my interview with the director of a children's clinic and another interview with a hospital. I hope these work out because it will be a very inexpensive way to volunteer. I will hopefully have the interviews on Friday

After all my crazy adventures, I have made it and am ready to begin volunteering. I hope everything works out. As long as I have happy thoughts, I am sure everything will work out. I will send links to the pictures I post once I get them uploaded. Hope all is well at home. Cant believe I am already more than a third of the way through my trip.