Monday, January 30, 2012
Feria de Alasitas (Alasita Fair)
Feria de Alasitas (Alasita Fair) and Orientation
29 Enero 2012
The major event for the day was the Alasita Fair (Feria de Alasitas) – a big affair in La Paz at the end of January merchants famously sell miniature items. The tale is that Ekeko, the household god of abundance, requires regular supplies of miniature gifts to remain happy (as well as alcohol and cigarettes). Bolivia is famous for the production of such miniature items, anywhere from getting your name engraved on individual grains of rice to tiny sachets of rice and beans to ridiculously ornate figurines smaller than your typical sugar cube. I went with my host mom and her daughter and we squished to the shoulders it was so crowded. But as you can see from the pictures, it was muy impressivo: there was everything from wide steaming pots of stew to spears of flaming grilled potato and steak shishkabobs to sprawling tents of what looked like four quadrants of 50 foosball tables each, countless stalls of handmade trinkets, reams of wool rugs and ponchos, ceramics, musical instruments, and more. The cacophony of stalls, crowds, music, and smells added to an impressive setting where contrasting cultures intermingled-- there were the Northern Bolivian woman in traditional colorful wraps carrying babies swathed behind them, there were more urban families pushing babies in strollers; there was traditional salsa music, and there was Michael Jackson’s Billy Jean. Later in the afternoon, we had a break for traditional Bolivian fare—Asi and empanadas. Asi is a hot, sweet drink made from corn (more popularly black corn) and spiced with cinnamon, cloves, and orange zest. Mmmmmm J Also the empanada was flaky and delicious. All freshly made – see picture. The Asi is so popular that they make them in massive cauldrons, next to furiously bubbling cauldrons of empanadas. It’s important to note though that in spite of these colorful descriptions, there is a lot of struggle and poverty-- pick pocketers common, little kids surviving on the street, poorly maintained facilities marked by graffiti, poor sanitation, not to mention constant political instability. Bolivia is the poorest country in South America.
30 Enero 2012
Today I had my official orientation with the local coordinator for Child Family Health International (CFHI), the program through which I’m doing this pediatrics rotation. He’s wonderful, showed me around the city, pointed out key destinations such as the main hospital I’ll be working at, the language school, the CFHI office, as well as good restaurants, travel recommendations, and other details.
Following that, back at the apartment, my host mom made plantains which we put in the Asada a la olla (like a beef stew) along with fresh cheese and red peppers.
In the afternoon I took my Spanish diagnostic test which went, in my opinion pretty well considering my 3 months of Spanish. The program provides, in addition to clinical experience, 2 hours of Spanish class each weekday. This is exactly the kind of experience that combines medicine, emergency medicine, Spanish cultural and language immersion that I was looking for! I’m so excited!
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Arrival
HOLA! 19 hours after leaving Portland (erm… also I stayed up all night packing the night before) I arrived in La Paz, Bolivia! The only moment of sheer panic occurred when I was getting my tourist Visa. One of the $20 bills had – no joke – a 2-3 mm tear on one side and the man said it was not possible to process. I explained (as best I could in Spanish) that I had no other bills, that I could give Bolivianos (the Bolivian currency), or pay with a check or card but luckily there was a long crowd of impatient sleep deprived people behind me so the man only gave me an exasperated look, stamped my passport and let me go. Yay! Immigration and customs followed, but were not bad at all. I easily found the driver from CFHI who picked me and took me to my host mom’s apartment.
My host mom is awesome. Even though I mostly try to speak Spanish with her, I can’t say what a relief it is to know that she’s actually fluent in English as well. She used to teach at the Bolivian language school so she’s patient when I get stuck and need help. I didn’t realize it until the end of my first day, but it occurred to me that I’d been saying “Pas de probleme” multiple times which actually is French… I keep mixing the languages.
We had a small breakfast of panitas (small breads), juice, and coca tea (made from Bolivian coca leaves, which although can be processed to make cocaine, when boiled as an herbal infusion it makes a nice tea to help with altitude sickness). She boils all the water so I don’t get sick. She even puts a bottle in the bathroom so I can brush my teeth with it. As a gift, I gave her an album of my family and some pictures from gymnastics, as well as a photo book of Oregon.
My host mom is also quite the chef. For lunch, she made a sliced avocado appetizer with tomato chunks and fresh cheese; steamed vegetables, potatoes (Bolivia has over 200 kinds of potatoes), and sausage with cheese.
The apartment is on the 15th floor and so I’ve got a nice view of downtown La Paz – see photo.
It’s chilly at night because there’s no central heating but I’ve got warm blankets so hopefully I’ll be ok.
So far, nothing too bad in the way of altitude sickness (Bolivia one of the highest cities in the world, at 13,000 feet). After taking a shower I noticed I was breathing pretty fast but otherwise I was fine. Also I’ve been taking acetazolamide so we’ll see how the next couple days pan out.
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