After 36 hours of travel, I finally made it to La Paz around 3 a.m. local time. Just getting here was an experience in and of itself, with the greatest take-away from the whole thing being that we Americans are seriously ripped off by our airlines. The South American airline I flew here on (Avianca) provided free meals on every flight, no matter how short the flight. Oh, and FREE ALCOHOL. Yep, that's right. All beverages, including wine (red or white), or any mixed drink, was free. It's a good thing too, because my last flight from Bogota to La Paz had some major turbulence, and it seemed that the "decaf" coffee I got in Colombia wasn't in fact decaf. I'm really not big on flying, and turbulence only makes it that much worse, so a nice glass of white wine helped me get through the flight. They also provided free personal entertainment units, so I got to watch an episode of Friends, followed by the movie Frozen to keep me occupied.
CFHI had a driver there waiting for me once I got through customs and had my visa taken care of (which was really quite easy to do). One of the very first things I learned on the drive home was that there are no rules to the road here, and red lights are more of a suggestion than anything. A lot of the roads here don't have yellow lines dividing the lanes, but just white lanes. So the drivers just take whichever lane they want, and eventually move back over if someone else is coming the other way in the same lane. The cab driver was very friendly, and we chatted the whole way home (which, thankfully wasn't as hard as I expected it would be; apparently I've retained more of my Spanish than I'd feared).
Upon arriving at my homestay, I was greeted by Jenny, who showed me to my room, and as it was 4 am, she left me to sleep. The couple who is hosting me more or less own the apartment building we're in, and although it's several stories high, with two apartments per floor, there's only one other family living in the building. I'm sharing the apartment across from theirs with another student here, whom I have yet to meet, as she's been traveling this weekend. But, we corresponded via email prior to my arrival, and she was extremely helpful.
My first day here was a Saturday, which was perfect because I was able to sleep in (which was much needed after not sleeping those 36 hours of traveling). After lunch (which was really good, a basic lentil stew over rice), Jenny showed me around the city. La Paz is HUGE. I mean, obviously I expected it to be big -- it's the capital. But the city is very densely packed, and sprawling. The hills and mountains that surround the city are almost completely hidden by little houses, and the city seems to go on forever. Public transportation here is insanely cheap, and there are a lot of options to choose from. You can take a private taxi, a "trufi", which is like a taxi except it's shared with others and has somewhat set routes, a minibus (same idea more or less as the trufi, but larger), or a regular bus. A trufi costs about 2.40 Bs (about $0.34), no matter where you're going. They also have a very new suspended cable car system that runs East-West. For 3 Bs, you can go from the city center to El Alto, a very large community in the Eastern hills/mountains surrounding the city, or to the West to Obrajes (where I live). Jenny and I took the teleferico (the cable car) to the farthest stop to the West, where there is a somewhat new mall. She explained to me that it's the first of its kind here, and the people here had never seen anything like it. It's really interesting to see all these intersections of traditional and western cultures -- indigenous women (very easy to spot with their colorful hoop-type skirts and big bowler hats that sit on top of their heads) riding cable cars and shopping in big malls, or the seemingly millions of telephone and internet cables criss-crossing above cobblestone streets lined by traditional Spanish houses dating back to who-knows-when.
Today I met Gonzalo, one of the program directors, and he showed me El Hospital del Nino, and the office of one of the doctors with whom I will be working. He took the time to show me exactly how to get there, and the best forms of transportation to use, which I greatly appreciated. He showed me all the points of interest in my neighborhood with great detail, and made sure I know how to add minutes to my phone, or get money, or anything else I might need. He had some great advice about being safe in the city, and gave me lots of examples of things to do, and not do. He was extremely friendly, and spoke absolutely perfect English, to make absolutely sure I understood everything.
Tomorrow will be my first day at the hospital, and I'm excited to see what I will be doing for the next 5 weeks!
CFHI had a driver there waiting for me once I got through customs and had my visa taken care of (which was really quite easy to do). One of the very first things I learned on the drive home was that there are no rules to the road here, and red lights are more of a suggestion than anything. A lot of the roads here don't have yellow lines dividing the lanes, but just white lanes. So the drivers just take whichever lane they want, and eventually move back over if someone else is coming the other way in the same lane. The cab driver was very friendly, and we chatted the whole way home (which, thankfully wasn't as hard as I expected it would be; apparently I've retained more of my Spanish than I'd feared).
Upon arriving at my homestay, I was greeted by Jenny, who showed me to my room, and as it was 4 am, she left me to sleep. The couple who is hosting me more or less own the apartment building we're in, and although it's several stories high, with two apartments per floor, there's only one other family living in the building. I'm sharing the apartment across from theirs with another student here, whom I have yet to meet, as she's been traveling this weekend. But, we corresponded via email prior to my arrival, and she was extremely helpful.
My first day here was a Saturday, which was perfect because I was able to sleep in (which was much needed after not sleeping those 36 hours of traveling). After lunch (which was really good, a basic lentil stew over rice), Jenny showed me around the city. La Paz is HUGE. I mean, obviously I expected it to be big -- it's the capital. But the city is very densely packed, and sprawling. The hills and mountains that surround the city are almost completely hidden by little houses, and the city seems to go on forever. Public transportation here is insanely cheap, and there are a lot of options to choose from. You can take a private taxi, a "trufi", which is like a taxi except it's shared with others and has somewhat set routes, a minibus (same idea more or less as the trufi, but larger), or a regular bus. A trufi costs about 2.40 Bs (about $0.34), no matter where you're going. They also have a very new suspended cable car system that runs East-West. For 3 Bs, you can go from the city center to El Alto, a very large community in the Eastern hills/mountains surrounding the city, or to the West to Obrajes (where I live). Jenny and I took the teleferico (the cable car) to the farthest stop to the West, where there is a somewhat new mall. She explained to me that it's the first of its kind here, and the people here had never seen anything like it. It's really interesting to see all these intersections of traditional and western cultures -- indigenous women (very easy to spot with their colorful hoop-type skirts and big bowler hats that sit on top of their heads) riding cable cars and shopping in big malls, or the seemingly millions of telephone and internet cables criss-crossing above cobblestone streets lined by traditional Spanish houses dating back to who-knows-when.
Today I met Gonzalo, one of the program directors, and he showed me El Hospital del Nino, and the office of one of the doctors with whom I will be working. He took the time to show me exactly how to get there, and the best forms of transportation to use, which I greatly appreciated. He showed me all the points of interest in my neighborhood with great detail, and made sure I know how to add minutes to my phone, or get money, or anything else I might need. He had some great advice about being safe in the city, and gave me lots of examples of things to do, and not do. He was extremely friendly, and spoke absolutely perfect English, to make absolutely sure I understood everything.
Tomorrow will be my first day at the hospital, and I'm excited to see what I will be doing for the next 5 weeks!