Socios

So I'm leaving Socios, did I mention that already? I got offered this short term job with ProPeru in Cusco for the month of January. So I'm leaving here before the end of December to spend Christmas in Boston, then going to Cusco for January. After that--who knows. Could be coming back to Socios--which seems the most likely right now as I am realizing how much work I still have to do, and how fun some of it is. Although I am also remembering how boring lots of it is, and can imagine myself not feeling motivated enough to come back here. Nonetheless, the option is available, which is really nice of them. The option is also available to stay in Cusco, although after January it would be unpaid.

One thing we've been talking about doing for many many months, we finally did last Friday. We held a kind of group therapy and small group work with the psychiatrist we work with for the people that work in the communities with patients. The focus was how does one manage when a patient is abandoning treatment, or failing the treatment, or dies. Peoples' stories were really extreme, but everyone seems like they have a really good sense of how to take care of themselves throughout these stressful events and occurrences. Or maybe not that they know how take care of themselves, they just do, and don't complain about it. They don't complain about getting a phone call in the middle of the night from a patient's brother who said, I think my brother is dead. They just head over to the house and do all they can. What they do, is really inspiring and impressive. At the groups, we also had the secretaries who basically serve as the intermediaries between the patients, the health workers, the morgue, the hospital--everything. I think it went really well, and I hope Socios does it more frequently. The last time they did this was in 2002.

Here are some pictures from the session. One is me with a birthday cake for one of our secretaries. Another is of 3 of the health workers. The one on the right is one of my favorites.

Scattered.

I feel like I have been thinking about the future all the time, and all I want to do is live right now in the present. It's a hard balance. In order for me to have the options I want next year, I have to apply to schools now. But I also am here in Lima, which I now know is not for an indefinite period, so I want to really get into the work I'm doing here. I am currently desperately trying to pick some grad programs to apply to, so I can get the application process rolling. A friend pointed out here that I am lucky since I have a general direction I want to go in life, but the hard part is zeroing in on what I want to use to get me there. A nurse practitioner degree? A public health degree? A social work degree? Or a medical anthropology degree? Part of me wants to do all of it. All are related to what I want to do, yet I need to think about what specifically I want to do after I graduate. Two weeks ago I was certain about medical anthropology, then was certain I wanted a degree in public health. More general, seemed safer. But recently have been feeling I really want to do clinical work, but I don't know if I actually want to deal with the patient's body. So does that mean I want to be a social worker?? Didn't I decide years ago that I didn't want to be a social worker?

My newest solution: apply to a variety of programs, and see where it takes me. See how I feel in six months.

Another positive development: spring is officially here in Lima. The sun is coming out! I have a sun burn on my face from going for a run yesterday. A sun burn!!! Just a couple months ago, we never even saw a our shadows because there was never enough sun.

I am reading an inspiring book to help me stay motivated to apply to school. It's working well. Women, Poverty, and AIDS

ops

Sorry, few fellow readers, something happened (not sure what) and my blog has just not been on my radar. In any event, here we go.

I recently went on this very quick trip to Bolivia and back. I have a 90 visa, so every 3 months I have to leave the country and come back to get a new one. This time I went to Bolivia, a country I used to know so well! Chino and I traveled on many forms of transportation (nice buses, not nice buses, taxis, colectivos, mototaxis, tricycle--that's kind of like a rickshaw, and boats) to get from Cusco to La Paz. All in all, it was a beautiful trip with a short visit to Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake. We spent a night on an island in the lake, which was great. Would've been even better if it wasn't so high, so I didn't have altitude sickness.

This is the second time I've been to Bolivia since Evo has been president. When I was a study abroad student in Cochabamba, he came and talked to our class and we were all very impressed. Although I don't think I actually understood most of what he said. Since then most of my news about Bolivian politics comes from the New York Times, the BBC, or this very biased blog of Jim Shultz. The NY Times usually glorifies Evo to the extreme, which makes it tiresome to read about and hard to know what is actually true. Every once in a while I take a glance at a Bolivian newspaper online, but supposedly the news there is now completely controlled by the Evo administration to the extreme that some reporter was killed since he spoke out against Evo. Who knows if that's all true or not. Point is, I just had this chilling conversation with a friend from Bolivia. He told me about how he think Bolivia is in the worse state they've ever been in. How prices have raised incredibly, and there are no jobs. The government isn't doing anything about the fact that no one has work or money. At one point, all health workers at public hospitals went on strike for days and days. There were no health workers in the hospitals!! Four years ago when I was living there you could buy 6 breads for 1.5 bolivianos. Now it's 2 breads for the same price. There are crazy news stories about Venezuelan troops hiding in the jungle or at the Santa Cruz airport. Rumors that the lowland cities are going to start a civil war against the highlands. Crazy stuff! But I don't really know what to believe. There is also an assembly re-writing the constitution, but so far I guess not one page has been written.

Chino and I were in La Paz, the capital, and from our perspective everything seemed more or less chill. We passed one protest, but that is normal for Bolivia. I worry that Bolivia is on the brink of another big uproar. There are so many current issues: the department of Santa Cruz voted to be an autonomous state, coca growing and the US "War on Drugs," the constitution, the large amount of natural gas the country has, and the unemployment. They can't even agree on the capital of the country!

I admit I still really like Evo for perhaps not all the right reasons. Not that they're "wrong" reasons, just I know I should keep on my research on someone before blindly supporting their politics. I like that he speaks Aymara. I like that he wears a cool jacket instead of a suit. I like that he's indigenous, since the majority of the country is indigenous. I admit I am impressed he has remained in office for this long in a country that has coup de etats very frequently.

I wish it was easier to get a non-biased report of what was going on in another place. I also wish I could post pictures of the trip, but I left in a rush for the airport since I woke up half an hour before my plane was leaving and forgot my camera.