Since our last post a lot of cultural experiences have taken place. Sarah went rock climbing with an agency here in Sucre which resulted in a three meter fall (we have now somewhat learned the metric system because no one traveling knows what feet are, another cultural experience!) and a hurt tail bone. Sarah went to the hospital with the tour guide and one of the guys that was climbing in the group (thanks Miles!) to get X-rays. No questions about wearing metal or pregnancy before taking X- rays, no big deal. Doctor said nothing was broken but ten days later Sarah was still having pain so she went to an electro therapist, who was great. If you ever need electro therapy in Sucre go see Dr. Navarro. After 2 sessions, there seemed to be no improvement and Dr. Navarro recommended new X-rays because the previous ones were too light. Dr. Navarro said there was no way of knowing if something was broken from those X-rays. He called the radiologist to explain Sarah's situation. Dr. Navarro drove her to the radiologist but then had to go to work. It took 3 hours to get X-rays done, as the system, or lack of, had no order. The receptionist was continually swarmed by people asking when they were next and it was really difficult. This was followed by tears after being so emotionally and mentally drained.
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| Sarah climbing (pre-fall) |
After this experience we went back to Dr. Navarro's with the new X-rays and he still couldn't see anything because the X-rays didn't show the tail bone. We went back to the radiologist the next morning who then said they couldn't take better X-rays, refunded the money and took the X- rays. Dr. Navarro didn't want to continue with electro therapy because Sarah had no decrease in pain after the first two sessions which lead him to think it was more of a fracture instead of muscle. The outcome, we still don't know exactly what's going on but Sarah has mainly just been resting and trying to heal so we can continue travels. She is feeling a lot better but still has pain, mostly after sitting. Thank God for Dr. Navarro and all of his support throughout this experience. And according to Dr. Navarro, Sucre just doesn't have the proper technology to diagnose her tailbone pain.
All in all we have realized that Bolivian health care is a difficult, frustrating system and we are happy that Sarah is healing and feeling better everyday. After all of the frustrating experiences Sarah decided if the medical community wasn't going to help her she would help herself. She started eating anti inflammatory foods like pineapple, green tea, walnuts, papaya (which she originally hated but found out it can be bareable when sprinkled with lime juice), garlic, ginger and broccoli. Also she stopped eating tomatoes and potatoes. Who knows if this helped but it felt like it did for awhile.
At the end of January we decided to bring in the new moon with a little ceremony which was lovely. We sat in the plaza with our friends Cath and Joanne, both Australians and meditated and thought of all of the things we want to let go from the past month and the things we want to bring into the new month. This was so nice to take time to be thankful and grateful for where we are and the fact that we get to continue on our journey, continue to learn and explore ourselves.
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This dog is called the Gringo Dog. He only comes to Gringo's (White People).
The rumor is his owner was a Gringo and abandoned him so the dog goes to
all of the gringo bars and tries to find his owner. He came up to us and hung out with us while
we were doing the new moon ceremony. |
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| Jo, Ali, Cath and Sarah after the new moon ceremony |
So now that we have been in Sucre for 5 weeks and at the same hostel we have obviously made lots of friends. It seems like everyone that comes to Sucre stays much longer than they anticipated. Specifically three lovely Dutch girls, Eline, Emma and Lonneke. They've taught us some Dutch sayings and shared a little about their culture with us. Our friend, Cath, from Australia has just left which we are sad about but hope she's having fun at Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro!
Carnaval has started and the past week has been filled with water balloons and super soakers. Every step we take we are on the lookout for people with water balloons. We've also been the ones with the water balloons so it's fair, and we try to wear our rain jackets whenever possible to prevent soaked clothing. Yesterday we went to a BBQ at Me Gusta Spanish school and threw tons of water balloons from the upstairs balcony. These next few days are going to be filled with lots of water throwing, parades, music, dancing and good times. We are very excited and will write more about Carnaval after we experience all of it.
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| Prepping for Cath's Bday |
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| At a football (soccer) game, Sarah, Ali, Charlotte (American friend) and Cath |
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| Sarah, Eline and Ali at Ladies Night during Carnaval |
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| At Cath's birthday with the gang from the hostel |
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Ali got really excited when she found this guy wearing a Redskins shirt.
He called them the Apaches and thought they were a hockey team. |
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| Sarah, Cath and Lonneke brushing up before bed. We love our roommates. |
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| Drama band shots with the roommates, Ali, Emma, Cath and Sarah. Classic |
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| The girls from our room, Efa, Eline, Aso, Lonneke and Ali before ladies night. |
Our next post will be filled with our Carnaval experiences. We will be leaving Sucre after Carnaval and heading to Chile, finally, through the salt flats aka Salar de Uyuni.
Besos,
A & S
