Ken's day...

Let’s talk about the last couple of days for a moment. Sometimes people ask me what exactly I do every day down here. I’m never quite sure what to tell them. This is why...

Yesterday morning I got up early to get in line at the hospital with two of the guys, Roberto and Larry. Larry got hit in the head two weeks ago by a soccer ball and it still hurt. He finally decided to tell someone (me) Monday afternoon. I suggested it might have been a good idea to say something earlier, and when his head felt better I was going to slap it.

Roberto has a weird thing with his tongue.

So bright and early we were in line at the hospital...behind about a hundred other people. Good thing I’ve learned to bring a book. Eventually it was our turn and Roberto went first. The doctor looked at his tongue and then called in another doctor. They both looked at his tongue and decided that all he needed was to have that little funny thing under his tongue snipped (it’s too big or too tight or something) and all would be good. They said they could do it right then, but the look of fear on Roberto’s face said we needed to wait a couple of days so he could gear himself up. So we said we’d be back on Tuesday. Being the supportive guy I am, I told Roberto I’m looking forward to Tuesday. I told him it’ll be nice to have a day of him not talking. =)

Roberto left and I hung around the office since Larry was next on the list. I’m sure the doctor wondered, “What?” but I’m used to that. The doctor was also slightly annoyed at Larry for waiting two weeks to tell anyone that his head still hurt and sometimes he got dizzy. I think she wanted to slap him too.

She said we needed a “Tomographia” (That’s how you say it in Spanish...an x-ray of the head maybe?) but that they couldn’t do it at that hospital. We had to go to a different hospital. So we dropped Roberto off where he could catch a bus home and off we went to the other hospital.

They were happy to take my $100 and snap the pictures.  They told us that they wouldn’t be ready until 2 PM which killed our plans of going back to the doctor that day since she was only there in the morning. So I dropped Larry off at the house, picked up Maribel and blasted downtown to register Andres and Yimy for the summer classes they needed...that started that night...that they didn’t tell us about until the evening before. Hmm... 

Maribel had a couple of errands she needed to do, so I ran her around a bit and then it was back to the house for lunch. I walked into the house and was greeted by sixteen guys gathered around the table to eat! Barcelo was playing Real Madrid (soccer teams from Spain) that afternoon and we have cable TV. =) So everyone came to visit.

Then Yimy told me he had a big favour to ask. Turns out his dad needed a ride to some doctor outside of the city for a back treatment. I told Yimy that there were a couple of things we needed to do first and then there’d be no problem.

So we grabbed Americo (who was at the house for lunch) and took off to get a few things he needed (it’s his grad in a week and he had a list). It took a couple of tries before we found the right store, but in the end, we were all good. We dropped him off at the bus terminal and then headed to Yimy’s sister and her husband’s house to pick up his dad. They live a long ways from our house. I just thought I’d add that.

When we got there, his brother-in-law (who’s a good friend of mine) asked if his mom could go along as well. She’d twisted her ankle the other day and it was really bothering her. Sure! Why not? The more the merrier. So Yimy, myself, his dad, his sister, her three kids and Efrain’s mom all piled into my truck and away we went.

As we drove and got farther and farther away from the city and as the roads got smaller and narrower and more dicey (and after about an hour), I finally asked Yimy where we were going?

“To a town?”
“Nope...to see the Mennonites!”

Seriously?

Okay then.

I knew about the Mennonite colonies around the city, but I’d never seen one. So I was actually kind of intrigued. Eventually you could tell we were getting close. The fields were large and smooth and obviously farmed by tractors. There were beautiful rows of huge trees between each field. There were lots of people driving horse and buggies.

Which raises an interesting point. You can own nice, big tractors but not trucks or cars? I’m not sure I get the reasoning behind that. At least the Hudderites (for you Saskatchewan people) have nice trucks too. But whatever I suppose. Each to his own.

We arrived and I parked my truck in line with all the other wagons and buggies, and we waited our turn. And waited. And waited. It seems time doesn’t mean much to the Mennonites. Which makes sense since they have no electricity...or clocks or watches. Eventually Yimy’s dad went in and then Efrain’s mom. They asked if I wanted to see this guy for my back too. I figured...what the heck...it can’t be worse than the guy who tried to light me on fire.

IT WAS WORSE. So much worse...

By the time it was my turn it was starting to get dark and so it was hard to see what was going on when I went in to see the “doctor”. This old guy in coveralls, sitting in a rocking chair, got me to sit down and explain what had happened to me...why I was having problems. Then he just sat there for awhile. A long while. I didn’t know what to say...or do. So I just sat there too. It was awkward.

Finally he told me to sit on this milking stool facing away from him. He started poking and prodding my back and then without warning tried to push his fingers THROUGH MY BACK AND OUT MY STOMACH! It made being set on fire feel like hummingbird wings gently brushing my skin. I seriously felt like I was in some sort of crazy Menno meets Alien movie and his bloody fingers were going to suddenly be protruding out of my chest.

This went on...and on...and on. I honestly wanted to cry. The pain was only interrupted by crazy Menno “doctor” guy stopping to ask me very strange and inappropriate questions about “my woman”. Turns out crazy Menno “doctor” guy was also a dirty old man. That was kind of awkward too.

Finally the agony was finished and I paid my 40 Boliviano’s and got the heck out of there. Yimy’s family was all excited for me and wanted to know what I thought. I think they liked this guy ‘cause he was kind of strange and lots of Bolivians like the whole kind of strange thing. The Chinese “doctor” guy who lit me on fire being a good example.

I was quite happy to be on our way back into the city after that. Except that now it was night and we were in a mad rush to get back to the city in time for Yimy’s 8:30 night class. I was slipping and sliding all over those muddy roads. But my ol’ Tundra once again proved its worth. We dropped off the clan and made it to Yimy’s class downtown with a good three and a half minutes to spare.

I was home by a little after nine, making it a nice fourteen hour day.

Since this is already a novel, I'll leave today for next time. Suffice it to say that it involves more hospital runs (Larry’s head is fine), running the guys around to different jobs, buying paint to paint the house (tomorrow)...and fighting with the police. Again. I picked a fine day to run out the door without my wallet. Or driver’s license. But I’m making friends at the police station, so I guess that’s good.  And I talked them down from 350 Bolivianos (about $50) to 50 Bs (about $8).  So that made me happy...

Tomorrow’s project (as I said) is to paint the downstairs and the common room upstairs. We picked out paint colours and we’re good to go. We don't know yet if we'll still be here past Febuary, but at least we'll get to enjoy it for a couple of months one way or the other.  At any rate, I’ll post pictures when we’re finished.  =)

Thanks everyone...at least those of you who made it this far! Thanks for caring.

Now you know what I do...