Half-time team talk

At special request from one Ryan Musy, I will try and put in more photos of myself from now on. You're welcome Ryan!

The taxis parked on the main road for two
days. Apparently they can get vicious;
puncturing tyres of people who try to pass.

The last week has been political in Bolivia. And the hospital has been resultingly quiet. On Monday and Tuesday there was a regional ‘bloqueo’ – a blockade on the streets. The local drivers of taxis and trufis (little minibuses which are the cheapest and most amazingly efficient way of getting around) want the government to improve the road from here into the city – upgrading from a basic two way road to a multi-lane highway. You can see why; the current road is just begging for accidents the way everyone drives..

As a result nobody could get up to the hospital, so no patients and very few staff were here on Monday and Tuesday. I had no such excuse, since I can wake up at 7.50 and still be in the hospital by 7.55. With absolutely nothing happening there I took the day off and spent all day reading and playing football. Not too bad.

That bloqueo finished yesterday (I think because the drivers were bored rather than the government promised to improve the road) but a new, national bloqueo started up today instead, ‘scheduled’ to last for 72 hours. This one is throughout Bolivia and is because of the miners demanding that the government hand back over control of the mines to the people..  I don’t think they’ve chosen the timing too well – the president Morales is overseas right now, fighting for the right for Bolivia to grow more Coca I think..

Another game of football with the bomberos after no patients
came to hospital. I managed to persuade them to play so
that we could only score with our heads. Advantage Angus.

Apparently these sort of protests happen at least once a month here, and although the majority of locals I’ve spoken to agree with the principles, the actual blockade is completely disabling for a couple of days! Nobody can get to work, do their shopping, travel..

Yesterday was a good day in the hospital though – I joined the surgeon for a couple of appendicectomies, and when he was finishing up an emergency came in. A fifteen year old girl had had an accident with a bike and a tree (Bolivians like to play ’how many people can you fit on a bike/motorbike’; often parents, children and a baby..) and had to come into surgery urgently. We opened her up and found a huge amount of bleeding in her abdomen – she had ruptured her spleen. The surgeon put in a few stitches to try and stop the bleeding, and then took out her spleen. Once she was stabilised we were all able to relax a bit more; the theatre staff all pulled out their mobile phones to take photos of the spleen and the poor girl!

The operation was finished off by slicing up her spleen into little segments and then stitching these portions back into her peritoneum (the fatty covering over all the organs in the abdomen). I had no idea this could be done. We left some gauze and a big bit of plastic in her abdomen, and only put in some loose stitches. She’s getting opened up again on Friday morning to finish the job..

Ancient Incan sacrificial table on Isla Del Sol. The
lightning came shortly afterwards..

Proof of the snow on Lake Titicaca. 

After four weeks of trying, I’ve finally managed to get a photo of the Polo family. Here they are -  Neco, Elba (Neco’s mum), Rose (Neco’s wife), Bruno (8) and Hugo (10). They are our hosts here, they give us a huge cooked lunch every day and keep the cupboards stocked so that we can get our own breakfast and tea every day. Neco, Rose and the kids spent 4 years in Canada so speak perfect English. Elba only speaks Spanish, but is great because if you suggest to her that you’d like to learn how to make a cake, she’ll just go ahead and make it for you. What a hero.

Bruno, Neco, Elba, Rose and Hugo. The Polo family.