El Centro Medico

Last week was our first trip out to the clinic. Located about 70km to the northwest of Santa Cruz down the "new road" to Cochabamba, the clinic is based near the friendly pueblo of Palacios, a close-knit community where the Molitch-Hou family is greatly beloved (a major road is named after Dr. Susan Hou and the plaza is named after Dr. Mark Molitch).

It was fun to finally see firsthand the clinic building and house for volunteers. We also had the great pleasure of meeting Celso, the caretaker of the clinic land, and his family. He promises to be a great guide of the surrounding woods, taking us to hike, fish, ride horses, or hunt hochi. We also quickly met Maria and Guinda, the two nurses who really run the show at the clinic. Their passion and friendly nature clearly make the clinic so much more effective.

From the moment we arrived in the morning the clinic sprang to life as the colectivos (buses) began arriving with patients. Char was immediately put to work checking in patients while I spent the day in the sun taking measurements, assessing the solar window, and doing an inventory of the various electricity loads at the site. A few of the children at the clinic that day decided to follow me around so I had good company. We are enjoying our general role as the non-doctor volunteers and pitch in however we can.

A highlight of the week was a night spent in the center of Palacios near Maria's house where we played countless games of volleyball and got to know the 50 some kids in town. One young girl from Brazil was simply enamored by Charlotte (tan bonita) and liked to follow her around. We also enjoyed celebrating Gretchen's birthday and learning the Bolivian happy birthday song as well as some of their other birthday traditions, including push the birthday girls face into the cake! We are very fortunate to have such warm and friendly hosts here. We're having a great time.