Sleepover at my house

Last week I had Norma, Nelly and Jose (one of Nelly's friends) over at my house for a sleepover. For those who don't know who Norma and Nelly are: They are both little girls that got severly burnt a few years ago. I both know them from the first time I was here and they have become quite attached to me (and I to them). They are both not in the hospital anymore. Noma is at home again and Nelly stayed with a lady in town and comes to the hospital for physical therapy 3 times a week. I usually pick her up.

So on Monday we spent all day together. We went out for lunch, then went up to a little mountain where there is a big Christ statue and you can see over the whole city and later we went to the movies. They had so much fun. I have to say, that they are all from very poor families and the never go out for lunch and the had never been to the movies before. So it was great to see how much they enjoyed this special day. And then they all slept at my house. The next morning I took Nelly and Jose home and Norma to the hospital, as her mom was supposed to pick her up there in the morning. But she didn't come. So I took Norma with me again and spent another day with her and I thought that she probably would sleep over at my house agin one more time. But at 7 pm her mom finally called and picked her up. Norma was a bit sad, as she had hoped to spend another night at my place. It was an unforgettable day for the three of them.

And some more picture:Jose, Nelly and NormaHernan with Norma, Nelly and Jose in front of the Christ statue

Me with Norma, Nelly and Jose overlooking CochabambaEnjoying and Ice cream

Norma and meThe kids having their milk before they go to sleepNorma in her PJ. Isn't she cute?
Having breakfast

Coroico May 4th to 6th

Two weeks ago Hernan and I went to Coroico for the weekend. Coroico is a beautiful little village in the tropical part of Bolivia. It's a 10 hour busride from here but it was so worth it. We just had a relaxing weekend there, went hiking a bit, swimming and just enjoyed the beautiful weather. We had a cabin in the middle of the woods. The only thing: there were lots of weired bugs like for examples big spiders. Here some pictures:

View from our cabin

View on Coroico from a hillMe

Hernan

Blog slacker!

I know, I have been really slack at updating my blog. I promise I will do it as soon as I have a quiet minute. Because there is lots to tell and heaps of pictures too. I am preparing my trip to Switzerland. I am leaving here on Tuesday. Can't believe how time is flying by. I am really excited to see my family and friends again. But I am going to miss Hernan so much!

At the park with Nelly!

Liz, Nelly and the turtle

Last week Liz cam back to Cochabamba for a few days with her husband. Liz and Nelly had a built a special relationsship. As Nelly was not in the hospital anymore, I went to pick her up at the family where she stays at the moment and the three of us went to the park for a little while, before Liz had to leave for good. Nelly was so happy and we all had a good time. The goodbye between Liz and Nelly was a bit tearful for both of them. They really had grown fond of eachother and I am sure Nelly will never forget Liz and Liz will never forget Nelly.

Here some pictures:
Liz and Nelly

Liz and Nelly on the slide

Nelly and me

Liz and Nelly

Picknick at "los molinos"

Yesterday Hernán and I packed our backpack with some food, took a bus to the hills a little outside of Cochabamba and spent a lovely day there with a short hike, a nice picknick and the most beautiful weather. It was good to get a bit out of the city. Here some pictures:

Little boy we met on the the way back. He got some of the leftovers from our picknick and was really happy!

April 12th: dia del niño (day of the children)

On Thursday was a very special day for the kids at the hospital. It was dia del niño, day of the children, and that meant, that the day was going to be different than all the other days at the hospital. And it certainly was a special and unforgettable day for most of the children. There was full program all day with little theatres, clowns, games, baloons, cake, drinks, gifts and LOTS of candy. From early morning till in the evening. It was wonderfull too see the happy and glowing faces of the kids and here them laugh so laud.

For my tast it as almost a bit too much of the good. I would rather have people coming in to see the kids more regularly, instead just once a year all at once, but the kids had fun, and that's all that matters.

There was also a dressing up contest among the resident doctors of the whole hospital and our resident won. She was dressed up as little red riding hood and Nelly was her wulf. They really looked cute.

our resident doctor and Nelly! Aren't they cute?

little Jorge in his suit for kindergarden

Happy Easter!!!

I just wanted to wish you all a happy and blessed Easter. I can't believe it's already Easter again, it seems like we just had Christmas!
Have a great day!

Soccer, shopping and a visit from a good friend!

I got up at 5.30 a.m. today. But that was, because I had to take Cornelia to the airport. She left today.
We had a few really nice days together and I really enjoyed her company. We didn't have a hard core sightseeing program, but just enjoyed spending time together. On Sunday we went to a soccergame of Wilsterman (one of the local Cochabamba teams) against Oriente Petroleros (a team from Santa Cruz) with Liz and her hostfamily. Hernán was there too, even though he is a Bolivar fan (a team from La Paz). Cornelia and I really got dressed up in a fan outfit with hats, scarfs, a flag and a little plastic trompet. The quality of the game wasn't all that great and the result ended up beeing 1:1, but the atmosphere was still great and it was an experience.
After the game we went to my favourite restaurant here and I finally made Hernán try the delicious Sushi. He never was too excited too try it, as he always said he doesn't like it, even though he had never tried it. But he ended up really liking it.

Cornelia and me before the game

Hernán and me at the soccer game

in the stadium

Liz at the soccergame

On Monday we ran around all morning to try to get a airplane ticket for Cornelia from Cochabamba to Buenos Aires. After a few hours we managed to finally get one. And in the afternoon we went to the market where she also did quite a bit of souvernirshopping.

Yesterday we went to the Christo and then in the afternoon Cornelia got a hairextension. She felt really bad at first, because one of the hairdressers had to cut off her hair (you can't really notice anything though, because she got so much hair anyway) so Cornelia could get a hairextension. But she did talk to her and it was really okay for her. She earned some good money to buy herself a bed and like I said: You can't even notice she cut her hair, as she has so much.

me at the Christo

Cornelia with her "hairdonor

Lazy day!

Today was a really lazy day! We basically slept all day. But it didn't feel like a wast, because the weather wasn't really great anyway. Rainy and quite chilly! I like these days once in a while.
We went out for dinner and then dancing last night until 4 a.m. with some friends and I had so much fun! I so like all the latin rythmes and for some reason my feet just can't stop dancing when I hear them.

eating "Pique", a traditional bolivian dish with Gladys and her sister Carmen

Dr Romero, Gladys and Carmen are having fun dancing

Cornelia has also finally gotten here and it's great to have her around. She'll stay here until Wednesday or Thursday and then she'll head back to Switzerland. And she has also started taking guitar classes with Hernan. Just to learn one song!

Strike over!

The transportationstrike didn't last for 2 days, but was over after only 12 hours. Most of the times it's like that. So now it is all normal and busy again.
Cornelia was supposed to arrive this morning at 6 a.m. on the night bus from La Paz. But she called me last night, just before she was supposed to get on the bus. She had gone to a bar to have a drink before going to catch the bus and met some nice people. And because she had such a good time, she decided not to catch the bus and instead going out dancing and travel today. Maybe!:-) But for me it was okay too, this way I didn't have to go get her at 6 a.m at the busterminal. I am really looking forward to finally seeing her though.

I am off for a work meeting.

Transportation strike- again!!!

Well, one more time we have a strike here in Bolivia. This time it's the buses, taxis and all the public transport. The buses block the main street and intersections, so nothing is basically working anymore. To be honest, I am not even really sure, why they are striking?! More money maybe? Or shorter work hours? I don't know. They always strike if they want something. It's almost part of the daily life here. They said it's gonna last for 48 hours, but most probably there will be transport again the latest tomorrow. Because which taxi driver can afford to loose a 2 days wage?

Buses blocking the roads

I managed to get up early today. At 7 a.m. Like I said, Cornelia was supposed to arrive from La Paz at 6 a.m. this morning on the bus, but she didn't becaue of the strikes. But Hernan promised to take me to a park early this morning (he wants to help me get up early, I think:-)). He was supposed to be here at 8 a.m. but because there is no transport, he has to walk the 4 km from his house to mine. So he'll be a bit late. But it was actually nice to get up early. The air is still fresh and clear and the sun is already out.

Yesterday I was really upset over one of the old nurses in the hospital. After my opinion, she doesn't treat the kids very well. There was this one girl, her name is Cristal and she is 3 years old. She just got out of surgery and was in the process of waking up. She was screaming, which I think is quite normal for a little girl that just had surgery, doesn't have her parents there and is in pain. I think I would do the same. Anyway the nurse was threting her several times, that if she wouldn't stop making noise and not be quite instantly, she would give her a shot right into her nose and that would hurt. I was getting really upset and felt so sorry for this little girl. I told the nurse, that she was in pain and the nurse just said: well, we don't have anything to give her. Which I knew isn't true. They always have some stock of medication, because most of the kids come from very poor families that can't even afford to buy basic medicine. But some nurses, for whatever strange reason, don't want to use it. So I went to ask the doctor for a presciption so I could get her some painmedication. After half an hour she was happily chatting along with me and painting in a book. And free of pain.

Cristal




Well, so much for now. Have a great day!

Good morning!

Last night I went out with Liz to have dinner. We had pique macho, which is a typical bolivian dish with meat, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, saucages and locoto (very hot greet peper). It was nice to spend some time with her and have a chat.
It's 9 am and I just got up. I am trying to get up a bit earlier but these days it seems really hard for me to get out of bed. Even though the weather is just lovely: blue sky and not too hot. I have to wash the dishes and do some dusting (where is my cleaninglady???) and then go to the lab to get another test done to see if my parasites I had are gone. Then I am going out for lunch with Omar before I have guitarclass in the afternoon and will practise reading German with Hernan. He is doing really well. I am proud of him.
Tomorrow morning Cornelia is arriving at 6 am on the bus from La Paz. So one thing is sure: I have to get up early! I am really looking forward to seeing her.

Some news from my life in Bolivia!

Time is going by incredibly fast and another 6 weeks have already passed again, since my last update. Lots of things have been happening in my life lately.

My travels:
The 17th and 18th of February I spent in Oruo at the Carneval. It's the most famous and biggest Carneval in Bolivia and it certainly was an experience. There is parades and people dance 24 hours a day in beautiful costumes. Of course there is, like on every ocasion here, also lots of drinking. My good friend Gladys' family has a house in Oruro, so we could stay with her. Because all the hotels, hostels, bed and breakfasts, etc. are all booked out months in advance and they cost a fortune during carneval.

Parade at the Carneval Oruro

On the 18th of February I caught a train to Villazon (border Bolivia- Argentina)in the evening where I arrived 18 hours later, after a suprisingly comfortable train ride. I had to leave Bolivia, in order to get my visa renewed. So I crossed the border into Argentina, where 2 of my beste friends from Switzerland where already waiting for me. It was wonderful to see them and we did shed a few tears of happyness. My reentry in Bolivia didn't go all that smooth as I had expected it. They wanted me to stay in Argentina for at least 24 hours before reentering Bolivia. I really wanted to avoid this and I started discussing with the guy. So after about half an hour dicussion, another hour wait and without any coruption money(even though I finally offered him some:-)) his boss showed up and asked what the problem was. So I explained the whole thing again and the boss said to him: Wat's your problem??!! Give her the stamp and let her in. And there I was again in Bolivia with another 30 days stamp in my passport.

Then I spent almost 2 weeks here in Bolivia travelling with Ursi and Jasmina and I showed them my beautiful and sometimes very different Bolivia. We started with a 4 day jeep tour where we saw vulcanos (some of them still active), lots of lamas and alpacas and a variety of birds, crossed the biggest salt flat on earth and slept on almost 5000 meters above sealevel in really bascic places. The girls sometimnes had a bit of a problem with the altitude, so they were chewing cocaleaves against their headache. The tour was amazing and everything perfectly organized! Things couldn't have been better: From the tourguide to the group we had and from the cook to the weather: Just amazing!

Me, Ursi and Jasmina in the Salt flats

From Uyuni, where our tour had ended, to Cochabamba is was a long busride. And it turned out to be not exactely what you call comfortable. The 9 hours over night busride to Oruro was just horrible! There were at least twice as many people as allowed in the bus and the road was unpaved the whole way. So it was very bumpy and we didn't get much sleep at all. The bus was so full, that we could hardly move a toe. Lucky enough we had seats and were able to sit down. Because even though the people were sitting and lying in the passway and underneath the seats, there were still some people that didn't even have room there and had to stand up all the way. To be fair, I have to say that the driver did drive well, otherwise the whole trip could have been even worse. From Oruro to Cochabamba the road was paved and the bus not overloaded with people, so we managed to get a few hours of sleep there.

Totally overloaded bus

Then we spent 4 days here in Cochabamba. I really enjoyed the company of my 2 friends a lot and having them live with me for a while. I showed them the hospital where I work, we did some sightseeing and of course I took them to the biggest market in South America, where they did some powershopping. They also got to meet my friends here and one night they made a typical Swiss dinner, where everybody showed up, except for one person. And what a wonder, my friend Gladys who's ALWAYS late, was punctual and the first one to come. And of course they loved the Swiss food, like always.

After a few days in Cochabamba we took a nightbus to La Paz (7 hours) and then a conecting bus to Copacabana on the lake Titicaca (another 4 hours). We checked in to a really, really nice hostal which was located a bit above the village with an amazing view over the lake. We were quite tired from the trip so we wanted to take a little nap. Wel, the half hour nap ended up to be a 3 hour sleep. So we missed our tour to the Island of the Sun in the afternoon. We still took a walk along the lake though and just enjoyed the nice scenery. After a nice dinner with trout from the lake( the best in the world) and a good night sleep, we took the bus back to la Paz on midday the following day. We spent the last evening together with a nice dinner, before my 2 friends left early the next morning back to Switzerland. And I caught a bus back to Cochabamba.

View from our hostal in Copacabana over the Titicaca Lake

Some news from the hospital:
From February 12th to 16th there was a team of American doctors that did free surgeries on various patients. They didn't get to opeate on everyone they had wanted to, as one week was just too short of a time. But they did an amazing job and worked really hard. And the results were great. And Dr Romero could learn some new methods. One day we had a workshop on burns where there were speakers from Bolivia, USA, Brasil and Argentina. It was intersting and I learnt a lot of new things.

Dr. Warlick, Dr. Thimmons, Dr.Romero and Dr. Molnar at the Burns Unit

1 1/2 weeks ago arrived our first official volunteer with "que rico". Her name is Liz, she is from England and she is very dedicated to her work here and the kids and everyone already loves her. She is not a nurse and doesn't have any medical skills, but she just wanted to experience something else. And she has great resources: She speaks perfect Spanish and also has the TEFL and experience in teaching \nEnglish.So now she is giving Dr Romero and Magda English class 3 times a week (Dr Romero was invited to the USA by the American Doctors, all payed. And he doesn't speak a word of English so he figuered he would get more out of it, if he'd at least understand a bit). And 3 other guys are taking classes with her as well. I think they are all pretty amazed that they get to learn some English for free. She also spends a lot of time with the kids, teaching them basic stuff like counting, adding some number up, reading or just playing. So she pretty much spends all her time in the hospital and she is definately a great help.
The new anaethetic maschine is in use everyday and the surgeries a so much safer, for the kids and also for the staff. Even though we don't have money anymore at the moment and we still haven't payed it all of, it was the best investment! And I am sure we'll get the rest of the money together soon.

Gladys, Liz and Nelly

Other stuff:
I will be home in Switzerland from the end of May to the beginning of August. I have been offered a job from the 18th of June to the 31st of July in the same hospital(same ward) in Luzern I used to work in before. And I will take care of an appartment of a friends friend, only 5 min walk from where I'll work. So I also have somewhere to live. That way I'll get to avoid the winter here, spend the summer in Switzerland, see my family and friends and get to work and earn some money. It couldn't be more perfect.

And last but not least: I have been going out with a wonderful guy for 6 weeks now and I am very happy! His name is Hernan and we met a few months ago thrue a common friend. We found out pretty soon, that we have a lot in common and share the same values. I am really happy that he has become part of my life and he makes my life even more beautiful than it already was before. By the way: he was and is also my guitarteacher!:-)

Hernán and me

There is also lots of new pictures on www.kirstenbermeitinger.spaces.live.com

Fall has started here, which means that the rainy season is over soon and it's not so hot anymore. At the time the weather is just lovely.
So much for this time again. Hope you are all well and looking forward to hearing from you.

Lots of love from beautiful Bolivia

Kirsten

some webpage links!

www.querico.org.uk
www.kirstenbermeitinger.spaces.live.

I am blogging too now!

I have decided to start blogging too. I have seen a few blogs and I think it's a pretty good and interesting way to just share things with other people. I wasn't quite sure if I should do it in German or English, but I figured that I have more English speaking friends, that would regularly check my blog and most of my German speaking friends also speak at least a little English. So I decided for English. I do use the internet a lot, but I am still new to this blog thing. So there is still a few things I have to find out. But I am sure I will! But I am sure it will be fun. It's like writing a diary that everyone can read. So much for now. I'll write again more soon.