the fan

October 27, 2007

Its Saturday morning and I’ve woken up late because of a rather sleepless night due to a run in with a mean fan (as in cooling fan, not one of my personal fans). I had a calm (but later than normal) Saturday night, spending time with a family while they held a vigil for their patron saint. Basically, I spent my night praying the rosary in Spanish and wound up practically slicing the end of my finger off. I am not really sure how it happened but I do know that I thought I was simply moving my fan over, and the next thing I knew I felt a sharp sting in my finger and heard a zzzing… I was freaking out because

1) There was blood everywhere
2) I was all alone, in the middle of the night
3)I didn’t want to lose my finger
4) I was in Bolivia
5)I was in Bolivia

Thank goodness for modernity, I was able to call Mama, my lifelong medical savior. She reassured me that I would not lose my finger after all but that I should call Peace Corps, and/or go to the local hospital. I began calling taxi’s with the help of Patty (Senora Deisy’s daughter) but every single one had turned off their phones, yes we do have ever single one’s phone number. Obviously noone wants to work at midnight on Saturday night. Eventually I was picked up by a friend of Patty’s and taken to Hospital #1. There we found a nurse, who wanted to stitch me up, but didn’t seem quite so sure she knew how…The doctor was on-call… but had also turned off both of his phone lines…I was starting to be very happy that it was only my finger at stake. We drove off to find hospital #2. Once again, no doctor, no number to call, nothing… I settled for some antibiotic ointment and a small finger cast. Hopefully my finger will heal itself.

This morning I woke up hot and wondering what had become of my old friend the fan… It turns out that they are re-working the town’s electricity, and we wont have power all day. So for now, I am here dreaming of the same thing that was giving me nightmares last night.

Also just wanted to clarify that since my last post talked about how I now consider this my home, it is my temporary home. Although I am learning a lot from being here, I will most likely be gone the day my service is over.

Take away lessons:
Don’t pray the rosary too late at night (?)
Try to keep sickness and injuries to the normal business hours… wait what are those again?