Doctor's Visit

Today I went to the doctor's for my toe. In a freak round-off accident in my gymnastics class, I did something to it that now prevents me from being able to bend my big left toe. So, it was time to get it checked out.

Here, individual doctors don't have their own offices or practices. They either work in hospitals, public run clinics, or private run clinics. I went to a private one a few minutes from my house, and it reminded me very much of going to the DMV. First, I waited in line to get a number. Then I waited in a lobby for my number to be called. At this point I paid for my visit. An interesting thing to note is that I was given the option of payments for my visit. Here in Chile, you have the option of payments for just about everything. That new t-shirt? Payments. Blender? Payments. Because of this, just about everyone is in some kind of debt.

After I paid, I headed to another area to wait for the Dr. The shinny, sci-fi interior continued, and expanded to include a little coffee bar, waiting to sell you coffee, salads, and sandwhiches while you are waiting.

Then I got called by the dr and we headed to the exam room. No nurses. The dr then spitfired a set of questions in my general direction about my toe, past medial history, and if I was enjoying my time here in Chile. Then a general exam at which point he said that my toe wasn't broken, but I was going to get a set of X-rays anyway.

Off to another line to pay for the X-rays, then a nice little sit. This wait was a little longer, so as I was looking around, I realized there were no reading materials. No years old vogue or highlights. Everyone else had brought their own reading material.

The x-ray was a process as well. At first they didn't want to give me one of the lead vests even though I was in the room where there was raditation. And it's not like they were lacking. There had to be about 10 vests in the room just not being used. When I asked for one they looked at me like I was crazy. They did eventually give it to me though.

I go back tomorrow to pick up my x-rays and to have a chit-chat with the Dr.

A swim in a river

So this past weekend I headed down south to Pucon and to Temuco. Temuco is a rather neat little city in Chile since it is very linked to the Mapuche and thier culture. (the Mapuche are Chile´s largest indigenous group). While in Temuco we visited the market where I was able to snag some amazing Mapuche jewlery, instuments, and clothing. It´s all so beautiful and different from most of what you find in Latin America. Lots of silver and a lot of darker colors with quick, small flashes of color. After the market we were off to the Universdad de la Frontera which is a Univeristy that a) specilizes in Mapuche learning like how to weave or learning about Mapuche religion and b) educating Mapuche University students. We were able to hear from two of the leading scholars on Mapuche culture who told us all about the Mapuche religion, history, language, and current conflicts with the Chilean government.

Then we all hopped on the bus again to visit a local Mapuche elementary school. There are about 80 students from preschool all the way to 8th grade. The kids were adorable and were really excited for us to be there. The boys were playing this cool game that was a little like hockey, while the girls were practicing their singing. After the game they had a performance that they had been working on for a few weeks where they danced and played music (all traditional Mapuche music and dance). It was a great experience and I was sad to go.

Afterwards though we headed to a Mapuche comunity where we were welcomed into a Mapuche woman´s home where she cooked us a traditional Mpuche lunch. All of the food was extrodinary. They offered us some dried red pepper spice called merken which was delicious. It started out rather flavorless, but quickly build up into a roaring, spicy fire in my mouth. After months of the not-so-spicy Chilean food, it was a startaling, but welcome change.

After our adventures in Temuco, we countinued further south to Pucon which reminds me of Lake Tahoe. Pucon is basically an adventure city situated on the corner of a HUGE lake which is at the base of an active volcano. This is where adrenalline kicked in.

While in Pucon I did an amazing canopy through the Chilean forest, including two zip lines that went over a raging river. At some points we were really high up, and I felt like I was a bird flying from tree to tree. Our guides were are about college age, and were having a great time as well. When they would go down the zip lines, they would spin or lean upside-down, or really whatever crazy thing they could think of.

After the canopy I went on a white-water rafting trip down what had to be the coldest river in the world. Since it´s now Spring here in Chile, the river is fed by snow melt. Brrrr. I was able to get a first-hand experience to the temperature of the water when I was tossed overboard during one of the rapids. I was compleatly drenched to say the least.

The following day I was supposed to climb the volcano, but since it had been raining all weekend, the conditions would have been terrible. We would have gotten maybe a third of the way up and then hit a white-out. Instead I wandered around the city enjoying the lake and buying chocolates. Super yum!

I wont have any adventures for the next few weeks since I´ve hit finals season. Wish me luck!