Coming of age

Bolivia marks some-what of a 'coming of age' for me as a traveller; it is the 21st country that I have visited... You've got to wonder what makes people travel or what keeps people in one place.  Maybe people travel because they are looking for something meaningful... Maybe I travel just because I can? Over the last few weeks I have come across a lot of teachers, students, and IT workers... Most of the travellers I meet are 'in between' things. 

Right now I feel like I'm right in the middle of things. Sometimes I wish I could just cut loose and travel for a whole year, but the reality is that you can't have your cake and eat it too! At the moment I am presented with a whole lot of opportunities that I feel I cant miss. Throughout my journey there have been articles to edit, letters to write, and things to organise. I think it marks a transition for me; I'm not sure if I'm growing up or if I'm just getting sucked in... I guess time will tell.

Despite all this talk of growing up, Bolivia has been such a Gem for me; loved the chaos, loved the marching, loved the chictas, and loved the scenery... I think this will be a place that I come back to.

Aside from my 21st country, this year also marks another milestone: my 30th birthday! So come one and come all to Dunedin for a civilised shin dig Saturday 7th September. For those who attended my 21st (not so long ago) I promise that you will not have to carry me home... so long as you promise not to power-chuck outside subway (you know who you are!).

Chaos:

Marching:

Chictas:

Scenery 

Cusco, centre of the world

I had a lovely time in cusco exploring cobbled alley-ways, museums, and inca ruins. It was really lovely to see some of the team from Alli Kiru who cooked me a lovely dinner. I Think the highlight may have been the picturesque buildings and the way the sunlight worked its way dramatically across the many plazas making a different shadow or pattern with each passing moment. The inca were masters of designing living spaces that made the most of natural resources including light.

The inca people pretty much believed that cusco was the centre world... I can tell you this much: It definitely is the centre of the tourist world for South America. It got me to thinking; what makes a city alive or dead? I can think of many 15th century towns that have rotted away or been forgotten... But then some are re-discovered. Upon re-discovery, what determines whether they become a relic (like Machu Picchu) or a living space (like Ollamntaytambo). I guess one of the interesting things about Cusco is that it was never forgotten... Even before the inca, the place was inhabited... Maybe it is the centre of the world?

Some of the ruins around town

The locals dress in such bright colours!

A view of cusco from above... Time to contemplate life...

Some Spanish colonial architecture at one of the museums

A typical alley-way in cusco, barely changed in 700 years

The quintessential shot of Matchu Picchu... Yep... Pretty much I went there

Good things come in small packages

Before you watch this video clip close your eyes and imagine who you think is singing... Yesterday at one of the palaces (estimated to be from circa 800ad of chan chan culture) I heard an over powering sound of a woman singing... The notes carried crisply through the air hand her pitch was of remarkable quality... I tried to take a photo over the wall (because I was too short to see) and I thought I had missed the object of my curiosity. Actually I had been successful. I couldn't help but laugh when I found the true source of this majestic sound. Close your eyes and press play.

The week that was

It has been almost a week since I said goodbye to my American comrades... I've had to learn some new phrases because 'open your mouth' and 'do you have tooth pain' doesn't quite cut it when booking bus tickets... The busses have been interesting and I've got quite the knack for finding myself sitting next to older men. One wouldn't stop staring, one wouldn't stop taking and yet another wasn't supposed to be sitting there!

I have made my way from Quito to Cuenca, crossed the border and stayed in Mancora then Chiclayo and now Trujillo... I've elected to spend a bit of time getting down to Lima and although it means that I will see very little of Lima itself I think I have been able to get a bit of a taste of northern Peru... 

Here are some pics from the journey so far...

A little old lady dressed in the traditional dress of the Cuenca area... Looks soo cute but smells so bad. They don't like washing because they think that exposing their bare skin to the air will make them sick!

An inca mask recovered from a royal tomb. I tried to consider what was the modern-day equivalent of dressing in a mask twice as big as your head... I guess the mask these days is your social network of choice and the optical illusion can be created with any number of digital up enhancements!

A view of one of Ecuador's volcanoes during the flight from Quito to Cuenca

Men hard at work. This picture was take in the late afternoon in suburban Chiclayo

The churches and cathedrals here are intense! I've been to the Vatican City but this is different! I think it is the spanish influence and their obsession with gold but it feels like a cross between a cathedral and a 'Wat'. Instead of Buddha at the front of the room we have Jesus... Haven't seen a room full of reclining jesus's yet though...

A view from the bus... The sand dunes are remarkable and there seems to be a lot of abandoned brick structures peppered along the side of the road.

Cajas national park was pretty amazing, I wish I could have spent longer in this wonderland... High altitude though (over 4000m) so even the couple of hours I did spend stroling around was a work out! 

This is the Peruvian version of a surf-ski... This waka will help you catch you a mean feed of fish if you're Keen! Sweet as... Just make sure you got some teef to eat it wif! Otherwise your're stuck with plankton

Catch me if you can

So... Had the meeting with the minister of health last night and I was really impressed with her response. She seemed genuinely interested in listening to our presentation and took the time to discuss and critique our findings. I have to say though, I had a bit of a moment of wondering WTF I was doing. As we approached security of the government buildings and as I opened my laptop with our presentation and talked about our findings I couldn't help feeling a bit like Leonardo Dicaprio (not in Titanic!) in catch me if you can. The random turn of events; getting on a plane to fly half way around the world to collaborate with people I'd never met in person and then presenting my findings to the highest level of government representative... RANDOM!

Luckily this little girl from Reporoa had two things going for her (1) a copy of her degree to present for authentication and to remind her that she had actually worked to get here and (2) her bluff hadn't been called yet! Haha!

Holes for Ecuador

My time counting teeth has nearly come to an end. We'll see approximately 600 children by the end of the week and most of them were riddled with holes. It's hard to blame just one thing for this problem but I can think of a few culprits... The favourite snack of children is an iced sugar water known as bolos. The particular joy of this beauty is that babies can suck on it even before they have teeth and so decay is being initiated before the kid even reaches one year old. By the time they are three years old a lot of the damage is already done. By the time the kid hits school it is just a case of how deep the hole is and how much they are leaking pus or complaining of tooth ache. 

I guess the good news is that we can change it from the ground up and we've found that the earlier we get the babies into the program the better the outcomes. We have a meeting with the minister of health on Friday evening and that is what we' re going to try and say... Wish me (us) luck!

Who would have thought?

Yesterday when riding on the top of a bus to get home, dodging branches of trees from the edge of the Amazonian jungle, I had a moment of appreciating life in general. I remember sitting in social studies and Miss Douglas teaching us about the Amazon forest and how it totally captured my imagination... I never thought I would actually be able to say I had seen the Amazon forest or done dentistry in the middle if a banana plantation... It's pretty cool!

A tooth by any other name

Ecuador marks the fourth country that I have practiced dentistry... And like always there are some interesting philosophies surrounding treatment provision that usually reflect the underlying cultural undertones. The lonely planet guide says that ecuadorians have one thing in common: a true disdain for the current political powers and for the next ones to come in and stuff things up. We experienced this today when a ministry of health dentist came to inspect our mobile field set-up... They weren't too worried about infection control, just expiry dates! Unfortunately some of our fluoride products were out of date, an offence that could have shut us down, luckily a bit of smooth talking got us in the clear (phew!).

Soo... Other than the MOH everyone else here is quite lovely. The group is made up of all women and one man (eeeek) there are three older women who all happen to be going through the hot flushes of menopause (quite entertaining) 10 or so Berkeley students (some under grad some at 'grad school') and a few locals. All-in-all they are a real pleasure to work with. Each of them have a reasonable grasp of the Spanish language and have been gracious enough to guide me through a few basics so now I know that 'diente' is tooth.

The children's teeth here are pretty comparable to Cambodia; however, the kids are generally a pretty normal size so maybe a three-year-old child here is the same as a five-year-old Cambodian. There are definitely a few more resources around and with any luck they might get a half-good government one of these days that only changes the laws once per week rather than three and a half!

Ecuadorian dentists at work