¡Bolivia!

Lindsay and I arrived into Bolivia around 11:30 pm on Saturday, April 21, after a wild scramble to find a flight - our original flights with Lloyd Aereo Boliviano (LAB) were cancelled, and the airline did not bother to advise any of the passengers of the change. However, God is good - and apparently wanted us here - because He opened doors for us that had previously been shut and made for a safe and "uneventful" trip into Cochabamba, Bolivia - including a late departure from San Jose, a 25-minute layover in Lima Peru in which we had to rush through customs and go to another terminal to catch our already-boarding flight, and an enjoyable night in the La Paz airport awaiting our next flight that was scheduled to leave at 8:00 am. In all honesty, none of the trip should have worked, but God-willing, we made all of our connections, flights were available from La Paz to Cochabamba (despite the huge demand and lack of supply since LAB went under), and miraculously, our bags made the 25 minute transition in Lima, Peru!



Hospitals of Hope is a beautiful hospital located in the town of Vinto, a suburb of Cochabamba, Bolivia. We are living in a guesthouse about 150 meters from the hospital with three other volunteers.






Our good friend, Josh Watson - who is graduating from UNC SOM and moving to Ohio where he will begin his med-peds residency at Ohio State - also came down for a week to join us in our adventure. It was a true blessing to have him here, and it afforded ample time to discuss future plans for further mission trips when we are all fully-certified physicians! It will be exciting to see where God takes us all in the future.






Bolivia is a beautiful country with majestic mountain ranges and wide, rolling valleys. There are close to 40 indigenous tribes that live in Bolivia, the most prominent near Cochabamba being the Quechuan. They speak a tribal dialect, but many of them also speak Spanish. Culturally, Bolivia is a completely different world from Honduras - the people are much less dramatic in their speech, and seemingly more reserved in general. However, the people are lovely, and we are enjoying our time among them.

HOH, is essentially an American hospital in Bolivia, although it is staffed and operated by Bolivian-trained physicians - which allows for continuity of care when volunteers are not present. American doctors come down on trips to teach and instruct and improve the level of medical care offered; but generally speaking, this hospital is by far and away the most impressive medical facility we have seen during our time in Central and South America. We have already taken part in multiple laparoscopic surgical procedures (lap choecystectomy, lap Nissen, etc), and other fairly advanced procedures are performed here on a routine basis.

That being said, we have less to offer here than at the other clinics where we served. As such, our time in the hospital has been spent learning from the physicians, occassionally serving as translators for other volunteers that do not speak Spanish, and attending lectures and labs (IV placement, ABGs, ambulance services/paramedics, etc). However, there are ample opportunities to get involved with the local people and to provide a service - of which we will discuss more in the next blog entry!

On a quick note, Lindsay and I are both quite sick with sinusitis; and I also have some GI bug which has kept me bed-ridden for the past three days with nausea, vomiting, and fatigue. However, God is good, and we have started the appropriate treatments and are slowly improving. Please keep Lindsay and me in your prayers, and pray for a continued godly medical ministry through HOH.