Must be my luck

Written yesterday and posted today: (I apologize in advance for my english, but my head is a complete mess of languages right now and I imagine it is going to get worse)

Three days now without my luggage... I am starting to get worried and cranky. The good news is that they have at least figured out where my bags are. The bad news is that they are still in Vancouver and won't be here for another 2 days. Well, if they are in Vancouver at least my chocolates are not melting.

Must be my luck, because I tend to have major incoveniences when I am traveling long distances. The fist time I went back to back to Brazil, they wouldn't let me into the plane to go back to Canada because there was some stamp, that I didn't know I needed, missing on my passport. I had to spend a day in Sao Paulo begging the Canadian embassy to stamp it. Then, the next time I went to Brazil, a major airline went backrupt exactly on the day I was flying with them and cancelled all their flights. Another day stuck in Sao Paulo's chaotic airport filled with people and trying to find a flight to my city (which they never reimbursed me as promised btw). Another time I got seriously lost on my way to the airport in Sao Paulo and just about missed the flight (and by just about, I mean literally having to run like a mad woman at the airport to get in). Anyways...now, when something bad such as loosing my luggage for 3 days happens to me, I am not surprised anymore. Must be my luck.

But, on to more interesting things. Yesterday I had another day filled with briefings and I would call my day yesterday as my reality check. The impression I had from my comfortable couch in North America while watching the news, was that Colombia's problems and conflicts are mostly a thing of the past, and things are a whole lot better now. I have watched comercials on TV encouraging tourists to come and visit. But yesterday I got the true picture of the reallity here painted for me, and it was an eye opener to realize all the issues going on. The number of displaced people because of armed conflicts is huge, and these people have very difficult access to health care. The private agency that works for the government to provide health care does give them a card, to have access to the services, but since there are no services near the isolated vilages, that card is pretty much useless (but, of course, that private agency is collecting government money for providing the supposed care to them).

Besides access to services, the consequences of decades of armed conflicts are huge in terms of mental health, sexual violence and similar problems. Recently, MSF has published a report called "Three times victims" about the issue of mental health that I recomend you read, to open your eyes.
Also interesting is this video with photographies.

Anyways, that was yesterday. Today I started my spanish lessons. My spanish teacher is an elderly lady, sweet as pie and with a patience the size of this world. I spent the morning with one of her sisters and then she took me for a walk (also to buy some essential items, since I have nothing). Anyways, I saw this really nice building, where the Canadian embassy is and I wanted to take a picture, you know, to show that Bogota has nice buildings too. But I was stopped by a security guard that said pictures of the building are not allowed. I could take a picture of the street (which I would post if I had my USB cable..) if I wanted. That's when again I was forced out of my illusion that all is well here. When you can't even take pictures of a building...

In the evening I was surprised with one of my teacher's family member having a medical emergency. So I ended up the day at the hospital, which I was very curious to see anyways. I suggested we called an ambulance, to which they replied me that it would be faster to take the taxi. So there we go again with the cuco drivers. Once we got there, although the place was full and there were no chairs for her to sit initially, I must say that she got in relativelly quickly and was triaged appropriately. The hospital looked quite old and simple, but other than that I can't say much. She had to pay 2,600 pesos to be seen (which is actually quite cheap, if you have any money at all... I wonder what happens to people that have no money). But anyways, other than that I can't say much else. I had to leave before it was late so I didn't see much. I am pleased that I was able to interview my first "patient" in spanish and I could understand what was going on.

That's it for now. Looking forward for what else is going to happen.