My Very Long Journey Home

Noted on May 30, 2011 by Giustina Pelosi in

By Megan Simpkins: University of Oregon student and IE₃ intern working with Child Family Health International in Bolivia.

Well, after six flights, I am home!!!!!!!!!! Sad to leave some things in Bolivia, but happy to be back. I had about a 17 hour layover in La Paz before taking four flights to get home. To be honest, I don't even remember the first two flights because I have been so tired through most of them. I do know that when I arrived to the Tarija airport (early, mind you) that they didn't even have a set flight time for me. However, after we arrived in Cochabamba, I had to go through the doors, back through security, and went right back out the door to get back onto the same seat again. The flight attendants kind of looked at me funny, so I at least had amusement in that.

Here I am leaving my room. I had said goodbye to Carla and Javier before work. And no, I did not forget Lorenzo, the parrot.

Here are my bags all packed and the sheets in the laundry basket ready to be washed.

This is my medical director, Karina, who was nice to accompany me to the airport. Her husband, Fabricio, was in La Paz for most of the week because his mother was having some complications with her sickness. So, I didn't get to say goodbye to him.

I was loading on to the plane and decided to take a quick picture. They don't load through ramps connected to the building. They load, both front and back, with mobile stairs.

This was my way of saying goodbye to Tarija.

These flights have been some of the prettiest I have ever been on.

I think there is a magnetic force with young children and myself. I sat by quite a few on my flights home. This one was so cute. When she started crying the mother looked confused so I asked her if she had any Tylenol because the altitude must have been bothering her. She said she didn't know about that and would give her some on the next flight. So, that was nice. I enjoyed having someone to talk to. She was on her way to Santa Cruz because her daughter was diagnosed with Hydrocephalus, which is a build-up of fluid in the brain. 

The Andes Mountains.

So pretty.

Here is La Paz from the plane, just before landing.

During my layover in La Paz I stopped by Hospital del Niño, but got there too late to say goodbye to anybody. I did see the psychologist, Felix Caballero, but that was it. I tried to find the social worker that had all of the receipts from the donation, but she wasn't there and didn't seem to be that interested in talking to me. I did receive some scanned-in, via email, yesterday. I know that all of the money hasn't been spent but Dra. Riveros told me that she thinks Rosa will need to come back in for her chemotherapy. Her surgery was successful, but I wasn't able to speak to anybody that could tell me more about the situation, unfortunately. 
Here are some of the "facturas" or receipts that explain what the money was spent on.

Hospitalization and Diagnostic services: 1,440 Bolivianos = $206.90.

Blood tests: 110 Bolivianos = $15.40.

Medications: 235.60 Bolivianos = $33.85.

More Hospitalization: 1000 Bolivianos = $143.68.

Diagnostics, Hospitalization, and others: 740 Bolivianos = $106.32.

I thought it would be appropriate to wear the shirt that Elaina bought me since it was my last night in the house that we spent a lot of time in together.

Slightly blurry photo of myself all packed and ready to go.

Bye-bye!

The taxi was about an hour early and came at 5:00am to get me and so I didn't have a chance to eat. Here I was at a cafe in the airport. I was doing my best to make sure that I was on time because flights in Latin America will choose a cut-off time and you aren't even allowed to pass through security after that--EVEN if the flight hasn't left yet.

Are we there yet?

More beautiful plane pictures. Flying to Lima, Peru.

Here is the coast of Lima, Peru.

Here is the coastline of San Salvador, El Salvador.

It was very warm there.

I saw Antonia Cueto, a fellow Spanish student from Robert Davis' Spanish 420 class at UO, in the El Salvador airport and she sat right behind me!

Silas, a great buddy from work, met me in San Fransisco, for some dinner! He seems to be very happy in his new home.

Thanks again Silas!

In the car in PORTLAND, OREGON. I guess the name is fitting, the land of my port of entry to Oregon: Port-land. Collin came to pick me up from the airport and was happy to see me, needless to say. I missed him so much!!! I am SO glad that I get to spend time with him! So excited, I forgot to even take pictures! But the one below was taken from his car .

Getting closer to hommmmmmeeeee. So happy to be home.
I spent time with my aunts, who all gave me food (Yeeeeesssss) and then went to visit with my parents. On Monday I had lunch with Kayla and Cassie to give them their cute, hand-knitted baby outfits (since they are both pregnant!), and then I went home to Eugene.

This is just an extra picture of my cute and pregnant best friend, Cassie, and her daughter, Alyssa, in the hats that I bought them in La Paz!
I just realized that this is pretty much my last blog. I mean, what else do I have to write about? I'm going to miss this!!! I feel sad now, haha. I really did learn a lot in Bolivia and had some great experiences. I feel more ready to pursue a career in nursing--and possibly beyond that--than I did before. I feel great to be home and can't wait to see what this term brings me. I will be taking a few classes, along with a CNA 1 class, and working.

I want to say a big thanks to all of you that have "came along" with me on my journey and reading my blogs. I was really nice to have all of your support, interest, and thoughts. Like I said, I will miss this!

That was my last term at the University of Oregon. As soon as my internship credits come in I will have graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish with a minor in Latin American Studies.
Physician Assistant: Here I come.

To read more from Megan and view her original posting, please view her blog at http://megansimpkins.blogspot.com/