Bolivia

My first report from Bolivia, and first attempt at blogging. Its been 2 weeks since I arrived in South America, and so far so good. Haven´t died, been ill, robbed, kidnapped and am enjoying it! At the moment I´m in Cochabamba, in a small community hospital where I´m doing obstetrics and gynaecology, some paediatrics, and some community work. The hospital is quite quiet and there are lots of Bolivian medical students who are all very friendly. It means its been quite a relaxing start which is good. More about that in the future...

For now, a bit about the country. I´ve never been anywhere so politicised in my life. Evo Morales has brought out very strong feelings across the board, EVERYONE has an opinion about politics. And so varied. Thios was expressed very well yesterday by two things, the fight in Congress in the picture above, and the taxi driver who told me that he wanted a military coup so that all the ´damned campesinos´ (peasants) would go back to work in the fields. Its hard to know who to believe or what to think - is Evo a power hungry dictator in waiting or does he really have the poorest parts of society at heart, and if he does does he have the skills to help them? All in all, its a really interesting situation, I hope it doesnt degenerate and that I can learn something from it.....