"Every Friday, Just Not This Friday": A Story of Warmth, Beauty and Futility

We arrived in Sucre to find warmth and palm trees! Palm Trees! Oh, and we found a gorgeous gleamingly white city full of amazing architecture, fantastic plazas, and the first good espresso Natan has been able to find this entire trip. The first day here, we wandered, grinning, in and out of churches and cafes and basked in the sun.

But the second day, my primary objective was to get a yellow fever shot. Those of you who have been reading for while will remember that while I was supposed to get one to enter Bolivia, I ended up bribing my way in and was never actually vaccinated. Since I hear I´ll need on to get from Bolivia into Argentina (my next stop), and I doubt I´ll be able to bribe the Argentinian officials, it seemed like this was a priority. Little did we realize the adventure we were embarquing on.

Act I: A Journey Begins

To figure out where to go, we asked a pharmacist. She directed me to a medical center that was no longer in operation. I asked someone at a near-by working at a refreshment stand. Go to the hostipal, she said. It´s just a few blocks away. So we walked to Santa Barbara Hospital, stopping at a near-by parkto regroup (see right.)

Act II: The Hospital

The emergency room directed us to children´s ward for the vaccinations. The people into the childrens ward pointed us down a long hallway, where we waited half an hour for the nurse to show up beneath a sign offering free vaccinations every day. When she finally arrived she informed us that children could get vaccinations any day they wanted, but I, as an adult would have to go to the Vaccination Bank(on the other side of town), which was only open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9-12 and from 3-6. It was Friday, but it was only 1:30.

Act III: The Vaccine Bank

Third time is the charm, we thought. So we bided our time and arrived at 3:30. After following the signs for "vacunas" (vaccinations) we wound up in a dark frigid room full of styrafoam containers - it was clear we were not supposed to be there. When we got tired of waiting outside the roomlike good boys and girls, we were finally able to pester someone into talking to us. Oh yes! she said. This is the place! And yes, we do give vaccines for yellow fever. Every Friday. But just not THIS Friday, because the guy who administers them is not working. You could come back Monday. He´ll be here Monday. Well, Probably.

Dejected and defeated, Nate and I slowly made our way up to the Recoleta, a Church on the Mountainside, to drink freshly squeezed fruit juice and watch the sun set over this beautiful but totally confunding city. (At least we got SOMETHING yellow in this town . . .)