hell and back

I apologize ahead of time to my dentist at home, who may or may not be reading my blog posts.

 

Today might have been the craziest day of my life. If not, then it’s definitely been the craziest day I’ve had since I’ve been in Ecuador, BY FAR.  First, my water bottle was stolen on my bus ride to training.  No big, expected to have things stolen at some point.  At least it was just a water bottle.  Then, my upper, right molar started hurting.  It’s been bothering me a bit for the past week.  When I floss that area, it bleeds.  I poked the area with my tongue, then prodded it with my fingers to make sure it wasn’t just food that got stuck.  Nope, felt a small hole.  Decided I should call the PCMO (peace corps medical officer).  She called back almost immediately saying I had an appointment scheduled for 3pm in Quito, a 1.5 hour trip by bus from the training center.  I got all my stuff and left at 12:30pm.  Walked to the bus stop about 15 min away from the training center and caught the bus headed towards Quito/Rio Coca.  On the bus, I reviewed the simple directions I was given by a facilitator as to how to get to the Peace Corps Office in Quito.  At some point, a gringo gets on the bus and sits next to me.  I coin him as a gringo based on the simple fact that he was carrying a NorthFace bookbag.  Finally, I arrive at the bus station in Quito after 45 min.  Got off the bus and asked a lady manning the bathrooms how to get to the Ecovia.  She tells me I’m already in the Ecovia and need to enter the station adjacent to where I was in order to catch a trolly bus headed towards “La Y.”  I get on the trolly, flustered, feeling sick, feeling lost and ready to give up.  I notice that the gringo was sitting in front of me.  I decide that it’s in my best interest to him for directions.  We semi-figure it out.  Turns out, the gringo is from the states, score.  He’s from North Carolina.  He’s a junior at UNC.  He graduated from Science and Math, and he knows people that went to my high school.  My jaw dropped.  All the while, a 13 year old high school girl, sitting next to Ben (the gringo), was watching my overly excited expressions and listening to me say “holy shit” a million times.  She catches that I need to get to the bus stop, “La Y,” and tells me (in English) that she’ll walk me to the Peace Corps office cause she lives on the same street.  I make it to the office safely and without crying. 

 

The next half of my day is another story.  Kelly, the PCMO, gives me papers I need to take with me to be filled out by the dentist.  She also hands me a sheet with a small, hand-drawn map, directing me to the dentist’s office.  Despite having a map and directions in English, I somehow manage to get on the bus going the wrong direction.  This mistake cost me an extra 25 cents and 15 minutes.  I arrive at the dentist’s office 15 minutes late.  I have x-rays taken and the dentist determines I have a cavity.  He uses some camera device to show me what it looks like.  It was gross, I’ll leave it at that.  No more dulces.  Because I’m a poor PCT living in Tumbaco, he promptly numbed my mouth and proceeded to fill my cavity on the spot.  The dentist visit ended an hour later.  On the bus ride back, I asked the man sitting next to me if the bus was headed towards Cumbaya.  He responded with more than a simple yes.  He asked me where I lived, where I was from and if I had any interest working for his company, translating Chinese documents.  I kept the convo as short as possible and spent the next 40 minutes staring hard out the window. 

 

I finally got home at 6pm.

 

Glad to be alive.