Into The Heart of Argentina

Last Monday we celebrated Dia del Amigo with friends and had so much fun talking, eating, enjoying music…

Wednesday it snowed!!! You have to understand, It.Hardly.Ever.Snows.Here. Seriously, they sometimes go YEARS without snow. You can see there’s a lot more snow up in the Sierras; we just got a dusting here in Carlos Paz and it was gone in a matter of hours. Folks who live higher up and received more snow followed the tradition of building a little snowman on the hood of their car. I kept trying to snap a photo of one but we were always in a moving vehicle which made it a rather difficult. This is the best shot I managed to get. “Bien grande!” That’s what my dentist kept saying Friday afternoon but I couldn’t open any wider. LOL Despite what some say about the size of my mouth, for dental purposes it could apparently stand to be a little bigger. Recently I had a root canal on a molar and now the dentist is preparing to crown what’s left of the tooth. Each Friday for the next three weeks this is what I have to look forward to—my sweet dentist saying “Bien grande, Kim, bien grande!”

While I was at the dentist’s, Ivan went under the knife at a nearby clinic. He had out-patient surgery on his knee to remove a cyst that was trying to pass itself off as an extra knee. Which, contrary to the sonogram, was not just on the surface but had burrowed into a tendon, requiring much cutting and scraping. Not an image I like to think about.

Nor is Ivan’s description of the operating room. Dangling wires obviously repaired with electrical tape, old and RUSTY equipment, and although we’re assuming the room was clean, it had a rather dingy appearance. The room is no reflection on the doctor though; Ivan’s very pleased with his work.

It’s been interesting to note some differences in medical care since we arrived. I want to preface this by saying: these things are not BAD, just DIFFERENT.

Even though there is nationalized health care, many people have an auxiliary insurance so they can go to “private” clinics—where the doctors might actually have tongue depressors and cotton swabs.

The process goes like this: you have to physically go and pay your monthly health insurance premium (no sending in a payment by mail) and then each time you have anything done, you have to take the doctor’s order to the same office where you pay the premiums and get it approved and pay your percentage of it, then take that slip with you to the doctor or hospital. If it’s just a regular doctor visit, you don’t have to have a doctor’s order; you just go to the office and tell them you need to see the doctor and pay your part (approximately $4 for a regular visit).

Yes, prices are much, much lower. What we paid for Ivan’s out-patient surgery is less than we’d pay for an office visit to the specialist in the U.S. (And remember, for that price we get the dangling wires and old, rusty equipment.)

While facilities and supplies might be lacking, doctors and nurses here are well trained and very professional. We’ve been extremely happy with the quality of care. Not that we want to spend any more time than necessary with them!

Anyway, Ivan was finished before I was, so HE WALKED TO THE DENTIST’S. Said he felt great. When the anesthetic wore off about 11 p.m. it was a different story. Saturday he was still in a world of hurt, but he peeked under the bandage and it looked fine. No excessive redness or swelling. Happy to report that by this morning (Monday) the pain is virtually gone.

On Saturday we had asado with our co-workers and some young men who came to help with a youth activity. We enjoyed grilled beef, pork and vegetables (have you ever had grilled butternut squash? DELICIOUS!). Ivan made fresh chimichurri with parsley from our garden. Excelente! Our co-worker’s youngest daughter (age 11) served not one, but TWO, fabulous homemade desserts!

In addition to these extra activities, we had the regular “stuff”... Spanish class, Bible study with another couple, I went to art class (where I’m the only English speaker so I get a good workout in Spanish!), Ivan spent time with different ones he’s gotten to know, we had a good meeting on Sunday evening…

And in the middle of the week our Vonage phone died. Our son already has a refurbished phone from Vonage waiting for us; we hope a young lady who is coming soon will be able to bring it (don’t really want to trust it to the mail since we know of at least one package that never arrived). Meanwhile folks who want to communicate will need to use either e-mail, facebook or skype.