¿What’s Ruralita?
As part of the medical career in our country we are assigned to a rural area for around three months as community service our last year, to learn about public health, epidemiology and also treat patients. We call it "Ruralita".
For some time I had the idea to go to a small town called Los Nevados, located between the mountains in the national park Sierra Nevada in Mérida, Venezuela. I was very enthusiastic about the idea of going somewhere far from the city, somewhere I could read, write and have a different experience. Unfortunately my time there was reduced to only a few days because of an inconvenience but that’s another story.
There’s only two ways to get to Los Nevados, the first and also easier, is getting a truck in a place called Las Heroínas that can take you there in 4 hours or so. The second option is going to the Mukumbarí Station and get a cable car to get you to the mountain where you can walk for 4 or 5 hours to the town or rent a donkey if you don’t want to walk the whole road. Of course I choose the second option.
Lets start the adventure…
As it was my first time going there I didn’t know the road, but that didn’t stop me. I went to the Mukumbarí Station with all the intention of going there by myself. It was 5:00 am and I had everything prepared to leave, I was very worried about all the weight I would have to carry with me, but then I thought: ¿What the hell? I’m going to get there even if it takes me 10 hours and not 5. Luckily I met a teacher from the town, a kind women around her forties, she was also going there with her mom so their offered me to go with them, something that I’m really grateful for.
It took me more than 3 hours by foot and one more hour or so riding a donkey to get there. I had to start working and getting to know the town only a couple of hours after we arrived. I was exhausted and also had a huge pain in both of my knees as I was carrying around 20 kg of weight in my back the whole road. The town has only two streets, the population has been estimated in 903 habitants for 2016. I was surprised as the medical center of the town wasn’t as small as I thought it would be. The prior health problem if the lack of medical personal mainly because of the difficult access to the town.
By day two I was expecting less pain on my knees but it only got worse. Cold was not a problem during the night although I went prepared for very low temperatures. I was very excited to finally be there but only a week before that day the doctor who used to work there had come back to the city so I was there by my own, without any other medical guidance but my own criteria and knowledge. That was the first time I had such a responsibility.
People were really kind with me the whole time. There was a women who lives just next to the health center, the very first day I met her she offered me to warm my food as I didn’t have microwave in the medical residency, and also gave me a great cup of coffee and some baked potatoes to eat with my lunch. She was very nice and had some good stories to tell. I went to her house almost everyday to talk with her. One day she wanted me to try a traditional dessert she made, it was a mixed of corn, milk, panela and a pumpkin like fruit called Churi and it tasted great actually.
Although I went there for only a few days I enjoyed every moment. I spent most of my time meeting everyone I could and listened very carefully to what they had to tell me or teach me. It was definitely a great experience not only for my medical career, as I had the opportunity to work as a doctor for those days, but also to grow as a person.