Yesterday was another new experience. I went to the dentist. In fact, it was the first time I have been to the dentist in almost 3 years. I finally decided to go because my tooth was hurting, however the dentist found no cavities, thank God. I've decided going to the Bolivian dentist has its pros and cons. So, I showed up yesterday for my 6pm appointment, filled out all the stuff you have to do on your fist visit to a new doctor, and then only had to wait about 5 minutes went my name was called, I was taken to my room, and another 30 seconds later the dentist was sitting there ready to check me out. That was quick. The room was cool too, on the third floor of an office building, the chair was facing the two big windows that gave me a great view of down below, and if I didn't like the view I could just watch the TV there in front of me. The dentist even asked what channel I wanted to see. I said I didn't know because we don't have a TV, so he just put it on CCN in English. So quickly after introducing ourselves, I found out that his daughter is going to be in Ann's class in the fall and he likes to take Calvert's director out to the tennis club, so maybe if I play my cards right we can get ourselves invited to play tennis sometime too. After checking me out, he asked if I wanted to go ahead and clean my teeth. Sure. So he whips out safety goggles and tells me to put them on. Uh oh, never done that at the dentist office before. So I put them on and he tells me he is going to ultra-sound my teeth. Never done that before either, but sure, why not? So he pulls out this little electronic tool and another thing that squirted stuff everywhere (hence the goggles) and he went at it. I must say I don't think I'll do that again. It was painful! It was doing everything I could to sit still and not jump out of the seat. But after that was over, the higienist took over for the routine stuff we are all used to. Whoo, now I can relax and watch the news. Then at the end she gave me one more surprise. She told me since I have sensitive teeth (I never said that, she must have seen my feet squirming during the untrasound stuff) she would put some flouride treatment on my teeth. So just sit back and smile big, teeth clenched. She whipped out a big bottle of pink goo and squirted it all over my mouth and teeth and then started rubbing it all around. The goo got all over my face, but at least it tasted ok. It was funny because when I first sat down in the chair she had handed me a napkin. I wasn't sure why, never had a dentist do that before either, but now at the very end I knew why. I used my napkin and got up and left.

And one of the best parts about living in Bolivia is the cheap health care. No need for insurance here. The whole thing cost $40.