The Middle Ground Journal

A Fulbright Teacher in Bogota, Colombia, A Special Series – Health Deliveries – by Laura Blasena. The North Star Reports: Global Citizenship and Digital Literacy, at NorthStarReports.org and facebook.com/NorthStarReports

In terms of health, my term in Colombia has been horribly unsuccessful.

In the first few months after I arrived, I thought that my awful allergic reactions to the pollution in Bogota (that my body was not accustomed to) was me somehow developing asthma. In the Amazon, I caught a less severe form of dengue fever. After returning to Bogota for the second semester of classes in late January, one of my mosquito bites got horribly infected and my throat was once again infected by polluted air in Bogota.

(The medical supply stores in Bogota often features manikins wearing surgical clothing or scrubs.)

I´d like to say that this means I´ve become a pro at navigating the health systems in Bogota…