volunteering is costly

So, the internet is apparently not the way to find hospitals or doctors to volunteer with. It develops that nearly every program costs several thousand dollars in good ol' administrative costs. In the mean time though, i've met a lot of dissatisfied volunteers who recommended some hospitals that I could approach in person and sidestep the man. I've also met some cool kids who just got out of university here with degrees in ecotourism that need a roommate... looking good so far! It develops that laundries are fantastic places for finding apartments, at least in the Mariscal, (which locals call gringolandia).

The good news is that there doesn´t seem to be any shortage of hospitals. And from what i hear from volunteers, for many of them, volunteering comes down to shadowing physicians every day - experience that is equally invaluable and tough to come by in the states. Luckily, one of the ladies that works at my hostel is a physiotherapist and it sounds like she might be of some help finding contacts. All this work makes me want to write a guide on how to do this and get around all of these ridiculously costly organizations. The model that most of them use is a major diversion of funds away from hospitals and the local economy.

After I check out a couple of places today, I'm gonna head out to the boonies tomorrow and see my buddies out there, hopefully get the skinny on these fiestas coming up in September...