My name is Nicola Bregoli a 6th year medical student from Brescia Italia from Università degli Studi di Brescia and I did an exchange in Guatemala in the Department of General Surgery in the Hospital General San Juan de Dios in October of 2017. Travel, there is nothing better for you: it will make you grow, become a better person, and will let you see things from infinite points of view. Best drug in the world, nothing can be compared to it.Doesn’t matter where you come from and where you’re going, just go, it will always be worth the money and the time, because you will always learn something new from it.
I was contacted a little late before my arrival in Guatemala, but when I could contact my CP I was so happy to have found someone so kind and helpful! Milton and his mother Mayra came to the airport to pick me up with a banner to welcome me! I couldn’t ask for nothing better! Milton’s house was quite small, but confortable. We shared his bedroom and he has been sleeping all the month on an inflatable mattress, giving me his bed: I tried to argue, but couldn’t convince him. We lived with his mother Mayra and his brother Max. We lived in zone 12, quite far from the hospital San Juan de Dios, but in the morning Mayra always accompany Milton and me, leaving the son at Roosevelt Hospital before and then taking me to the other hospital of the city, then i could always come back home by bus or, if I wanted to chill out somewhere else, by Uber.
I love eating and I’m very exigent, but I always had a really good meal anywhere I went in Guatemala, and in very few places I spent more money than the food deserved. And compared to Italy is very cheap as well. Compared to my hometown hospital, this was supertiny, but I have found very good doctors and teachers: I could practice all day in fields I can’t in Italy, like putting stitches, helping and operating in surgery, BLSD, evaluation of a politraumathized patient and lots of other activities I couldn’t even think I could do. It was a very positive experience. I strongly recommend it for every student from the so-called “first world”: we have money, but we lack practice, and the students here are way better than us in this fields.
There was no social program, but it wasn’t a problem for me and for Vittoria and Efrain (the other 2 incomings). We arranged our own trips and visited all the most famous places in Guatemala: Atitlan, Semuc Champey, Rio Dulce and Livingstone and, of course, Tikal. My girlfriend took advantage of me being in Guatemala and arrived on the 18th of October and we spent that weekend in Monterrico, on the Pacific, and we also went to the Pacaya! There is no place that I recommend more than others: take a lot of time and visit all Guatemala, it deserves the time! And I will come back for sure to visit the “Mirador” (no spoilers: check it on google, it’s amazing).
The cost of living is definitely cheaper than Italy, nonetheless I spent quite a lot of money for trasportation: since the city is so huge and the public transport is unsafe, somewhat lacking and not very easy to understand, I spent a lot for Uber (strongly recommended, cheaper than a taxi and totally safe). Also, always bring cash, there are very few places around the country that accept payments by cards, even hostels do not! I spent around Q20 for food in the street and around Q30-Q70 if you eat in a restaurant.
Regarding SCOPE exchange, they’re gold: if you come from Europe to Latin America, Africa, or Asia, you will find another world from which you can learn all the practical things you lack, and if you come from the so-called 3rd world and go to Europe, you will see all the latest technology. From every point of view these exchange are always worth, you will never come back empty handed.
Travel, there is nothing better for you
