I count!

We chatted over seltzer
about her role and the ID
she wears to avoid arrest

To sleep in this morning I threw a comforter over the window blinds and turned the AC down to 23 (really went wild Jackie, usually its 26!).  But just after 8 when the doorbell went "ding dong", I suddenly remembered the sound from all the commercials here and knew what day it was.  I jumped out of bed, threw on the closest pair of decent apparel (scrubs), and answered the door with a huge smile.  Census time!

For the past two weeks, the newspaper has had a front page countdown of this decennial day.  It's all over the television and the talk of the town.  But no shop even bothers to put a sign up "will be closed for census"- that's a given.  Today any Bolivian who leaves their house, without good reason, will be fined and jailed for 24 hours!  Hospitalists, EMT, police, and some other workers are exempt.

Literally, every single household is counted in one day.  All the university students are enrolled to help, setting off at 5 am to survey the grounds then begin knocking.  They get a screening (no criminals, etc) and a 12-hour instructional session.  Ha it almost seems the whole fiasco is just a way to count and ensure there will be enough future university students to help in 10 years.  But everyone knows the census data is used to distribute government money, so they must take it seriously.

"Living Censored" Now on my door!
(that's actually not the right translation)

It was actually rather quick and simple.  Level of education, house and utilities, employment, language, kids- no big surprises.  Surprisingly similar to our questionnaire for socioeconomics and risk of Chagas (we ask about house construction). Thinking of my patients, most live with 4-8 people and up, each one which needs to be surveyed individually.   My girl said my building, which has probably 60-70 apartments, is being covered by 5 students.

So, if in ten years, you want to see somewhere where one day is completely erased off everyone's schedules and daily life comes to a complete and temporary halt- come on down to Bolivia for census!