We finally land at the Bogota Airport, each one of us for the first time ever in Colombia, the majority of us will insert their first implant here. After the 13 hour flight we do not seem to be surprised by anything, until the moment we reach the currency exchange office, where a cashier asks for our passports and… an imprint of our right thumb. This is the procedure around here: no prints, no pesos.

At the airport we are greeted by the representatives of the Colombian branch of MIS, who escort us to our hotel – which surprises us again – five stars in Bogota stands exactly for the same type of service as in Europe. This means that we are not at the end of the world. The first night is short, I wake up at 3 a.m. and unsuccessfully practise all of the methods of combating insomnia: it is 10 a.m. in Poland now and even if I watched a hundred sequels of Colombian The Bold and the Beautiful I will not fall asleep.

We go to sightsee Bogota, we start from the Monserrate Hill with a beautiful cathedral on top. Our Colombian MIS guides – Claudia and Paola – recommend coca tea as an antidote for the fear of heights and the lack of breath. None of us suffers from the aforementioned ailments, nevertheless, quite a lot of us take up the opportunity. We dine in an elegant restaurant located at the feet of the salt mountain. Potatoes are baked in salt brine around here and sweet corn is served as an additive to… sweet corn soup. Magda Gessler would be delighted, the soup is delicious. The next stop is constituted by: Zipaquira – an impressive cathedral engraved within a salt mountain. We spend the next night in a beautiful colonial town of Villa de Lleva located about 200 km away from Bogota. It is here that we experience the real South Amercia, we purchase ponchos and hammocks, we try local fruit from the market, we sightsee the largest square in Colombia which maintains all the original features of the colonial era, including the church and the cobbled streets. It was the center of life, the judgments were held there, as well as the sales of slaves. The weather is excellent but only of a few us decide to take a swim in the La Periquera Water Fall – water flowing down from the mountains is extremely cold. We go back to Bogota the same night and after a short night at a hotel we start the first day of the course within the centres of MIS Colombia and Esparza Enclosed.

After a short theoretical introduction with regard the MIS implantology system, we start to execute procedures on patients. Procedures simultaneously take place in five different cabinets on the premises of two MIS Colombia and Esparza owned clinics. Each doctor places an implant under the supervision of an experienced instructor. The speed of the executed procedures is impressive: on the first day each of the participants on average inserts 3 implants. Emotions are huge: for the majority of doctors these are their first implants ever. The psychological barrier has been combated. The further two days of the workshop are the real implantologic marathon: finally every doctor inserts 10 implants. This allows to obtain the impressive result of: 200 implants during 3 days. About 70 patients have altogether passed through our cabinets. We admire the scale as well as the ideal organisation of the course. We wonder where has the famous Latino maniana gone. The head of the Colombian branch of MIS, Claudia Esparza, says that there is no space for maniana in her company. Since MIS Colombia organises courses for doctors from all over the world, groups on average consist of 15 doctors, therefore everything has to be ideally organised for such undertaking. We collect our course diplomas and give a few interviews to the Colombian TV – the organiser puts utmost care of the PR side of her courses. Luckily we do not have to lie in front of the cameras: the course was excellent and has performed its role, we feel confident enough to begin the process of implantation in Poland. Will we come back here? Only if Garmed shall organise an advanced implantology course, we will gladly return.

We have one more day left in Colombia, we sightsee Bogota and do shopping. We buy coffee from the local market, visit the most famous museum of gold: more than 50000 exhibits from the pre-Colombian times.

And finally the evening … we visit the most fashionable club in Bogota. Our Colombian partners teach us salsa, we feel a bit like the blind, who feel as if somebody was teaching us colours. We could train for ever and still be unable to copy the magnificent moves, of Latino dancers. Luckily, the art of implantation is not as complex.

Magdalena Jabłońska

Magdalena Jabłońska