Ready for the jungle

I am planning to go to Iguazu Falls next month when a dear friend of mine comes to town. I was told that it's not absolutely necessary to get a Yellow Fever shot if I'm only going to stay on the Argentine side but of course it's recommended given Iguazu Falls is located at the border of Argentina and Brazil, and I doubt there is an air border control screening problematic mosquitos like how we human beings scan for flu-like SARS symptoms at the airport. (You do want to get a Yellow Fever shot if you are heading to Brazil though, I think it's even required for people from certain countries.) Especially mosquitos love me for some reason, so I have decided to be safe than sorry.

After some inquiring, I've found out that I can actually get it for free at the Public Health of Borders office! I was delightfully surprised and impressed at the same time and then my usual inquisitve nature was to ask 'why?'. Argentina has public healthcare and it is available to everyone, not just local. In fact, I was told that it is in its constitution that whoever sets foot on Argentine soil, he/she will be treated equally as any Argentine. That's why a lot of people from nearby countries, which don't offer affordable healthcare, come to Argentina just to get medical attention. This public service is, of course, funded by tax payers' money and not surprisingly, I have heard quite some disgruntled complaints from the locals about this issue.

Rather than getting all political about this right now, I just want to say I am very thankful for the generosity and hospitality of this country for making my life much easier. The process was super fast and easy. All I needed to do was headed to the public health office, passport in hand, waited for ~10mins to have my name called, clean individually packaged needle skilfully and swiftly inserted into my arm, passport returned to me with a signed and stamped certificate, and off I went vaccinated! I may feel pain or fever in 3-4 days but still Swwweeeett!