El Fin de Semana (y mas)

The weekend (and more).

On Saturday, a group of us were invited by a Peruvian friend to a cookout in the countryside to help raise money for his neice's heart operation. Urpi, who's name means "dove" in Quechua, is an adorable 8-month-old girl born premature. Pictured below is trucha, a traditional Andean trout dish. The 10 soles a plate we each donated was considered very generous (about $3). I only speak broken Spanish, but from the conversation I had with her aunt, it sounded like the operation was going to be a lot more money than what they had.

Sunday was Machu Picchu day! Pictures cannot accurately show how breathtaking this place is. Ten megapixels is just not enough to capture the humid jungle, the cloud forrests, the jagged mountains rising out of sight, or the absolute still that seems to hover over you at the top. It truely deserves to be one of the seven wonders.

We decided to climb from the base at Aguas Callientes to the top. Several locals told us that the hike would take around 40 minutes, and was not that difficult. However, because of the altitude, for Aena and I, it turned out to be a grueling two hour verticle climb in the rain. But it was totally worth it at the top. :)

This week I'm working in the obstetrics section of Belampampa. I was supprised how many births happen there every day. Yesterday morning we had four (two at the same time) with another one expected in the afternoon. Verticle births using a large wooden chair with the center cut out seem to be the norm. The mother waits in the "dilation room" and when she's ready, is walked across the hall to the delivery room where she sits over the chair while a nurse catches her baby underneath. It actually doesn't look as bad as it sounds, although there is virtually no pain medication available for the mom. Health standards in this section of the clinic are higher, but still not what I would consider great.

Side note: !Viva Peru!
Today is the Peruvian independence day, so most businesses including hospitals are closed down for the next two or three days. The annual parade has been canceled this year due to swine flu, which has also closed down many of the schools in the area as well.

Photos de mi Primera Semana!!

My first week!!

I know this has been a while in coming, but as promised: Photos!



I've been working morings in Belempampa, a smaller version of a public hospital. I will be posting more photos later, but basically, if you abandoned an elementary school for 10 years, then added about 100 pacients a day, you have Belempampa. The picture to the left is of the patients lining up outside the pharmacy to schedule appointments for the next day. Each of the 4 doctors only has 16 appointments a day, so it's first-come first-serve. We've been doing a lot to try to improve sanitation here. Today we brought bars of soap, because they only had one or two bars......in the whole hospital. Missing also: gloves, alcohol, hot water, alcohol, handsanitizer, etc.





This is all of us who are living at our group-stay home (minus one). We live with a family that runs sort of a hostel for the volunteers as part of their house. We went out as a "family" last night. There is a ton of nightlife here because of all the tourists.





























And here is an example of a city "bus" that we take to work and back. This is actually a really nice-looking one. Basically it's a minivan with about thirty people stuffed inside. Literally. You stand, or sit, or lean, or wherever you can. Or can't. Taxis (or the equivalent of an old geo-metro-ish car) are also quite normal, but cost more. (a taxi is 2.5 soles-about $0.75 verus a bus at 60 centimos- $0.20)





And just some general pictures of Cuzco. It's really a beautiful city. The streets always packed with taxis, buses, tons of people, and the occasional animal.

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I´m here!!!!

Pictures will be posted soon.

And they will be incredible :)

It´s been a whirl-wind day of orientation and a little bit of exploration. The school is a lot bigger than I had thought, with over 1000 students yearly and nearly 200 at any given time, not counting members of the community who come to study daily. Although it may be what many of us consider 3rd world, Cuzco is beautiful and is busier than what it looks like in the photos i´ll post tomorrow.

Resting 2 miles above sea level, the air here is hard to breath not to mention the overwhelming smell of car exhaust. There will be protests tomorrow to block streets and reduce the number of cars on the road, so the taxis which we usually rely on, will not be running. I´ve been taking the coca tea and even some chocolate covered coca leaves in order to help with the high altitude sickness which will be for the first few days.

Tomorrow clinic orientation from 8-12, then an english-spanish exchange and spanish lessons from 3-6.

And Macchu Piccu Saturday.

Stay tunned.

The Final Count-down!!

Only 10 days left!!

A lot of you have been asking about the program I'm participating in, and I can never seem to remember the details. So, here's a link to their website...

The IFRE program (IFREvolunteers.org) partners with a language-school/intern program in Cusco (Máximo Nivel). I will be taking part in the intern program as a clinical volunteer (focusing on pharmacy...?).

An abridged version of my basic project placement:

"You will take part in intensive Spanish classes for 2 hours per day...You will be working at a small clinic in Cusco, Peru. The clinic is part of the national healthcare system of Peru, and provides both primary and emergency care to low-income families. The clinic receives approximately 180 patients per day, 10-20 of which are emergencies; you will be working with 14 doctors and 7 nurses at the clinic."

I do not know where I will be staying yet, but it will either be in the "Family House," which is run by the program and houses a large group of international students, or in a traditional Peruvian family home-stay, where I would be hosted by a local family with one or two other students.

If you're curious about the city I'm staying in, this website has a lot of info/pictures of Cusco. (AndeanTravelWeb.com)