Well, Sunday started holy week here. I happened to be in Cusco since a large group of us had gone out the night before for my friend Kaitlyn's birthday. As Peru is a catholic country, there were multiple masses for Palm Sunday at the cathedral in the Plaza de Armas (Central Square). We all decided to meet for the 8am mass. Kaitlyn and I were the first to arrive so we bought our little crosses decorated with palms and oregano. As the others arrived, we decided to try to get closer into the church to see what was going on. The cathedral was full of people so you had to wind your way through the crowds. My brain told me to be careful with my bag so I put it in front of my body and thought my arms would deter any pick-pockets. Well, I was wrong.
Somehow my wallet was stolen. At one point I looked down and my bag was unzipped. I knew immediately that my wallet was gone. I just couldn't believe that someone would actually steal a wallet inside of a church!! Talk about bad karma and going to hell! So needless to say, I was quite upset. Really, I had hardly any money in my wallet (about 30 soles or $10 US dollars), however, the wallet itself had been a Christmas present and I really liked it. Plus, I lost all of my cards. So, the ironic thing is that I had only just got my new debit card less than 2 weeks before. So here I was again, without a debit card. I don't have enough time left to have new cards mailed to me. So I am without any debit or credit cards for the next 3 weeks until I get home. All in all, I only had a debit card here with me my very first day in Lima and then for less than 2 weeks! How crazy is that -- 3 months and only a debit card for 2 weeks!
Anyway, I have figured out my money situation, it is just a pain in the butt. I now have to have tons of cash on me. I will be very careful with it though. So, that did put a damper on our Palm Sunday mass experience.
This week, we are not eating any red meat. The big day during Semana Santa is Friday. Everyone eats what is called Doce Platos (12 plates). You literally eat 12 different plates of food. There are multiple soups, entrees and desserts. My family will be gathering at Ana's mother's house. The sisters are all cooking different plates and then we will come together to eat. It is going to be ridiculous! I missed this tradition last year because I was at the beach during Semana Santa.
My friends and I are getting together on Thursday night to dye Easter Eggs. Shura and I are going to dye eggs as well and do an Easter Egg hunt for the little nieces and nephews. My mom sent me a large Easter care package with egg dye and lots of delicious candy. The little kids here are going to love it. They do not understand why we dye eggs or know anything about the Easter Bunny. It is going to be a riot.
Everything else is going really well. I go to Cusco next week on Thursday to hang out for 2 days before I leave for the Inca Trail. They make you stay in Cusco for 2 days prior so that you can acclimate to the altitude. I think it is a little ridiculous that I have to do this too, since I live in Ollanta, but it gives me a couple days to chill out and do some touristy stuff that I never have. I also want to buy some items. Luckily, Shura can bring my stuff back to the house so I don't have to cart it around with me on the Inca Trail.
I can't believe I only have 3 weeks left. Time has flown!! I have a meeting now so I will write more after the 12 platos on Friday!
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Election Day in Peru
So today is the first round of the presidential elections here in Peru. Presidents are elected for 5 year terms. They are not allowed to run for 2 consecutive terms, but must wait at least one term in between. For example, one of the candidates was president the term before the current president. So he had to wait the 5 years and is trying again for a 2nd term. As of now, there are 5 front runners. Today's vote will bring it down to 2. In order for a candidate to win, they must take more than half of the popular vote. For this reason, there are normally at least 2 rounds of elections.
In Peru, if you are over 18, it is mandatory that you vote. If you do not vote, you will have to pay a fine. There is a dry law where it is illegal to buy or to drink any alcohol 48 hours before the election. They do this to cut down on fighting and rioting due to drunk supporters. Of course, gringos are allowed to buy liquor and to drink since we can't vote!! Also, the law is not strongly enforced as we were able to buy beer and wine in little shops yesterday while we were in Cusco performing the jurca.
I will get to the jurca later. Anyway, the polls opened at 8 this morning and will close at 4pm. We should know by this afternoon who the two fore-runners are. There is one candidate named Ollanta Humala who is with the nationalist party. He is very extreme and has been likened to Chavez in Venezuela or Castro in Cuba. All educated Peruvians are totally against him, but he is going for the ethnic communities who are not literate. Unfortunately, it seems he will be one of the two to move on to the 2nd round. However, most people are confident he will defeated then. The thing about him is that he has said he wants to try to kick out all foreign NGOs that are working in Peru. So if he wins, Awamaki could be in for some problems!
So, back to this jurca. Celestino is hosting the cargo for his dance, the Majenos, during the 4 day festival in June. Hosting the cargo means that you have to feed all the dancers, their family and friends, as well as a rotating cast of other dance groups and people over the 4 days. You have to have breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as beer and alcohol available for the four days. These cargos cost upwards of $5000. Someone told me the other day that they saw a statistic that said people in third world countries spend an exorbitant amount of money on festivals and parties as compared to health costs, food, and daily living. It seems to be completely true here. Considering Ana and Celestino spent more than a month's salary on Fabricio's first birthday party and they are going to be spending so much on the cargo.
Anyway, as part of the tradition, the people host the cargo go around and make an offering of bread, beer and wine to their friends and family in return for them bringing a case or two of beer or something to help with the cargo. Jurca is a Quechua term meaning offering. So on Thursday night, Ana and a family friend named Hugo went to Urubamba and bought 120 pieces of what I call "Cusco bread". It is a big loaf of round bread. They bought 3 different sizes (large, medium and small). There were 40 people we were going to offer jurca to in Ollanta, Urubamba and Cusco.
So, we put together bags of each size of bread (so three per bag), then we set out to visit people with the bread, a photo of Senor de Choquekilka (the saint who we are celebrating during the festival) that is mounted on this little wooden altar thing, a bottle of wine, and some beers. Everyone is offered the altar and gives Senor a kiss, then they are offered a glass of wine, which they have to poor a little out in reverence to the Senor and Pachamama. Then we give them the bread and a bottle of beer. Ana and Celestino then hope that they will voluntarily bring something to the cargo to help out.
On Friday night, we visited 21 people in Ollanta. On Sat morning, they went to Urubamba for a bit. Then Ana, Celestino, Shura, Fabricio and I headed to Cusco to see 10 more people. What a long day it was. At some points I really wanted to kill myself from boredom, but for the most part, it was really cool to see what the jurca symbolizes. I got to meet Celestino's extended family and see lots of parts of Cusco that I had never been to. One of his cousins lives in the nicest house I have seen here. Plus, there were many parts of the day that Shura, Ana, the baby and I just set out and did our own thing. I love spending time with them so we had a good time together. We were gone all day though and all of us were exhausted when we finally got home around 9pm.
I was in bed with the flu for Wed and Thurs of last week. I now have a horrible hacking cough and haven't been sleeping well, so the long day really took it out of me. Today is a beautiful day though. Jess and I did our P90X and I am now waiting for the water to be turned back on so that I can shower. You never know when they are just going to turn off the water. I am surprised they turned it off today though, since there aren't any construction jobs happening today because of the elections.
So that is what is going on. Awamaki rented a new house for volunteers to live in so we spent a lot of time last weekend and last week painting, cleaning and moving. I've been at the Posta when I can be. As I was sick last week, I lost two days. On Friday, I cleaned up Santiago's leg and then headed to a nearby town to help do some physical therapy with a boy named Alex who has cerebral palsy. It was heartbreaking. Alex is 13 but is about the size of a 6 year old. His family does not take care of him that well. When we got there, I had to change his diaper. It was so saturated with urine that it had leaked through to his pants and sheets so we just changed him completely. He lit up like a light bulb while we were doing the exercises. We took him outside and he sat on my lap while we did some exercises and just goofed around making animal noises and stuff. He was laughing so hard. He has horrible hip dysplasia so it is difficult for him to sit up for a long time. He normally just lays in bed all day. No one ever takes him outside, yet he loves being outside to look at the animals and sky and trees. His little face just crinkled all up when it was time for us to leave. He was so sad. It really did break my heart.
I am going to work on the curriculum for Tuesday's health class and then just enjoy the nice weather with my book. I think my friends and I are going to eat at a nice restaurant in town tonight. We were supposed to on Wednesday but I got sick so we had to cancel that. I am down to less than 5 weeks left. I can't believe it. How sad!
In Peru, if you are over 18, it is mandatory that you vote. If you do not vote, you will have to pay a fine. There is a dry law where it is illegal to buy or to drink any alcohol 48 hours before the election. They do this to cut down on fighting and rioting due to drunk supporters. Of course, gringos are allowed to buy liquor and to drink since we can't vote!! Also, the law is not strongly enforced as we were able to buy beer and wine in little shops yesterday while we were in Cusco performing the jurca.
I will get to the jurca later. Anyway, the polls opened at 8 this morning and will close at 4pm. We should know by this afternoon who the two fore-runners are. There is one candidate named Ollanta Humala who is with the nationalist party. He is very extreme and has been likened to Chavez in Venezuela or Castro in Cuba. All educated Peruvians are totally against him, but he is going for the ethnic communities who are not literate. Unfortunately, it seems he will be one of the two to move on to the 2nd round. However, most people are confident he will defeated then. The thing about him is that he has said he wants to try to kick out all foreign NGOs that are working in Peru. So if he wins, Awamaki could be in for some problems!
So, back to this jurca. Celestino is hosting the cargo for his dance, the Majenos, during the 4 day festival in June. Hosting the cargo means that you have to feed all the dancers, their family and friends, as well as a rotating cast of other dance groups and people over the 4 days. You have to have breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as beer and alcohol available for the four days. These cargos cost upwards of $5000. Someone told me the other day that they saw a statistic that said people in third world countries spend an exorbitant amount of money on festivals and parties as compared to health costs, food, and daily living. It seems to be completely true here. Considering Ana and Celestino spent more than a month's salary on Fabricio's first birthday party and they are going to be spending so much on the cargo.
Anyway, as part of the tradition, the people host the cargo go around and make an offering of bread, beer and wine to their friends and family in return for them bringing a case or two of beer or something to help with the cargo. Jurca is a Quechua term meaning offering. So on Thursday night, Ana and a family friend named Hugo went to Urubamba and bought 120 pieces of what I call "Cusco bread". It is a big loaf of round bread. They bought 3 different sizes (large, medium and small). There were 40 people we were going to offer jurca to in Ollanta, Urubamba and Cusco.
So, we put together bags of each size of bread (so three per bag), then we set out to visit people with the bread, a photo of Senor de Choquekilka (the saint who we are celebrating during the festival) that is mounted on this little wooden altar thing, a bottle of wine, and some beers. Everyone is offered the altar and gives Senor a kiss, then they are offered a glass of wine, which they have to poor a little out in reverence to the Senor and Pachamama. Then we give them the bread and a bottle of beer. Ana and Celestino then hope that they will voluntarily bring something to the cargo to help out.
On Friday night, we visited 21 people in Ollanta. On Sat morning, they went to Urubamba for a bit. Then Ana, Celestino, Shura, Fabricio and I headed to Cusco to see 10 more people. What a long day it was. At some points I really wanted to kill myself from boredom, but for the most part, it was really cool to see what the jurca symbolizes. I got to meet Celestino's extended family and see lots of parts of Cusco that I had never been to. One of his cousins lives in the nicest house I have seen here. Plus, there were many parts of the day that Shura, Ana, the baby and I just set out and did our own thing. I love spending time with them so we had a good time together. We were gone all day though and all of us were exhausted when we finally got home around 9pm.
I was in bed with the flu for Wed and Thurs of last week. I now have a horrible hacking cough and haven't been sleeping well, so the long day really took it out of me. Today is a beautiful day though. Jess and I did our P90X and I am now waiting for the water to be turned back on so that I can shower. You never know when they are just going to turn off the water. I am surprised they turned it off today though, since there aren't any construction jobs happening today because of the elections.
So that is what is going on. Awamaki rented a new house for volunteers to live in so we spent a lot of time last weekend and last week painting, cleaning and moving. I've been at the Posta when I can be. As I was sick last week, I lost two days. On Friday, I cleaned up Santiago's leg and then headed to a nearby town to help do some physical therapy with a boy named Alex who has cerebral palsy. It was heartbreaking. Alex is 13 but is about the size of a 6 year old. His family does not take care of him that well. When we got there, I had to change his diaper. It was so saturated with urine that it had leaked through to his pants and sheets so we just changed him completely. He lit up like a light bulb while we were doing the exercises. We took him outside and he sat on my lap while we did some exercises and just goofed around making animal noises and stuff. He was laughing so hard. He has horrible hip dysplasia so it is difficult for him to sit up for a long time. He normally just lays in bed all day. No one ever takes him outside, yet he loves being outside to look at the animals and sky and trees. His little face just crinkled all up when it was time for us to leave. He was so sad. It really did break my heart.
I am going to work on the curriculum for Tuesday's health class and then just enjoy the nice weather with my book. I think my friends and I are going to eat at a nice restaurant in town tonight. We were supposed to on Wednesday but I got sick so we had to cancel that. I am down to less than 5 weeks left. I can't believe it. How sad!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
What a Week!
Well, my week started off on a great track...I saw a birth at the Posta. I was working on Monday morning when one of the nursing interns told me a woman had just arrived and was in labor. So I went back to the birthing room and introduced myself. I was able to feel the baby's position and find the heart beat using the Doppler machine. We thought she was going to give birth relatively soon due to the time in between contractions and the position of the baby, but hours passed. The poor thing was in so much pain, but these Peruvian women sure are troopers. She breathed through it and walked around. There are no epidurals here!
So finally at 3pm, she started pushing. There is no crying or screaming involved with these women. They are told to close their mouths, put their chins to their chest and push, push, push! By screaming or crying out, you lose strength in your pushing, so that is why they close their mouths and buckle down. I was right there as the baby crowned and out he came into the world. Little Sebastian was born at 3:25pm! We waited about 20 minutes for the placenta to follow. The woman, Flora, was from a neighboring mountain community. She is 20 years old and this was her second baby. Unfortunately, her first child, who was born only a year ago, died after three weeks due to a respiratory infection. I hope that little Sebastian is able to thrive.
What a high to feel for the rest of the day. I loved every minute of it and am soooo excited to start my midwifery program now. Births here are just so different than ours in the States. There are no gowns or comfortable beds. The parents-to-be have to buy a piece of plastic, plastic bags, sanitary napkins, blankets and things to clean the baby, etc. They are not provided. The woman wears her clothes and they just put the piece of plastic under her rear and then drape it down into a trash can to catch all of the blood and birthing fluids. Luckily, she does get to spend the next couple of nights in the clinic, but not in her own room. The family has to bring her food. So very different from our amazing birthing suites or even the comfort of your own home!
Tuesday was a fun day as well. I can happily say that I have access to my money again as my debit card finally arrived. I have been 6 weeks without a debit card! I was actually on my way to Urubamba to exchange some US Dollars that Kaitlyn had given me to pay her portion of our tickets to the beach when I stopped in the Serpost shop on the off chance the envelope had arrived. And it had! The Serpost woman and I did a little happy dance. We have become friends over the past 2 weeks as I have been waiting for my envelope to arrive.
I went to teach my health class to the kiddies at the Telecentro after-school program that evening, but the director had totally forgotten I was teaching that night and the kids were not prepared. So I spent the hour helping with homework and playing games with the kids. We will try again next week!
That night we had Laya's birthday party/Kristi's going-away party at the bar. Everyone had a grand time chatting and hanging out. Porfi ran some good happy hour specials for us and Kaitlyn had bought lots of bar snacks. We were all psyched to have some pretzels!
After working out on Wednesday morning, Jess, Amos, Bricia and myself headed out to Rumira to the school there for our cleaning day. We were all more than a little shocked and dismayed to see the absolute mess the room we were supposed to clean out was. Words do not do it justice. You need to see the photos. The room is a large rectangle and it was full of stuff -- eucalyptus trunks, branches and leaves (the director makes herbal medicines), other trunks and leaves of herbs, desks, tables, broken chairs, paint cans, buckets, metal rebar, trash, trash cans, etc. Well, we jumped right in and started clearing it all out. As not one of us are fans of spiders or other creepy crawlies, we were a bit on edge carrying all of the stuff out. Gradually other health volunteers came to help as well. It was amazing that in less than 4 hours, we cleared out the room, distinguished what furniture was salvageable, cleaned that furniture, swept/mopped out the room, and put the good desks/tables/chairs back in. All in all, we saw 3 tarantulas (yes, lots of hopping around and "Oh my Gods" were said in high pitched voices), lots of little spiders, tons of roly poly bugs and 1 scorpion.
The school kids were adorable and helped us with the mopping and cleaning of the desks and furniture. Or next task is to go back with paint and decorations to get the room in order. We had to walk back to Ollanta from Rumira as no combi (communal vans) were available. The walk isn't a bad one, only about 25 minutes but unfortunately it had been raining all morning so the road was pure mud. I made it home absolutely exhausted and completely covered in mud! My shower was heaven!
In the afternoon, I met Santiago at the Posta to clean his leg wound and then did some data collection. I made plans to eat lunch with my favorite nurse intern, Andrea, since she is leaving tomorrow.
I had a great time in the Posta this morning. For some reason they were fully staffed even though Thursdays are slow days. We all just sat around in the reception area talking and laughing. One of the administrative workers who I had been friends with last year just came back from her month of vacation so it was really nice to catch up with her. It is mornings like today that make me feel good about what I am doing. To know that I have built a great relationship with the workers in the clinic is an accomplishment I am proud of. Then Andrea and I spent 2 hours doing data collection. What am I going to do without her helping me read the horrible handwriting in that darn book??? She says she will come back and help me on the weekends but I can't allow that. She has a young son in Cusco and she has to find a job.
Anyway, Andrea and I went out for lunch at a local restaurant and enjoyed each others company. I really am going to miss her. She is very good at her job. She really cares about the patients. The Ollanta Posta needs more nurses and staff like her. Our volunteers and the community wouldn't have such a negative view of the Posta if it was staffed with more people like her. I just had one of those "light bulb over the head" moments -- Andrea would be amazing as our Peruvian health coordinator. I wish we had the funds right now. She has to wait a year before she can sit for her nursing license and is just going to be looking for a job in Cusco to pay the bills. She loves it here. I wish we could work something out. Of course, I would never say anything to her about this until I knew we had money to pay. Something to keep in mind though!
Okay, time to get back to the Posta and back to the snail pace of data collection.
So finally at 3pm, she started pushing. There is no crying or screaming involved with these women. They are told to close their mouths, put their chins to their chest and push, push, push! By screaming or crying out, you lose strength in your pushing, so that is why they close their mouths and buckle down. I was right there as the baby crowned and out he came into the world. Little Sebastian was born at 3:25pm! We waited about 20 minutes for the placenta to follow. The woman, Flora, was from a neighboring mountain community. She is 20 years old and this was her second baby. Unfortunately, her first child, who was born only a year ago, died after three weeks due to a respiratory infection. I hope that little Sebastian is able to thrive.
What a high to feel for the rest of the day. I loved every minute of it and am soooo excited to start my midwifery program now. Births here are just so different than ours in the States. There are no gowns or comfortable beds. The parents-to-be have to buy a piece of plastic, plastic bags, sanitary napkins, blankets and things to clean the baby, etc. They are not provided. The woman wears her clothes and they just put the piece of plastic under her rear and then drape it down into a trash can to catch all of the blood and birthing fluids. Luckily, she does get to spend the next couple of nights in the clinic, but not in her own room. The family has to bring her food. So very different from our amazing birthing suites or even the comfort of your own home!
Tuesday was a fun day as well. I can happily say that I have access to my money again as my debit card finally arrived. I have been 6 weeks without a debit card! I was actually on my way to Urubamba to exchange some US Dollars that Kaitlyn had given me to pay her portion of our tickets to the beach when I stopped in the Serpost shop on the off chance the envelope had arrived. And it had! The Serpost woman and I did a little happy dance. We have become friends over the past 2 weeks as I have been waiting for my envelope to arrive.
I went to teach my health class to the kiddies at the Telecentro after-school program that evening, but the director had totally forgotten I was teaching that night and the kids were not prepared. So I spent the hour helping with homework and playing games with the kids. We will try again next week!
That night we had Laya's birthday party/Kristi's going-away party at the bar. Everyone had a grand time chatting and hanging out. Porfi ran some good happy hour specials for us and Kaitlyn had bought lots of bar snacks. We were all psyched to have some pretzels!
After working out on Wednesday morning, Jess, Amos, Bricia and myself headed out to Rumira to the school there for our cleaning day. We were all more than a little shocked and dismayed to see the absolute mess the room we were supposed to clean out was. Words do not do it justice. You need to see the photos. The room is a large rectangle and it was full of stuff -- eucalyptus trunks, branches and leaves (the director makes herbal medicines), other trunks and leaves of herbs, desks, tables, broken chairs, paint cans, buckets, metal rebar, trash, trash cans, etc. Well, we jumped right in and started clearing it all out. As not one of us are fans of spiders or other creepy crawlies, we were a bit on edge carrying all of the stuff out. Gradually other health volunteers came to help as well. It was amazing that in less than 4 hours, we cleared out the room, distinguished what furniture was salvageable, cleaned that furniture, swept/mopped out the room, and put the good desks/tables/chairs back in. All in all, we saw 3 tarantulas (yes, lots of hopping around and "Oh my Gods" were said in high pitched voices), lots of little spiders, tons of roly poly bugs and 1 scorpion.
The school kids were adorable and helped us with the mopping and cleaning of the desks and furniture. Or next task is to go back with paint and decorations to get the room in order. We had to walk back to Ollanta from Rumira as no combi (communal vans) were available. The walk isn't a bad one, only about 25 minutes but unfortunately it had been raining all morning so the road was pure mud. I made it home absolutely exhausted and completely covered in mud! My shower was heaven!
In the afternoon, I met Santiago at the Posta to clean his leg wound and then did some data collection. I made plans to eat lunch with my favorite nurse intern, Andrea, since she is leaving tomorrow.
I had a great time in the Posta this morning. For some reason they were fully staffed even though Thursdays are slow days. We all just sat around in the reception area talking and laughing. One of the administrative workers who I had been friends with last year just came back from her month of vacation so it was really nice to catch up with her. It is mornings like today that make me feel good about what I am doing. To know that I have built a great relationship with the workers in the clinic is an accomplishment I am proud of. Then Andrea and I spent 2 hours doing data collection. What am I going to do without her helping me read the horrible handwriting in that darn book??? She says she will come back and help me on the weekends but I can't allow that. She has a young son in Cusco and she has to find a job.
Anyway, Andrea and I went out for lunch at a local restaurant and enjoyed each others company. I really am going to miss her. She is very good at her job. She really cares about the patients. The Ollanta Posta needs more nurses and staff like her. Our volunteers and the community wouldn't have such a negative view of the Posta if it was staffed with more people like her. I just had one of those "light bulb over the head" moments -- Andrea would be amazing as our Peruvian health coordinator. I wish we had the funds right now. She has to wait a year before she can sit for her nursing license and is just going to be looking for a job in Cusco to pay the bills. She loves it here. I wish we could work something out. Of course, I would never say anything to her about this until I knew we had money to pay. Something to keep in mind though!
Okay, time to get back to the Posta and back to the snail pace of data collection.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
An Amazing Weekend
Well look at this, two posts within days of each other! However, this was such a great weekend, I just had to get back on the blog. Saturday was such a great day with the medical campaign. So last year around this time, a big group of doctors, NPs, PAs, dentists and med students from Idaho came through for a campaign. Well, this was the same group as last year. They had about 20 practitioners in all but had about 50 other students/helpers with them. I had been told to be there around 8:30am to help translate. Of course, I should have known that in Peruvian time, this really meant 9:30am. So, I made a second trip back to the municipality building at 9:30am. At this point, they were set up in their stations -- Dentistry on one side of the room and Medicine on the other. My job was to help a undergrad kid who didn't speak Spanish to go through the lines and "triage" the patients. There was a huge line of elderly patients and then a second huge line of non-elderly patients. The dental patients were on the other side of the building in their own line. What we did was go through and get the name, age and ailment of the patients. We would hand them their paper with either GM (General Medicine), Ortho (Orthopedist), or GYN (gynecology) on it. Then this guy would help them through to the next available practitioner. Bricia was with me and she went to go translate for a doctor. I spent most of the day helping to translate.
We got some good photocopies of stretches and therapy exercises we could do with our disabilities patients from the occupational therapist who was there. The majority of the patients seen (unfortunately not all were seen due to time) were the elderly with joint and back pain due to arthritis. The people here spend their lives walking up and down mountainsides with sacks of produce/agriculture on their backs that weigh a ton. The women carry the babies on their backs for the first few years. So it is no wonder they all have back, knee, shoulder, foot, etc pain. They all also have constant headaches due to dehydration and the arthritis. The people here just do not drink enough water throughout the day. Because they believe that cold water is really bad for your health, they will drink tea but that is really it. Only a few cups a day.
Anyway, at one point I had to run out and when I came back, I saw a man named Santiago in the line. I had gotten to know Santiago last year while I was here. Santiago is probably in his late sixties. He has venostasis really badly in his right leg. Well, for those non-medical people reading my blog, a basic description is that blood will travel down his leg to his ankle, but it cannot travel back up his leg well. So he started getting an ulcer on his ankle due to this issue about 4 years ago. Over the past four years, more and more tissue has become ulcerous and his whole bottom half of his leg is just an open sore that looks like Freddy Krueger's face. I was happy to see him in line because the doctor that had been treating him for this at the Posta was Dr. Arnaldo. He left to pursue a specialty degree last year. So Santiago has been having his dressings changed regularly, but no one at the Posta really had been following him anymore.
Santiago asked me to go into see the doctor with him once it was his turn since I knew his history. We got really lucky in that the Nurse Practitioner who was free at the time had worked in vascular surgery for two years. He knew exactly what was wrong and was very positive about actually healing Santiago over time. We drew quite a crowd around Santiago's leg as the NP was cleaning the wound. Most people could not believe that he had been living with that for four years. They all saw it and immediately said, "he is going to lose his leg". When I said he had been doing okay for the past four years, they were all in disbelief.
The NP cleaned the wound, showed me how to do all the things that would be necessary for continuing the cleaning and treatment. He stressed the importance of elevation of the leg, using a compression stocking (which the NP actually took off his own and gave to Santiago), and taking some antibiotics. So now I am in charge of Santiago's care. The group loaded me up with gauze and antibiotic ointment. I am meeting Santiago every day in the Posta to clean and debride the wound and redress it. Good practice for nursing school!!
Anyway, Santiago was so thankful to everyone and I really believe that we will be able to heal this horrible wound of his as long as he is good about elevating it and coming in for the new dressing changes and cleanings.
Overall, the campaign was quite a success but I couldn't help to think of the ways they could have been more organized and increased the success. Since they come every year, I talked to the guy who is the head coordinator about the possibility of starting up charts for the patients with their information and a picture so it is easier for continuity of care. We exchanged information so that we can get back in touch for next year's campaign. Awamaki can do some more organizing on the local end before they get here. It was just really cool to help out and think about being able to be the practitioner on campaigns like this in the future!
After the campaign, I had some lunch with the family and then went in search of some friends. Kaitlyn and I had a lovely dinner of pizza at Puka Rumi and then watched Disney's Beauty and the Beast. I am such a sucker for Disney movies.
This morning, I met up with Kaitlyn and we went to Jess's to do our P90x since we couldn't yesterday. After an invigorating morning of Kenpo Karate, I headed home to shower and chill with the family. At 2:30, I met up with Kaitlyn, Will, Jessica and Blair to go to the Chicheria in Yanahaura called Descanso. Now, chicha is the local beer made with corn here. I have had some really horrible chicha but also some decent chicha. I have to say, the chicha at Descanso was pretty darn delicious. It was by far the best chicha I have ever had. The greatest thing about chicherias is the size of the glass that they serve the chicha in. It is enormous!! I have pictures I will post. Descanso is in a gorgeous location with a great view of the valley from the roof. We had a fun time playing the "frog game". You try to toss these metal coins into this bronze frog's mouth. Then we just stood up on the roof enjoying the beautiful afternoon sunshine and the views.
I am now caught up in this. We are sick of the Core exercise video on Mondays for P90x so we are hiking tomorrow morning instead. After that, it is to the Posta with me. I teach on Tuesday night. We are going to the Rumira school on Wednesday morning to clean out a big room so we can start the after school program for disabled people in the surrounding communities. Tuesday is also the birthday of Laya and going away party for Kristi. So we will be at the bar, of course. I don't think I have anything planned for Thursday and Friday other than working in the Posta.
We got some good photocopies of stretches and therapy exercises we could do with our disabilities patients from the occupational therapist who was there. The majority of the patients seen (unfortunately not all were seen due to time) were the elderly with joint and back pain due to arthritis. The people here spend their lives walking up and down mountainsides with sacks of produce/agriculture on their backs that weigh a ton. The women carry the babies on their backs for the first few years. So it is no wonder they all have back, knee, shoulder, foot, etc pain. They all also have constant headaches due to dehydration and the arthritis. The people here just do not drink enough water throughout the day. Because they believe that cold water is really bad for your health, they will drink tea but that is really it. Only a few cups a day.
Anyway, at one point I had to run out and when I came back, I saw a man named Santiago in the line. I had gotten to know Santiago last year while I was here. Santiago is probably in his late sixties. He has venostasis really badly in his right leg. Well, for those non-medical people reading my blog, a basic description is that blood will travel down his leg to his ankle, but it cannot travel back up his leg well. So he started getting an ulcer on his ankle due to this issue about 4 years ago. Over the past four years, more and more tissue has become ulcerous and his whole bottom half of his leg is just an open sore that looks like Freddy Krueger's face. I was happy to see him in line because the doctor that had been treating him for this at the Posta was Dr. Arnaldo. He left to pursue a specialty degree last year. So Santiago has been having his dressings changed regularly, but no one at the Posta really had been following him anymore.
Santiago asked me to go into see the doctor with him once it was his turn since I knew his history. We got really lucky in that the Nurse Practitioner who was free at the time had worked in vascular surgery for two years. He knew exactly what was wrong and was very positive about actually healing Santiago over time. We drew quite a crowd around Santiago's leg as the NP was cleaning the wound. Most people could not believe that he had been living with that for four years. They all saw it and immediately said, "he is going to lose his leg". When I said he had been doing okay for the past four years, they were all in disbelief.
The NP cleaned the wound, showed me how to do all the things that would be necessary for continuing the cleaning and treatment. He stressed the importance of elevation of the leg, using a compression stocking (which the NP actually took off his own and gave to Santiago), and taking some antibiotics. So now I am in charge of Santiago's care. The group loaded me up with gauze and antibiotic ointment. I am meeting Santiago every day in the Posta to clean and debride the wound and redress it. Good practice for nursing school!!
Anyway, Santiago was so thankful to everyone and I really believe that we will be able to heal this horrible wound of his as long as he is good about elevating it and coming in for the new dressing changes and cleanings.
Overall, the campaign was quite a success but I couldn't help to think of the ways they could have been more organized and increased the success. Since they come every year, I talked to the guy who is the head coordinator about the possibility of starting up charts for the patients with their information and a picture so it is easier for continuity of care. We exchanged information so that we can get back in touch for next year's campaign. Awamaki can do some more organizing on the local end before they get here. It was just really cool to help out and think about being able to be the practitioner on campaigns like this in the future!
After the campaign, I had some lunch with the family and then went in search of some friends. Kaitlyn and I had a lovely dinner of pizza at Puka Rumi and then watched Disney's Beauty and the Beast. I am such a sucker for Disney movies.
This morning, I met up with Kaitlyn and we went to Jess's to do our P90x since we couldn't yesterday. After an invigorating morning of Kenpo Karate, I headed home to shower and chill with the family. At 2:30, I met up with Kaitlyn, Will, Jessica and Blair to go to the Chicheria in Yanahaura called Descanso. Now, chicha is the local beer made with corn here. I have had some really horrible chicha but also some decent chicha. I have to say, the chicha at Descanso was pretty darn delicious. It was by far the best chicha I have ever had. The greatest thing about chicherias is the size of the glass that they serve the chicha in. It is enormous!! I have pictures I will post. Descanso is in a gorgeous location with a great view of the valley from the roof. We had a fun time playing the "frog game". You try to toss these metal coins into this bronze frog's mouth. Then we just stood up on the roof enjoying the beautiful afternoon sunshine and the views.
I am now caught up in this. We are sick of the Core exercise video on Mondays for P90x so we are hiking tomorrow morning instead. After that, it is to the Posta with me. I teach on Tuesday night. We are going to the Rumira school on Wednesday morning to clean out a big room so we can start the after school program for disabled people in the surrounding communities. Tuesday is also the birthday of Laya and going away party for Kristi. So we will be at the bar, of course. I don't think I have anything planned for Thursday and Friday other than working in the Posta.
Friday, March 25, 2011
What an exhausting week!
Well, I know I haven't written anything of substance in the last two weeks or so. Time is just flying by. My days have been spent trying to read the handwriting of whoever enters patient information in the book at the reception area of the Posta. There is such a wealth of information, however, trying to not only read the handwriting but then understand what the translation of the diagnosis and treatment has proven to be very challenging. I have gotten lucky and had some of the Posta workers help if they have down time. They read and I enter the data, but that doesn't happen every day. As of now, I have finished with January of 2010 (about 200 patients), but knowing I have 11 more months to try to get through in the next 6 weeks is extremely daunting. Plus, my best helper, one of the nurse interns, is leaving on Friday since her placement is finished then. The data is so important that I just keep trying. It is boring but very informative.
I am absolutely exhausted due to my little host-brother's first birthday. Fabricio turned one yesterday. This last week leading up to the party has been crazy. We've been putting together treat bags, cake boxes, blowing up balloons (I believe that I single-handedly blew up at least 125 balloons over a two day span), decorating, buying things, cooking, etc. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I REALLY value my sleep. So this whole week I have been going to bed after midnight and getting up to workout at 6:05am like normal. Now that it is Friday, I am dead tired. My goal is to go to bed at 8pm tonight!
However, the party was a success! Now, I must say, I am a little perplexed as to why my host family would want to spend upwards of 1000 soles (about $360) on this party. Remember, the average income here is only 600 soles a month. I will post the photos today if I can, but definitely by the weekend. You will see just how elaborate the cake was. There was a giant Winnie the Pooh piñata. They had a clown who danced and joked around with the kids for 2 hours. So here is how it all works. Everyone comes in and sits on benches around the walls of the locale. We then go around and serve them popcorn, chips, cheese curls, jello, arroz con leche (rice pudding), massamora (think goopy purple syrupy stuff), cookies, animal crackers, hard candy, etc. All of these things are on little round trays that we walk around with. Then the clown did his thing. All the while, kids are running around jacked up on all the sugar they have been fed. After a couple hours, we finally blew out the candle then the kids smashed the pinata. Imagine my surprise when even adults were fighting their way through the crowds to get candy and stuff. The party started around 5pm and finally around 9pm we served beer and real food to the adults (but to the adults only -- kids are still hyped on sugar). Around 10pm most everyone had left. Then for the next 2 hours, those of us in the immediate family sat around and drank beer and chatted. I was so tired that I had to leave around midnight. Shura and I carried a big box of gifts back to the house.
I really have not done justice to the craziness of the party. The kids were running around helter-skelter. There was a Tigger suit that one of the teenage cousins put on to help the clown. Of course when Fabricio first saw it, he screamed bloody murder. I spent most of my time passing out food, handling the video camera, dancing with the little cousins or making sure Fabricio was happy. All I can say is that I am happy it is over. Although, we have to go back and clean everything up. There are cups and wrappers and popped balloons everywhere!
I have quite a bit of administrative work that I am trying to get organized and finished for Awamaki right now. We are writing up detailed work plans for the projects. I just really worry about the sustainability of some of our disabilities projects and want to make sure that whoever comes in as the next health coordinator can continue these things. Sunny is leaving in June. We need to get some recruiting done. Lord knows I wish I could stay, but nursing school awaits. My old Epidemiology adviser at IU wants me to come and do some presentations to his classes. I am hoping I might pique someone's interest.
The weather is changing here now. We are definitely moving into the dry season. Rain has been rare even though clouds hang in the sky. But the sun is winning right now. Luckily the mountains and valley are still all green. I was awestruck on my drive back from Cusco on Wednesday by the beauty of the valley. The snow-capped mountains were so clear, the fields were lush and green in the sunshine. It was gorgeous. Times like those make me sit back and smile and love my life.
Kaitlyn and I have booked our tickets to head back up to the beach in Punta Sal right before we both go home in May. She is only home for a couple weeks as a vacation (she is here through December). However, we are both looking forward to the beach trip. I think Amos and Bricia are joining us as well. Hopefully Gian can find us a good beach house to rent for the four days for cheap. That would be ideal.
Tomorrow the municipality has organized this gigantic medical campaign with upwards of 70 doctors from the States. We will be there to help translate. I am really interested to see how this goes.
Anyway, my mornings and afternoons for the most part are spent doing data collection. We have started up the health classes again at the Telecentro after-school program. I have those to teach on Tuesday nights. We still do all of our fun social events each week. The volunteer numbers are growing steadily as we head into high season.
I hope all is well with everyone. All my love and talk to you soon! Pictures are coming, I promise. I even will try to post a little video of the bashing of the pinata.
I am absolutely exhausted due to my little host-brother's first birthday. Fabricio turned one yesterday. This last week leading up to the party has been crazy. We've been putting together treat bags, cake boxes, blowing up balloons (I believe that I single-handedly blew up at least 125 balloons over a two day span), decorating, buying things, cooking, etc. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I REALLY value my sleep. So this whole week I have been going to bed after midnight and getting up to workout at 6:05am like normal. Now that it is Friday, I am dead tired. My goal is to go to bed at 8pm tonight!
However, the party was a success! Now, I must say, I am a little perplexed as to why my host family would want to spend upwards of 1000 soles (about $360) on this party. Remember, the average income here is only 600 soles a month. I will post the photos today if I can, but definitely by the weekend. You will see just how elaborate the cake was. There was a giant Winnie the Pooh piñata. They had a clown who danced and joked around with the kids for 2 hours. So here is how it all works. Everyone comes in and sits on benches around the walls of the locale. We then go around and serve them popcorn, chips, cheese curls, jello, arroz con leche (rice pudding), massamora (think goopy purple syrupy stuff), cookies, animal crackers, hard candy, etc. All of these things are on little round trays that we walk around with. Then the clown did his thing. All the while, kids are running around jacked up on all the sugar they have been fed. After a couple hours, we finally blew out the candle then the kids smashed the pinata. Imagine my surprise when even adults were fighting their way through the crowds to get candy and stuff. The party started around 5pm and finally around 9pm we served beer and real food to the adults (but to the adults only -- kids are still hyped on sugar). Around 10pm most everyone had left. Then for the next 2 hours, those of us in the immediate family sat around and drank beer and chatted. I was so tired that I had to leave around midnight. Shura and I carried a big box of gifts back to the house.
I really have not done justice to the craziness of the party. The kids were running around helter-skelter. There was a Tigger suit that one of the teenage cousins put on to help the clown. Of course when Fabricio first saw it, he screamed bloody murder. I spent most of my time passing out food, handling the video camera, dancing with the little cousins or making sure Fabricio was happy. All I can say is that I am happy it is over. Although, we have to go back and clean everything up. There are cups and wrappers and popped balloons everywhere!
I have quite a bit of administrative work that I am trying to get organized and finished for Awamaki right now. We are writing up detailed work plans for the projects. I just really worry about the sustainability of some of our disabilities projects and want to make sure that whoever comes in as the next health coordinator can continue these things. Sunny is leaving in June. We need to get some recruiting done. Lord knows I wish I could stay, but nursing school awaits. My old Epidemiology adviser at IU wants me to come and do some presentations to his classes. I am hoping I might pique someone's interest.
The weather is changing here now. We are definitely moving into the dry season. Rain has been rare even though clouds hang in the sky. But the sun is winning right now. Luckily the mountains and valley are still all green. I was awestruck on my drive back from Cusco on Wednesday by the beauty of the valley. The snow-capped mountains were so clear, the fields were lush and green in the sunshine. It was gorgeous. Times like those make me sit back and smile and love my life.
Kaitlyn and I have booked our tickets to head back up to the beach in Punta Sal right before we both go home in May. She is only home for a couple weeks as a vacation (she is here through December). However, we are both looking forward to the beach trip. I think Amos and Bricia are joining us as well. Hopefully Gian can find us a good beach house to rent for the four days for cheap. That would be ideal.
Tomorrow the municipality has organized this gigantic medical campaign with upwards of 70 doctors from the States. We will be there to help translate. I am really interested to see how this goes.
Anyway, my mornings and afternoons for the most part are spent doing data collection. We have started up the health classes again at the Telecentro after-school program. I have those to teach on Tuesday nights. We still do all of our fun social events each week. The volunteer numbers are growing steadily as we head into high season.
I hope all is well with everyone. All my love and talk to you soon! Pictures are coming, I promise. I even will try to post a little video of the bashing of the pinata.
Monday, March 14, 2011
It's Definitely Fleas
Well, I have been besieged with bug bites since I returned to Ollanta. At first, they seemed to like my ankles, then my right leg, then my shoulder/armpit area, then my back and stomach. Now, they just seem to like anywhere they can sink their teeth in. I was perplexed though, because they are not really looking like flea bites. They look like mosquito bites and itch like crazy. So I have been trying to figure out what kind of bug could be eating me alive. I thought maybe it was some kind of fly, but last night, I came to know the truth.
I was sitting on my bed checking my email when I felt something tickling on my chest. So I lifted up my shirt and lo and behold, a flea jumps right off my boob to my pants and then to God knows where. So, it is fleas. I must have some different reaction than other people to their bites to make them swollen. I regularly wake up in the middle of the night scratching the crap out of my ankles and legs due to the itchiness of the bites. I can't even count how many I have. I am now very paranoid about fleas in my clothes. I put my workout pants on the other day before doing my exercise and as I was doing the warm-up, I felt all little bites on my right thigh. So I dropped my pants right there and sure enough, I had been bitten about 12 times in that short amount of time. Ugggghhh, I hate bug bites that itch!!
Yesterday was a really fun family day. We all slept in a bit and it was nice and sunny when we woke up. Celestino cooked pancakes for us (more like crepes) and we had a good breakfast. After breakfast, Shura, Celestino and I bathed our dog, Sando. As we were finishing up with the bath, Celestino turned the hose onto Shura and I so the games began. Remember, it is the end of Carnavales right now so the water games are at a peak. Shura, Ana and I ran to get our buckets and we proceeded to douse Celestino time and time again. He was able to get some good ones on us, so we were all a bit wet, but he was drenched. He never stood a chance with 3 against 1.
I went for a nice hike after changing out of my wet clothes. After a shower, we had a great lunch and then just chilled out. I read for awhile and then we watched the movie 127 Hours. After dinner, I did some reading and then hit the sack. We really all had a great day just playing and chatting and laughing. It was a lot of fun. Shura and I finished up the invitations and envelopes for Fabricio's birthday party. We also made the list of all the things we need to buy for the party. I can't believe they are about to spend over 800 soles on this party. Considering minimum wage for a month's work is 600 soles, that should let you know what they are spending. I plan on helping out with the party.
Today I am heading out to the Yanahaura posta to see how the last day of a dental campaign with US dentists is going. I've been trying to round up Peruvians to go, but no one is interested. They don't really like the dentist here. Probably because they only go when they need a tooth pulled due to decay.
Hope everyone has a good week. Sunny is back so I will be able to focus on the Posta. I have a birthday party to attend for Hallie's old host brother Alex, on Friday. He is turning 11. I bought him a soccer ball. Now he won't have to share with his brother, Luis!
I was sitting on my bed checking my email when I felt something tickling on my chest. So I lifted up my shirt and lo and behold, a flea jumps right off my boob to my pants and then to God knows where. So, it is fleas. I must have some different reaction than other people to their bites to make them swollen. I regularly wake up in the middle of the night scratching the crap out of my ankles and legs due to the itchiness of the bites. I can't even count how many I have. I am now very paranoid about fleas in my clothes. I put my workout pants on the other day before doing my exercise and as I was doing the warm-up, I felt all little bites on my right thigh. So I dropped my pants right there and sure enough, I had been bitten about 12 times in that short amount of time. Ugggghhh, I hate bug bites that itch!!
Yesterday was a really fun family day. We all slept in a bit and it was nice and sunny when we woke up. Celestino cooked pancakes for us (more like crepes) and we had a good breakfast. After breakfast, Shura, Celestino and I bathed our dog, Sando. As we were finishing up with the bath, Celestino turned the hose onto Shura and I so the games began. Remember, it is the end of Carnavales right now so the water games are at a peak. Shura, Ana and I ran to get our buckets and we proceeded to douse Celestino time and time again. He was able to get some good ones on us, so we were all a bit wet, but he was drenched. He never stood a chance with 3 against 1.
I went for a nice hike after changing out of my wet clothes. After a shower, we had a great lunch and then just chilled out. I read for awhile and then we watched the movie 127 Hours. After dinner, I did some reading and then hit the sack. We really all had a great day just playing and chatting and laughing. It was a lot of fun. Shura and I finished up the invitations and envelopes for Fabricio's birthday party. We also made the list of all the things we need to buy for the party. I can't believe they are about to spend over 800 soles on this party. Considering minimum wage for a month's work is 600 soles, that should let you know what they are spending. I plan on helping out with the party.
Today I am heading out to the Yanahaura posta to see how the last day of a dental campaign with US dentists is going. I've been trying to round up Peruvians to go, but no one is interested. They don't really like the dentist here. Probably because they only go when they need a tooth pulled due to decay.
Hope everyone has a good week. Sunny is back so I will be able to focus on the Posta. I have a birthday party to attend for Hallie's old host brother Alex, on Friday. He is turning 11. I bought him a soccer ball. Now he won't have to share with his brother, Luis!
Friday, March 11, 2011
Where has the week gone?
Wow! It is already Friday. I don't know where this week has gone. But the scary thing is, as I am trying to remember what I did on Monday, I really have to dig deep. Oh, yes, I had meetings all day on Monday. My 9am meeting was supposed to be with the woman who is a liaison to the disabilities office here. Unfortunately, she did not show so that was a bust. I had been told on Friday that there was to be a mass for an Intern at the Posta who had died in a car accident. This mass was supposedly on Monday morning, but when I was walking to Jess's house early in the morning for P90X, I saw Eloy (who works at the Posta) and he said that the mass is on Thursday. I love how things are just so disorganized here!
Anyway, we had a brunch for Margo's despidida (going-away). It was delicious, as always. We had bagels courtesy of Jess, crepes, fruit salad, banana bread, yogurt and juice. Yummy! After the brunch, we had our health meeting for the week. Sunny is out of town so I ran the meeting. We have some help from some of Leander's volunteers this week so we planned another toy-making day for Tuesday. I had some lunch with the fam and then it was back to the office for more meetings. I had some Skype dates that day too.
I ended up talking to a 3rd year midwifery student from Yale. She was great and was really able to give me an honest view of the program at Yale. She pretty much told me to go with my gut feelings. I had not gotten a good feeling from Yale when I had my interview. I had some serious reservations about their faculty. Morgan was able to tell me that yes, the Yale program has had tons of faculty turnover recently and that although the faculty are leaders in the field, they are just not good teachers. So, I have decided to follow my instincts and go to Vanderbilt. I am sad that I will not be near my bro, sis-in-law and cutest nephew in the world, as well as near my good girlfriends. But, I have to make the best decision for my future, and Vanderbilt is it!
Then, after dinner, I went over to the volunteer house to watch Inception with Katilyn and Carrie. What a great movie. That was my second time seeing it and I still would like to watch it again to try to figure it all out!
Tuesday's toy making day was a success. My Small Help's volunteers got really into it and made some great toys. Matt is going to be helping Laya build a scooter for Natividad. Natividad cannot walk so they are hoping this scooter will help her be more mobile. We have been on the search for wheels and wood for the past few days.
I slept horribly on Monday night so by the afternoon, I was pooped. I spent the afternoon doing administrative stuff for the health program. Shura and I went to Cusco on a shopping run on Wednesday. We are holding a t-shirt contest for past and present Awa volunteers. Lillie, Emma and I are the T-shirt Contest Committee members. Our job is to decide on the rules of the contest and choose the winners. As I am not creative at all, I jumped at the chance of being on the committee! We had a quick meeting to get the email ready and then Shura and I were off.
We had a great lunch and then shopped and shopped. We had to buy lots of stuff for both Awamaki, other volunteers, her mom and things for Fabricio's birthday party. So it was a very long day, but also very productive. We didn't get back until about 6:30pm. We had some chow and then hit the sack pretty early. I am psyched though because we bought some DVDs. You can get DVDs for $1 here really easily. I just hope they are of good quality. Now I have something to watch if I am bored at night.
P90X is still rocking. I need to add some hikes into my routine, but it is still pretty rainy on and off all day. We have actually had some torrential downpours at night. On the drive to Cusco, I got to finally see the place in the road that fell away into the river. It is pretty freaky to see the road just dropped away. Luckily no one was on the road when it happened. On our way to Urubamba yesterday, there had been a landslide within the last hour so that was freaky too. Huge boulders covered one side of the road.
Yesterday was another long day. I went to the mass at the Posta for Ana Gloria, the Intern who passed away. Then I met up with Kaitlyn and we walked to Rumira to meet up with Leander and the Director of the school in Rumira. He is also a doctor who currently runs his own naturopathic medical clinic. So we talked to him a bit and then went to his clinic in Urubamba. Sunny wants to start up an after school rehab center in the school in Rumira two days a week to allow the disabled children in the surrounding communities some time with peers and to get some rehab. We needed to ask Mariano if we could use the school.
Leander, Matt and I left Mariano to his patients, and then went in search of lunch. After lunch, we went in search of wood for Natividad's scooter. Where is the Home Depot when you need it??? Trying to find wood is extremely difficult. We went to a couple of places but they will only sell you the entire huge piece of wood. We need one that is 50cm x 75cm. We were told to search for Carpinteria Valentin. They should have smaller pieces. But we had no luck finding it. It was starting to rain and we were tired, so we just decided to head home. They are going to search again today.
I have been looking for housing in Nashville, now that I know I am going there. It is exciting! I really like Nashville, so I think I will be quite happy there.
I was up early to get the chocolatada ready today. It was a successful chocolatada. I was able to serve it all up -- no leftovers! The patient numbers have been quite low lately due to the rains. Many people cannot make it down from the mountains due to road closures and landslides. As I walked into the Posta at 7:15am this morning, I saw a huge puddle of blood and a man laying in the Topico room. I later learned there had been a car accident and a woman had died. The man had some head injuries, but he ultimately left later that morning. The scary thing here isn't the actual car accident, although no one uses seatbelts, but the fact that you are screwed for medical treatment in many ways.
After the chocolatada, I have been catching up on this stuff. So it has been a productive week. I am excited because I have date night tonight with Will and Jess. We are going to eat at Puka Rumi and then watch a movie at their house. I like to ingratiate myself in their relationship! They don't mind because they are the greatest. Then on Saturday night, a group of us are going to dinner at the Polleria. That means rotisserie chicken. Yummy!
Well, I hope you all have had good weeks. Starting next week, I am planting myself in the Posta and that is it!!
Anyway, we had a brunch for Margo's despidida (going-away). It was delicious, as always. We had bagels courtesy of Jess, crepes, fruit salad, banana bread, yogurt and juice. Yummy! After the brunch, we had our health meeting for the week. Sunny is out of town so I ran the meeting. We have some help from some of Leander's volunteers this week so we planned another toy-making day for Tuesday. I had some lunch with the fam and then it was back to the office for more meetings. I had some Skype dates that day too.
I ended up talking to a 3rd year midwifery student from Yale. She was great and was really able to give me an honest view of the program at Yale. She pretty much told me to go with my gut feelings. I had not gotten a good feeling from Yale when I had my interview. I had some serious reservations about their faculty. Morgan was able to tell me that yes, the Yale program has had tons of faculty turnover recently and that although the faculty are leaders in the field, they are just not good teachers. So, I have decided to follow my instincts and go to Vanderbilt. I am sad that I will not be near my bro, sis-in-law and cutest nephew in the world, as well as near my good girlfriends. But, I have to make the best decision for my future, and Vanderbilt is it!
Then, after dinner, I went over to the volunteer house to watch Inception with Katilyn and Carrie. What a great movie. That was my second time seeing it and I still would like to watch it again to try to figure it all out!
Tuesday's toy making day was a success. My Small Help's volunteers got really into it and made some great toys. Matt is going to be helping Laya build a scooter for Natividad. Natividad cannot walk so they are hoping this scooter will help her be more mobile. We have been on the search for wheels and wood for the past few days.
I slept horribly on Monday night so by the afternoon, I was pooped. I spent the afternoon doing administrative stuff for the health program. Shura and I went to Cusco on a shopping run on Wednesday. We are holding a t-shirt contest for past and present Awa volunteers. Lillie, Emma and I are the T-shirt Contest Committee members. Our job is to decide on the rules of the contest and choose the winners. As I am not creative at all, I jumped at the chance of being on the committee! We had a quick meeting to get the email ready and then Shura and I were off.
We had a great lunch and then shopped and shopped. We had to buy lots of stuff for both Awamaki, other volunteers, her mom and things for Fabricio's birthday party. So it was a very long day, but also very productive. We didn't get back until about 6:30pm. We had some chow and then hit the sack pretty early. I am psyched though because we bought some DVDs. You can get DVDs for $1 here really easily. I just hope they are of good quality. Now I have something to watch if I am bored at night.
P90X is still rocking. I need to add some hikes into my routine, but it is still pretty rainy on and off all day. We have actually had some torrential downpours at night. On the drive to Cusco, I got to finally see the place in the road that fell away into the river. It is pretty freaky to see the road just dropped away. Luckily no one was on the road when it happened. On our way to Urubamba yesterday, there had been a landslide within the last hour so that was freaky too. Huge boulders covered one side of the road.
Yesterday was another long day. I went to the mass at the Posta for Ana Gloria, the Intern who passed away. Then I met up with Kaitlyn and we walked to Rumira to meet up with Leander and the Director of the school in Rumira. He is also a doctor who currently runs his own naturopathic medical clinic. So we talked to him a bit and then went to his clinic in Urubamba. Sunny wants to start up an after school rehab center in the school in Rumira two days a week to allow the disabled children in the surrounding communities some time with peers and to get some rehab. We needed to ask Mariano if we could use the school.
Leander, Matt and I left Mariano to his patients, and then went in search of lunch. After lunch, we went in search of wood for Natividad's scooter. Where is the Home Depot when you need it??? Trying to find wood is extremely difficult. We went to a couple of places but they will only sell you the entire huge piece of wood. We need one that is 50cm x 75cm. We were told to search for Carpinteria Valentin. They should have smaller pieces. But we had no luck finding it. It was starting to rain and we were tired, so we just decided to head home. They are going to search again today.
I have been looking for housing in Nashville, now that I know I am going there. It is exciting! I really like Nashville, so I think I will be quite happy there.
I was up early to get the chocolatada ready today. It was a successful chocolatada. I was able to serve it all up -- no leftovers! The patient numbers have been quite low lately due to the rains. Many people cannot make it down from the mountains due to road closures and landslides. As I walked into the Posta at 7:15am this morning, I saw a huge puddle of blood and a man laying in the Topico room. I later learned there had been a car accident and a woman had died. The man had some head injuries, but he ultimately left later that morning. The scary thing here isn't the actual car accident, although no one uses seatbelts, but the fact that you are screwed for medical treatment in many ways.
After the chocolatada, I have been catching up on this stuff. So it has been a productive week. I am excited because I have date night tonight with Will and Jess. We are going to eat at Puka Rumi and then watch a movie at their house. I like to ingratiate myself in their relationship! They don't mind because they are the greatest. Then on Saturday night, a group of us are going to dinner at the Polleria. That means rotisserie chicken. Yummy!
Well, I hope you all have had good weeks. Starting next week, I am planting myself in the Posta and that is it!!
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