Power Walking in Peru

Hello everyone,

Keri and I just finished a good hour and a half power walk from Ollanta to two smaller towns down a very curvy road! We think our host family is starting to believe we are exercise-aholics. However, with all the food that we are served, these power walks are going to save my figure.

To pick up from my last blog, we enjoyed meeting the other Awamaki volunteers on Saturday night. We all are very similar in many aspects. I feel old b/c I think I am the oldest volunteer here. Most of the other volunteers are in their early to mid-twenties. I was psyched though because the two directors of Awamaki managed to organize a bar for us to watch the Super Bowl!

Anyway, yesterday was an amazing day (except for the Colts loss). We met up with Hallie, another volunteer named Michelle, and Hallie´s brother Luis and sister Eliana. We set off with our pack full of sandwiches and fruit from our host mom and began the hike to 2 stone quarries used by the Incans. Luis, the best guide in Ollanta, is 11 years old and is adorable. He was our fearless leader and did not steer us wrong. Along the way, he taught us neat things about the flowers and animals and stuff. The first part of the hike was challenging, but it took us about 2 and a half hours to get the the first quarry. The second quarry was about 45 minutes straight up. This one was much more challenging. We all enjoyed the view and a nice rest up there. We reckon we hiked up to about 11,500 feet. Ollanta is at 9,500 feet. All of our host moms had given us "mata te" which is tea made from coca leaves to help with the altitude. They put quite a bit of sugar in it though, so it was quite sweet.

We made our way down a side route and ended up in this cute little village called Rumira. We had about a two mile walk back to Ollanta. At this point, we had been gone about 5 and a half hours so we were all ready to rest and get out of our boots. I was pretty happy that I only ended up with two small blisters on two toes as I was wearing new boots.

We came back home and rested for a bit after talking to the family and eating a piece of corn with the hugest kernals I have ever seen! No worry about getting corn stuck in your teeth with these ones. After showering, we at a quick dinner and then headed out to meet up with the rest of the crew at this new bar. The game was just about to start. I was proudly wearing my jersey, but alas, our team did not succeed. It was quite funny watching the super bowl in spanish. We missed the commercials, but they did show the halftime show. We all had a great time talking and watching the game. We tried to explain the rules to a couple of the English volunteers and some Peruvian guys, but I don´t think they quite got it.

Today, Keri and I went to the health clinic for the first time. We sat with one of the doctors and just shadowed him as he saw patients. They say we should just observe for awhile until we figure out where we will be the best fit and then just go for it. To be honest, we had a great time with the doctor today. We had to work hard to understand as the doctor and patients would speak really fast, but we caught most of it. We also got to see the doctor do three ultra sounds -- 2 on women with gall stones and 1 to determine if a woman was pregnant and just how pregnant she was. It was amazing looking at that little peanut sized thing on the screen and think that that was a baby. We will be shadowing the doctor most of this week. Then we will shadow the nurses and the triage techs. We will just see how things go.

Actually, just being in the clinic today is making me think about my plans for going into the Peace Corps and then nursing school. I wish I already had the medical skills to really assist in the clinic instead of just help with smaller things. I think I may be able to do more good if I get my degree first and then head out into the world of international health. We will see though. I´ve only been in the clinic one day so who knows!

It was such a beautiful day today. The sun was shining for most of the day and it was really warm. Last night, when we left the bar, Keri and I were awestruck by the stars. I haven´t seen stars like that since I was out in the Moab desert with my family years ago on vacation. It was absolutely breathtaking.

We went to bed around 11pm last night and I am happy to report that I did not wake up to a dog barking until about 3:30am! That is much better than the past two nights! The altitude makes you a lighter sleeper and I´ve been getting headaches still. Everyone was very impressed that we did the quarries hike on our third day in Ollanta and that we did it so fast. We like a challenge!

Okay, that wraps it up for today. Hope all is well with everyone at home!