Good Times in Cusco

Friday and Saturday were eventful days. We always feel like we get so much done on Fridays since we are up so early to prepare the breakfast at the clinic. We normally get to the clinic around 7am and start cooking the oatmeal. This week was similar to the first Friday we worked in that there were quite a lot of patients. If you could just see the scene in the clinic on Fridays, people are everywhere, the smell is a bit overwhelming -- it is a mix of wood smoke, body odor and just plain dirtyness (don´t think that is a word but oh, well). There are children rolling all around on the muddy, dirty floor with dirty feet and hands and green snot coming out of their noses. Yet, for it all, they are really sweet, cute kids. We really just need some more providers. We can get the people through admission/triage quite quickly and then they have to wait for upwards of 3 hours to see the providers. That is partially why we serve them breakfast. Most families have left their homes by 5am to get to the clinic around 8. They wait all day and then head home without eating much.

So after the clinic, Keri, Michelle, Hallie and I went to Michelle´s host family´s house for her going-away lunch. It was really good. Oven baked chicken, beet salad, choklo (large kernal corn), rice and potatoes (of course). Then they start bringing out the beers. It is a custom here to drink your beer with Coke. So you put about half and half, coke and beer. It actually isn´t that bad, it is just really carbonated. The cokes and soft drinks here are extremely bubbly b/c of our altitude. So all together, there were probably about 9 of us (Michelle´s host mother, sister, aunts and cousin) just laughed and talked and drank. We then went home to freshen up and met back out for some sangria before heading to the Awamaki pizza party. After pizza, the whole group (which we are now up to like 22 volunteers) went to Porfi´s bar to have another salsa lesson with Michelle´s host sister, Valentina. We learned some new moves and then just continued dancing to regular hip hop and other music. Keri and I went home early because we had to be up early to work at the Yanahuara clinic.

At the Yanahuara clinic, I worked in admissions and triage while Keri assited the nurse with the insurance papers. I had to learn the filing system there and they could definitely benefit from the color coding system we want to implement in Ollanta. Unfortunately, the stomach virus that has been circulating amongst the volunteers hit me on Saturday morning. I made it through the morning at the clinic with only a couple emergency trips to the bathroom but by the time we got on the bus to Cusco, I was starting to feel bad all over. When Keri and I caught the bus to Cusco, we thought, WOW! this is one nice mini-bus. Especially when we heard it was only 3 soles per person. However, after the first hour and a half (when we normally would be in the center of Cusco if we had taken a taxi), we realized why it was so cheap. We stopped all the time to pick up and drop people off or to let vendors on to sell choklo and popsicles. Just after 2 hours of traveling, we made it to Cusco.

We had some errands to run before meeting up with people around 4pm. So we bought our plane tickets to Lima for next week, we bought latex gloves for the clinic, we bought a new top to wear out dancing, and we had some lunch. We met up with Michelle and Hallie and headed to the hotel. After resting for a few hours (Hallie went to pick up Wanda at 7pm) and showering, I was feeling a bit better but still wavering on whether I should go out dancing. I had been drinking water and gatorade, ate some crackers and decided, just go and if you feel bad, you can leave.

I´m really glad I went because I ended up feeling fine and danced the night away. We ended up having a group of 12 people -- 5 of us girls, Porfi, Raul and Rider from Ollanta, Dr. Arnaldo, Elio, and two nursing students from the Clinic. We went to a number of clubs and just had a great time. I only drank water but still had a great time dancing. After a late night stop at McDonalds, we crashed at the hotel. We ate our nice breakfast buffet and then headed to the combi stop to go home. We didn´t have much luck with this combi either. It was packed, someone had horrible body odor (intermixed with nasty gas) and then this poor little girl behind us got car sick. We were glad to be home.

Unfortunately, after eating lunch today, my stomach has revolted again. I am skipping dinner. Ana still has not had the baby. He is now three days late. I really hope she has him soon. Keri and I leave on Sunday to start our 3 weeks of traveling. Luckily I get to return and hang out with the family, but I know that Keri really wants the baby to arrive before we leave.

So that is it. I just hope this stomach thing is a virus and not parasites. I´m going to give it a couple more days. Luckily, working in the clinic, they will just write me a prescription.

I´ve downloaded some new photos. These are from the Lares hike, some of the Ollanta clinic and the Patacancha clinic, our tour of the huge ruins in Ollantaytambo, our trip to Puno and Lake Titicaca, and Keri and I´s experience in the tattoo parlor in Cusco. Flick -- sorry we didn´t wait but see if you like the design so you can get it too!