Hot showers and beds without fleas!

We just spent the last two nights kicking it at the KB Tambo Hostal in town. KB is an American guy who has lived in Ollanta for the past 7 years. He runs the hostal and a mountain biking tour agency. He is away on a 4 day trip so we are hostal-sitting for him. It is heaven! His hostal is really cute and there is a t.v. and dvd player in the room that sleeps 4 people. So we´ve been camping out there with Michelle and Will and Jessica. We´ve been watching dvds and eating popcorn the last couple days. The showers are hot and powerful. If you ever plan on visiting Ollanta, you should stay at KB Tambo Hostal. The restaurant adjacent to it is closed at the moment but we hear it has amazing food. It is owned and operated by a Chilean family. Keri and I are feeling a little guilty about leaving our host family these past couple nights. Ana looks so hurt and disappointed when we leave. So we are going to stay at our own place for the next couple nights. I can honestly say that I have gotten the two best nights of sleep I think I have had in the month I have been in Peru (yes, I can´t believe it has already been a month!). There are no fleas in the beds, the beds are firm and the pillows are soft and the greatest thing is that you don´t have to put your shoes on and go outside to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night!

Yesterday was a beautiful day in Ollanta. There was sunshine all day long and it was probably in the low 70s. I helped Celestino and Shurra wash our dogs. The dogs had not been bathed in two months and the old one, Yogi, really needs to be shaved because as Celestino says, he is a Rasta dog. He´s got so much hair and it is all clumped up like dreads. Well, we started with Yogi and just like washing clothes, washing the dogs is a multi-step process. We first washed them with laundry detergent; then rinsed; then washed them with dog shampoo to kill fleas and such; then rinsed again; then used dog conditioner; then rinsed again. Celestino also has some flea medication that goes under their skin. But I can tell you, they both had a lot of fleas. No wonder Keri and I wake up every morning with about 10 new flea bites. The dogs don´t come in our room but they sleep right outside our door and those fleas can jump! We´ll see how long the dogs stay clean.

We went and watched some local teams play in a futbol tournament. we ate some popcorn and were more entertained by the local children playing in front of us than the actual soccer games. School started today for the kids so there are all these little cuties walking around town in their school uniforms. Tourism is also picking up more and more each day.

Today, Keri and I felt more productive in the clinic than most days. I greeted the patients and pulled their charts and wrote receipts and collected money when people did not have insurance. It is crazy how cheap health care is. To have a consult with the doctor if you don´t have insurance is 3 soles ($1). An ambulance to Cusco which is an hour and a half away is only 120 soles ($40). I think a ten minute ride in the States is at least $500! We learned the other day while working with the dentist that because pulling teeth is so cheap, whenever anyone has a cavity, they will pull the tooth rather than give a filling. Pulling a tooth is only about 5 soles. I did a little triage today and then finished the morning off by sweeping the entire downstairs area.

We have a meeting about teaching in the school this afternoon. We then have to make our posters and figure out what we are going to say to the kids tomorrow. And that will finish out our day.

For those of you who were wondering if we were impacted by the huge earthquake in Chile, the answer is no. We are way inland and did not feel a thing. So if you were worrying, you can stop now.

Hope everyone is well!