Peru is a new adventure every week! It's been great having Lindsay here. We did a lot of exploring this week.

Sunday, we went to the Chocolate Museum in Cusco. It's a beautiful museum that is free. We sampled all kinds of chocolates and read all about the evolution of the chocolate industry.

Afterwards, we walked around a neighborhood in Cusco called San Blas. It is a beautiful part of the city that has a European feel. We walked up to Cristo Blanco, which is not a long hike, but is pretty steep. Then we had lunch in this restaurant that was delicious! San Blas is a sort of hippy area, so there are a lot of vegan/vegetarian restaurants in the area. Green Point is now one of our favorites.

San Blas!

Amazing pumpkin ravioli!

Monday we went back to San Blas for a yoga class. It was a really nice experience in a beautiful building!

This is where the yoga class is!

Wednesday I had a meeting with Peru for Life, the other organization I am going to volunteer with. We decided that this week I would start coming to hang out with the teen girls to get to know them better, before I just show up with teaching materials. I am going to focus on nutrition, sexual education, oral health and more! Some other volunteers are interested in helping, so it will be really nice to collaborate.

Thursday I had lunch with some other volunteers and we went to San Pedro market to get some fresh juice. It was amazing, and I will definitely be going back for more soon!

The really nice lady at the juice stand!

Strawberry orange juice!

The hospital was a bit more interesting this week, but it has been a frustrating experience at the same time. Since the doctor's here in Peru are on strike, they will only attend to patients if it is an emergency. Obviously, it is so important to see doctors before the situation becomes an emergency to prevent an emergency from happening in the first place!

In addition, Lindsay and I have found it difficult because often we know enough to recognize that a patient needs more help then they are receiving, but we don't have enough experience to know what exactly to do. For instance, on two separate occasions, pediatric patients presented with new seizures. Both were sent home, one with a recommendation to consult a neurologist, and one without even seeing a doctor.

Lindsay has inspired me to start asking more questions. For instance, yesterday we had a patient that had a few small wounds on his legs. He was very overweight and looked unhealthy overall. As we were cleaning out the wounds on his legs, Lindsay and I realized that he appeared to suffer from venous stasis. He needed more care then just for the wounds on his legs. I went to get one of the doctors we have befriended and together we asked him about hypertension and diabetes, both which he suffered from. The doctor recommended he go to a hospital down the street, and Lindsay and I emphasized how important it was for him to seek more medical attention so that his conditions don't worsen.

Lindsay with Julia, one of the head nurses of the emergency department.

Lindsay and I have befriended two of the nurses in the emergency department, Miriam and Roxanna. This weekend, Roxy invited us to her parent's  house in Sicuani. On Saturday we left early in the morning and took a bus to the country. It was so beautiful to see a completely different part of Peru that many tourists don't see. The country was so quiet and the air was very clean.

Roxy's family lives on a farm with hens, a cow and lots of guinea pigs!

Lindsay and I had a hard time with all the cute guinea pigs running around, because they will end up being killed for food. They served us a wonderful lunch, and everything was delicious.

Lunch!

Roxy with her parents.

The kitchen

More of the kitchen.

Roxy's backyard. Her house is made out of the bricks of mud you see.

Then Roxy took us to "aguas calientes" which are natural hot springs about 45 minutes from where she lives. The springs are created by a volcano nearby! It was a wonderful day.

This was the public pool.

You can see the water bubbling!

We chose to do a private pool. It felt like a jacuzzi!

Yesterday, we met some friends to go to the zoo, but it was closed! Instead we walked up to Cristo Blanco again to see it at night. It was stunning!

Beautiful view from the top.

With some wonderful friends!

Tonight we are going out because two of our friends are leaving this week!

This week has been a busy one!

The clinic was a little frustrating. I was still working in "Nino Sano," which is the department where babies and toddlers come for vaccinations and routine check ups. There are a lot of Peruvian nursing students working in the clinic as well and there aren't that many tasks for us to do. I have be feeling like if do something at the clinic, I am just taking that experience away from a Peruvian nursing student.

This is one of the exam rooms in the Nino Sano department.

This is the inside of the clinic.

One of the waiting rooms.

The pharmacy is on this strip which is the outside of the clinic.

This is the entrance of the clinic. To the right, people wait in line to check in for appointments. 

One of the nurses, Karol, that I worked with on Tuesday and Wednesday was  really amazing at explaining everything. One thing that we talked about is how healthcare isn't prioritized here in Peru. She said that she feels like politics are put infront of healthcare and this results in poorer service for patients. We also discussed how they have a really hard time getting parents to bring their children in for the required check ups and vaccinations. Many mothers complain that they aren't able to take off from work in order to bring in their babies. I found that many babies where under the average/suggested height and weight for their age. If parents brought in their children as frequently as recommended, this malnutrition could be caught earlier,

On Friday, I made some great friends at the clinic! They are obstetrics students working at the clinic to earn clinical hours. We didn't have anything to do, so we talked and laughed for a few hours. Norca, one of the students, asked me to write out the song "La Isla Bonita" by Madonna for her because she wan't to learn how to sing it in English. She then made me speak the whole song for her so she could record the pronunciation on her phone. It was a riot. They all love to dance, so tonight we might go out dancing!

My new friends at the clinic! On the left is Sharon, and in the middle is Norca. 

Me and Norca.

Next week, I'll be working in the emergency room, so hopefully there will be more for me to help out with there.

Monday night, Magdalena, Liselot and I went to watch some typical Peruvian dancing. It was very interesting and the costumes were gorgeous. I really enjoy the culture that has remained in Peru over the years.

They had a very small museum to display the typical clothing worn for the dances!

Funny enough, while watching the dances, I thought to myself that someone in the group dancing looked vaguely like my "uncle" Ronald here in Peru. When I got home and told my family that I had been at the dances, it turns out it WAS Ronald! I thought they were all joking at first, but Ronald actually dances for the group in Peru. I didn't get any good pictures of him, but I'm planning on going back before I leave.

Tuesday was an incredible day. Magdalena and her mom invited me to an envent at this non profit called Peru for Life. They learned about the organization while they were on a tour of a different organization. The project is a home for teen moms ages 10-18. Many girls here are kicked out of the house when their family finds out they are pregnant and then they have no where to go. The program not only provides them with food and a place to live, but takes care of their babies while they go to school so that they can continue getting an education.

Every bedroom in the house has two cribs and two beds.

They couldn't afford to buy dressers for the girls, so the keep their clothes on top of their beds for now.

There is a big brick oven in the house. They are hoping to teach the girls make baked goods for them to sell to raise money for the program.

The beginning of a little garden outside.

The girls put on a dance performance for us!

We had a delicious lunch in their dining room!

Me and one of the teen moms who loves to have her picture taken.

Right away, I got a great feeling about the program and wanted to do something to help them out. It occurred  to me, based on what I have seen at the clinic, that many mothers, especially young mothers, don't know what to eat while breastfeeding and what to feed their babies after they stop breastfeeding.  I spoke with one of the founders, Angelika, to see if I could develop some teaching materials for the girls. She said they could definitely benefit from some more education surrounding health! I'm meeting with her on Monday to discuss the project more. I'm really excited to be doing something in addition to the clinic. I feel this will be more beneficial to the people here.

Tuesday night, Irma very kindly invited Magdalena and her mom over for an evening snack! Irma and I cooked a pie!

It was a great time.

Thursday was sadly Magdalena and Liselot's last day. They invited me out for dinner at a very nice restaurant in the Plaza. The food was delicious, and there was a Peruvian band playing. I am so lucky that I met them here in Peru. We shared many great times together! I begged them to come visit in Boston soon.

Me and Liselot.

Me and Magdalena.

The band playing in the restaurant.

My delicious dinner.

Can't forget the Pisco Sour!

After dinner, Magdalena and I went out with some volunteers we met at the Peru for Life event. We went to a bar called Norton's for a drink, and then to a hostel that has a great bar called Wild Rover. It was really nice to hang out with a bunch of other volunteers.

This is Caroline and Christina!

Yesterday was my last day of a month of Spanish classes. I was sad to say goodbye to my teacher, but will be glad to have more free time!

Gina, my Spanish teacher!

Yesterday Lindsay arrived!!! I'm so happy to have her here now to go on even more adventures with!

Welcome to Cusco, Lindsay!

Finally, a highlight of my week was FaceTiming with Milo this afternoon.

:)