What's New in Peru

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.