I have found where my heart belongs in Peru. After a month of frustration at the clinic, I decided I had to do something to stop wasting time. Most days there were fewer then four patients, and even when there were a some more, anything that Lindsay and I did was simply taking an opportunity away from a Peruvian nursing student. Peru for Life (the orphanage for teen mother's and their babies) still needed our help, so after a little trouble with our program, we finally got the okay to volunteer there five days a week instead of at the clinic. I finally can't wait to go to the project every morning, instead of dreading sitting around at the clinic every day. It is so nice to finally feel like we are doing some work that will help people!

There are a few things that we plan to focus on in the house with the girls. Since Lindsay and I are nursing majors, we want to focus on health related topics, such as nutrition, exercise, sexual education, mental health, breastfeeding and more.

Our first project for the clinic was to create a presentation with information regarding pregnancy and labor for one of the girls, Brenda, who is due to give birth in mid October. Brenda arrived at the orphanage a little over two weeks ago. Before then, she hadn't been to the doctor at all. Lindsay, two other volunteers from Peru for Life, and I met a few times to research and translate material into Spanish. When we presented it to her, we brought cookies and hot chocolate and all sat around on the couch to make it less intimidating. She seemed to really enjoy the discusion and since then, she has been a little more talkative and open about her pregnancy.

All of the girls were gathered around Brenda talking about their babies and touching her stomach.

We have been doing 30 minutes to an hour of exercise with the girls every day. Yoga has been a personal favorite for the girls! In addition, we have started discusions about nutrition, and did a presentation about a balanced meal and iron intake.

The girls practicing savasana after some yoga.

Nutrition discusion with the girls.

A poster we have hanging in the kitchen now about iron,

Some out door exercising!

The stories of almost every single girl in the house is heartbreaking. Even when I'm not at the project, I think about the girls and their babies all the time. All but two of the girls in the house were victims of rape, and most of them by family members. These girls are children themselves, they don't know how to take care of themselves yet, let alone another person. I'll share some of their stories in later posts.

I went to a really neat painting exhibit with my host family one afternoon. I had never seen people paint such amazing works in real life before! Many paintings reflected the Incan culture. My host family very kindly invited Lindsay to their house in Urubamba for the weekend. We had a great time. Lindsay ad I biked around the smaller, quieter city. We went on drives with my host family to see the scenery around. It was a really nice weekend.

Last week was elections for Peru for Mayors. There was a ton of political propaganda leading up to the elections. I learned some interesting things about Peru. It is mandatory in Peru to vote, or you have to pay a fine. In addition, it is illegal to sell or drink alcohol the day before the election and the day of the election. The ballots are with pictures because of the high rate of illiteracy in Peru.

The elections took place on Sunday, and the Thursday before, one of the candidates held a free outdoor concert to nmark the end of his campagin. I went with Lindsay, my host dad, brother, uncle, and cousins. Before the concert, there was a lot of family over at the house and we had a great time drinking wine and eating pizza.

Being goofy with Abdon at the outdoor concert,

Some of my host cousins drew pictures of the family.

I'm the one with the huge eyes and big lips on the left.

We had a really good time and it was a nice expereience that most tourists don't get.

Last Sunday was my host cousin, Maria Ferndanda's, first communion. My host aunt and uncle had a party at the house. I love hanging out with the whole family so it was a lot of fun!

Maria Fernanda - the girl of the day!

Lindsay and Sebastian.

Maria Fernanda and Abdon goofing around.

We made literally 75 cupcakes for the party.

Last Saturday (a week ago - I know, I haven't been great with posting), we went rock climbing. I am terrified of hights, but it was actually an amazing experience. We hiked about an hour to the mountain, and climbed for a few hours. The views were amazing, and it was great to spend time with friends.

Lindsay!

Views on our hike.

Ahhhh!

Sunday we went to a very relaxing yoga class to stretch out our sore muscles. 

Healing house is a really nice yoga studio we have discovered.

It has a beatiful garden as well.

Monday we went on a wonderful Walking Tour of Cusco with some great friends!

Wednesday we went out to dinner at our favorite restaurant Green Point. It was delicous and a nice way to say bye to our wonderful Dani before she left for Machupicchu and then home!

Also Wednesday, Lindsay moved into the same house as me! It's been great having a roommate and we have a lot of fun with my host family. Thursday we made homemade guacamole and salsa for the family and made nachos! It was so much fun.

Veronica, my "host aunt"

The finished product... nachos!!

Tomorrow we go ziplinging and rafting! I'm so excited!

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!