Holy smokes, I can't believe that it has been one week already! And what a week it has been! This is probably the coolest thing that I've ever done and the coolest place that I've ever been to. Peru is awesome!
My trip here was pretty uneventful; ridiculously long and sleepless. Who knew sleeping in an airport in a foreign country would be kind of difficult? Especially with that humidity. So I got to Cusco running on about 2 hours of sleep in a 22 hour period; trying to speak Spanish with that level of exhaustion doesn't work very well. But I made it safely to my host family and slept for a couple of hours.
My first day there was a holiday, kinda like Labour Day, so I didn't have to worry about going to work at my placement. Another volunteer is living here with the Chavez family, his name is Soren Clarkwest from Baltimore. He's a decent guy. He showed me around the centre of Cusco: we went to the Plaza de Armas, and to this church on top of a hill overlooking the city. What a gorgeous view.
After all this excitement of arriving in Cusco, I was about to experience even more: a group of volunteers were heading to Machu Picchu this weekend (May 3rd&4th)!!!! So I bought my tickets and went with them. What a spectacular place! I don't think I've been anywhere that can rival the beauty and majesty of Machu Picchu. The vistas, the ruins, the people, the history, the mystery, its all so amazing. I loved every minute of my day there. Even the sunburn was completely worth it. I'm dealing with the peeling skin even now as I type this and a regret nothing; I'll just remember to put sunscreen on my neck... . This is something that can't be adequately described, it really has to be experienced. If it isn't on your bucket list, or you haven't ever really wanted to go there REPENT! and change your ways haha. And try to get there before the sun comes over the mountain, way worth getting up at 4:45am.
There is this trail that takes you to the sun gate, the Intikuptu (or something to that effect), its a 45min hike on an uneven stone trail that takes you up to these ruins, where on the sunrise of the summer solstice the sun would come through the mountains here and shine into the Sun Temple in Machu Picchu. This was probably my favourite spot in the whole ruins. It was so peaceful and quiet; not very many people came up there. I loved just sitting there looking out over the valley and just admiring the beauty of the Earth and the handiwork of God. It was a super cool spot high up the mountain.
So this week I also started working at my placement at the Centro de Salud de San Sebastian. This is a super cool place. Well, It's different than anywhere I've ever been. The health centre is on the thrid floor of a market building. The first floor is dedicated to the selling of pretty much everything you could ever think of for food: meat, grains, veggies, fruits, you name it. Along with a few other little stalls, like a movie stall. The third floor is set up in a circular plan where the patients check in and work their way around the circle to the different departments that they need to go to. The clinic is pretty primitive when compared to what we have in Canada. They work, and serve their purpose, but they could use a LOT of improvement. Its quite the experience working here. The centre is government run, so its just the basics. In the dental clinic it is mostly reparative dental work, not preventative; they don't have hygienists in the government clinics, and very limited tools. So the dentists work mostly with extractions, fillings, and sealants. And a TON of paperwork, no fancy computer system to keep everything organized and easily accessible. It is all filled out with a pen, and filed away in the record part of the centre. We are pretty lucky with what we have in Canada, I've a new-found appreciation for our awesome health care system.
So I've seen a lot at the clinic and the dentists there have taught me a lot and have made me feel prety welcome. I've been able to help them with lots of things. Mostly I pass them tools and clean things up and set things up between patients, but I've helped with the odontogramas (I'm not sure what its called in English, probably just an odontogram), so this is for new patients and goes with the clinic history and marks where there are cavities and other problems with the teeth. The other day Ludwing taught me how to anesthetize the mouth for extraction, and how to use the forceps and elevator to take a tooth out. That was pretty cool. I wonder if they'll let me pull one out one day...
So today they were doing a vaccination day, where almost everyone from the health centre went out to various parts of the municipality of San Sebastian and vaccinated people. I was with two other people and we were in charge of giving people flu shots. That was an interesting experience. But, they did let me vaccinate people. Jaime (a medical intern) taught me how to charge the syringe and then inject it into someone's arm. It was great. We were walking down this one street and ran into this group of elderly women, who actually wanted to be vaccinated, and they were talking and talking as elderly ladies are wont to do, and they all wanted me to vaccinate them because I "have a pretty face" and "bright eyes" and I "must have hands like and angel." I had the hardest time keeping it together. It made my day. I love these people here!
So far I'm absolutely loving, LOVING, my time here in Peru. The place, the people, the work is all so fantastic!
