Last week I moved to the jungle... The purpose was to monitor birds as my volunteer work... it turned out to be rather cool as that only took up about an hour of the day!
We took off Monday morning at 9 with an anticipated arrival time of 4 or 5. LIES. Without even being an hour out of Cusco we were stopped by a road crew clearing out a landslide. They told us we would leave by noon. By the time one rolled around, we finally were able to leave. We bounced along fairly quickly (though I like to think safely) around the mountains, across micro-rivers, and through Quechua farmland. Once we crossed over to the jungle side of the mountains, we expected to arrive at Atalaya at any moment... We kept going down and down and down while listening to the Rolling Stones and John Lennon. Mary was quick to point out how similar this was to a Vietnam movie...
So after a flat tire and some fancy maneuvering by the bus driver we FINALLY arrived at our destination. Or at least the little village/general store. We chilled there for a bit after I finally got to use the bathroom... I mean the gloried hole in the ground. Then we took a cab through the jungle, and crossed the river via the wooden platform they pulled across the river.
We got to our place at about 9:30pm, said hola to the other volunteers and crashed.
The next morning (Tuesday) we made our breakfast (crazy) and headed out with one of the guys working at the Atalaya Reserve - Diego - to check out a water fall. When we came back the other volunteers, a guy and girl from Spain, were around and we chatted. Lunch was the only meal prepared for us by a local girl and it was a TON of food! And all veggie, so the week was a bit long for me as I'm a big meat person. I was so full afterwards that I took a nap. Later that day Raul came by to show us where we were to observe and count the Cock-of-the-Rock, the national bird of Peru. Dinner was prepared by us, but since lunch was rather intense, we ate very little.
Now before I forget, we had a red howler monkey living in the compound area with us named Paulo. He's about a year old and a rescue from the black market. Unfortunately he's too tame to be re-introduced into the wild yet. So he's currently living at the Atalaya Reserve, attacking the volunteers and running around like, well, a monkey.
Wednesday we trekked with Raul and Yuri(?) on La Troncha de los Monos (monkey trail) for a few hours. In that time we lost liters of water in the form of sweat, climbed down a waterfall using rope and our bare hands and gotten eaten by mosquitos. But the waterfall was well worth it! Wednesday night was the night that Sampi showed up - an older Peruvian version of Robin Williams who liked to call me and Mary children.
Thursday was a bit less trek oriented as Mary, Diego, and I went to the waterfall (same as Tuesday) to go swimming! It was just like out of a movie =D Unfortunately I felt sick that night and slept for about 12 hours :( Sampi was still around, hiking around, making sure Mary and I weren't doing anything outrageous (like hiking in the jungle without a male escort). As much as I liked the guy, he was a bit old fashioned...
Friday consisted of waiting around a bit for the bus ride home. They told us that we would be leaving either at 5 or 8pm. So I finished reading The Color Purple, played with Paulo, and napped. Finally 7:30 rolled around and we left with Sampi, who all day had told me what I could and could not eat. He also gave me this pale green tea for nausea and two different pills to take on the bus. The tea was alright, just something herbal. The pills have yet to be sampled...
Our bus was late to arrive (9:30) and when Mary and I were jumping in jubilee to get on a bus homeward bound we were told to wait til morning, something was broken...
So Saturday morning around 7 rolls around and the bus still wasn't quite ready to go. By 8 we were off but not even 30 minutes into the trip, the bus drives halfway off the road. They were able to pull the bus out after everyone evacuated the bus via the driver side. The rest of the ride was uneventful except for a flat tire. However, everytime we turned a corner on the mountainside I had a minor heart attack. But we survived the JUNGLE!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
The last couple weeks
Nothing overly interesting happened between Machu Picchu and now, but I'll fill in a couple details anyways.
1) I switched departments at the clinic since topico was getting rather boring (I mean, you can only fold bandages for so long). Now I work in CRED with babies and kids getting check ups, which I really enjoy. Peruvian kids are some of the cutest I've ever known. They are also the best sales people I know, though they have yet to crack me. Also, a few of the nurses I work with are my age and are so fun to talk to and see life from their eyes, all in Spanish of course.
2) I decided to spend a week in the jungle with my friend Mary Beth doing conservation work and play with the resident monkey.
3) I've been trying to firgure out a trip to Arequipa and Nazca for this coming week... we'll see how that one goes, but I will most likely go to Arequipa if nothing else.
4) I still need a PIN for my credit card and am down to about 30 soles... YAY!
1) I switched departments at the clinic since topico was getting rather boring (I mean, you can only fold bandages for so long). Now I work in CRED with babies and kids getting check ups, which I really enjoy. Peruvian kids are some of the cutest I've ever known. They are also the best sales people I know, though they have yet to crack me. Also, a few of the nurses I work with are my age and are so fun to talk to and see life from their eyes, all in Spanish of course.
2) I decided to spend a week in the jungle with my friend Mary Beth doing conservation work and play with the resident monkey.
3) I've been trying to firgure out a trip to Arequipa and Nazca for this coming week... we'll see how that one goes, but I will most likely go to Arequipa if nothing else.
4) I still need a PIN for my credit card and am down to about 30 soles... YAY!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Machu Picchu
So here we go...
Friday 3/6/09
I woke up bright and early to leave Cusco at 7:30am. However, before we left we drove all over Cusco picking up people from their hostels (we didn't get picked up since I live too far away from the office). When we finally got going, we headed into the Sacred Valley and made a quick stop at Urubamba before heading off to the launch point. Our launch point was by this coke stand in the middle of a forest half down a mountain. Seriously in the middle of nowhere. So off we went there the mist and rain down the muddy, rocky mountain roads. At some points the waterfalls passing by the roads downwards actually passed over the roads, creating 2-4" deep rivers that our bikes just happened to cruise through. We also passed through small mountain towns and drove past locals who probably thought we were crazy getting disgusting and racing down the roads. And we were disgusting, the rain + dirt roads + huge bike tires = muddy trekkers.
Now our guide, Leo, when he told us the rules of the road, said "No running". I've always been one for speed and craziness like that, but I tried keeping my bike within a reasonable speed range. But at a very crucial point, going around a corner, I wasn't paying attention to my speed (read: going too fast) and just to add some element of surprise a car was approaching from the opposite direction. So I freaked, overcompensated my turn away from the car and crashed... No, I ate that mountain.
The world at that point was rather fuzzy, so I got cleaned up (as best as one can in the mountains) and rode the bus with two others one the way to our hostel. The others didn't fall, they just didn't want to or weren't able to ride. But my accident was only the beginning because not long afterward, a Swiss girl got attacked by a dog and an Israeli guy got stung by bees. What a start to the adventure!
Once we got to the hostel and got showered and fed, the day didn't seem too bad anymore. Sleeping was like heaven.
Saturday 3/7/09
After we got all the bad stuff out of the way, we knew the rest of the trip had to be amazing (and it was). Waking up at 6:30 wasn't too bad since we crashed early. Saturday we spent the day first walking through the "jungle" then scaling mountain sides. One of the members of our group had a fear of heights, so he took a bus to the next hostel in Santa Teresa. While this was unfortunate for him, that meant the rest of us could send the majority of our stuff on the bus and just carry our water and whatever we might need on the trek.
Along the way our guide Leo pointed out all the interesting fruits and gave mini lessons on chocolate beans and coffee plants. We even got to eat the fruity part of the chocolate bean!! And yeah, it actually tasted a bit like chocolate. Cornfields were everywhere, reminding me of home (naturally)... Except our cornfields aren't growing on the sides of MOUNTAINS. I won't even attempt to describe the mountains and the views and just the plain ole grandeur that is the Andes. Have more time? Check out my picasa site for pictures.
At the end of our amazingexhaustingbeautifulchallengingetc day we got to melt in the hot springs for just 10 soles (in amaerican terms, that means about $3). While soaking in the bathwaterish springs we took in the moon over the mountains and the sun disppearing behind them. After getting to our hostel in Santa Teresa with the one bathroom for 12 people some of our group decided to go out to the bars and check out the scene. I decided that that decision was ludicrous and slept instead. A good decision it was since when I woke up I felt refreshed... the others, including our guide, were not so fortunate.
Sunday 3/8/09
This day was a bit lame. We took a bus up a mountain. We got out. We walked down railroad tracks to Aguas Calientes. I got eaten by bugs. The end.
Monday 3/9/09 = Main Event
This was it - waking up at 4 to climb to the top of Machu Picchu! It was quite the climb and we took our sweet time in order to enjoy the sun rise (not to mention catch our breath climbing those damn 1600 steps to the entrance). It was beyond worth the blood sweat and tears to get there!!!! Again, there are no words to describe it.
Once at the top, we had to get tickets for Waynapicchu, the mountain behind the ruins in all those classical photos you see of "the Mach" and then took a 2 hour tour (though a 3 hour tour would've been fun! haha) of the ruins. Turns out, they really don't know too much about them but since the Spainards never found the site, they are really well preserved. Also, the only person privelged enough to get a bathroom was the mayor guy. Not that it was a big deal... it was just a hole in the ground.
After our tour, we decided to climb Waynapicchu, you know, as if we haven't climbed enough mountains in the last couple days or anything. The "stairs" were at times no more than the rocky side of the mountain but once we arrived we were awed once more by the surroundings. I could live there and be the happiest person, except for the whole swarms of tourists... There were also fun things to climb and caves to muck through =D
So that's basically my trek to Machu Picchu - the trip home only took a couple hours and we took a train to Urubamba and then a bus to Cusco. YAY!
Friday 3/6/09
I woke up bright and early to leave Cusco at 7:30am. However, before we left we drove all over Cusco picking up people from their hostels (we didn't get picked up since I live too far away from the office). When we finally got going, we headed into the Sacred Valley and made a quick stop at Urubamba before heading off to the launch point. Our launch point was by this coke stand in the middle of a forest half down a mountain. Seriously in the middle of nowhere. So off we went there the mist and rain down the muddy, rocky mountain roads. At some points the waterfalls passing by the roads downwards actually passed over the roads, creating 2-4" deep rivers that our bikes just happened to cruise through. We also passed through small mountain towns and drove past locals who probably thought we were crazy getting disgusting and racing down the roads. And we were disgusting, the rain + dirt roads + huge bike tires = muddy trekkers.
Now our guide, Leo, when he told us the rules of the road, said "No running". I've always been one for speed and craziness like that, but I tried keeping my bike within a reasonable speed range. But at a very crucial point, going around a corner, I wasn't paying attention to my speed (read: going too fast) and just to add some element of surprise a car was approaching from the opposite direction. So I freaked, overcompensated my turn away from the car and crashed... No, I ate that mountain.
The world at that point was rather fuzzy, so I got cleaned up (as best as one can in the mountains) and rode the bus with two others one the way to our hostel. The others didn't fall, they just didn't want to or weren't able to ride. But my accident was only the beginning because not long afterward, a Swiss girl got attacked by a dog and an Israeli guy got stung by bees. What a start to the adventure!
Once we got to the hostel and got showered and fed, the day didn't seem too bad anymore. Sleeping was like heaven.
Saturday 3/7/09
After we got all the bad stuff out of the way, we knew the rest of the trip had to be amazing (and it was). Waking up at 6:30 wasn't too bad since we crashed early. Saturday we spent the day first walking through the "jungle" then scaling mountain sides. One of the members of our group had a fear of heights, so he took a bus to the next hostel in Santa Teresa. While this was unfortunate for him, that meant the rest of us could send the majority of our stuff on the bus and just carry our water and whatever we might need on the trek.
Along the way our guide Leo pointed out all the interesting fruits and gave mini lessons on chocolate beans and coffee plants. We even got to eat the fruity part of the chocolate bean!! And yeah, it actually tasted a bit like chocolate. Cornfields were everywhere, reminding me of home (naturally)... Except our cornfields aren't growing on the sides of MOUNTAINS. I won't even attempt to describe the mountains and the views and just the plain ole grandeur that is the Andes. Have more time? Check out my picasa site for pictures.
At the end of our amazingexhaustingbeautifulchallengingetc day we got to melt in the hot springs for just 10 soles (in amaerican terms, that means about $3). While soaking in the bathwaterish springs we took in the moon over the mountains and the sun disppearing behind them. After getting to our hostel in Santa Teresa with the one bathroom for 12 people some of our group decided to go out to the bars and check out the scene. I decided that that decision was ludicrous and slept instead. A good decision it was since when I woke up I felt refreshed... the others, including our guide, were not so fortunate.
Sunday 3/8/09
This day was a bit lame. We took a bus up a mountain. We got out. We walked down railroad tracks to Aguas Calientes. I got eaten by bugs. The end.
Monday 3/9/09 = Main Event
This was it - waking up at 4 to climb to the top of Machu Picchu! It was quite the climb and we took our sweet time in order to enjoy the sun rise (not to mention catch our breath climbing those damn 1600 steps to the entrance). It was beyond worth the blood sweat and tears to get there!!!! Again, there are no words to describe it.
Once at the top, we had to get tickets for Waynapicchu, the mountain behind the ruins in all those classical photos you see of "the Mach" and then took a 2 hour tour (though a 3 hour tour would've been fun! haha) of the ruins. Turns out, they really don't know too much about them but since the Spainards never found the site, they are really well preserved. Also, the only person privelged enough to get a bathroom was the mayor guy. Not that it was a big deal... it was just a hole in the ground.
After our tour, we decided to climb Waynapicchu, you know, as if we haven't climbed enough mountains in the last couple days or anything. The "stairs" were at times no more than the rocky side of the mountain but once we arrived we were awed once more by the surroundings. I could live there and be the happiest person, except for the whole swarms of tourists... There were also fun things to climb and caves to muck through =D
So that's basically my trek to Machu Picchu - the trip home only took a couple hours and we took a train to Urubamba and then a bus to Cusco. YAY!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
WhiteWater Rafting and Pisac
So not this past weekend, but the weekend before...
Saturday:
Me and some friends decided to go whitewater rafting and had a blast! After driving through the country side surrounding Cusco we arrived at the camp which had lockers, hot showers, and a sauna (can you say spoiled?). We rafted class 3-4.5 rapids with this crazy guide who would purposely take us through the wildest parts of the rapids. We were also with a bunch of fun guys from Oklahoma who insisted on chattering and singing the the majority of time, which would explain the ride. While on the calm parts of the river we had a great view of the mountains and countryside. That didn't last long as we found those class 4.5 rapids! At one point me and the guy behind me actually fell out of the raft! I was completely calm and collected while the other guy completely freaked out. The part of the river after we flew out was probably the calmest part of the river and we were never in any real danger. Later on, when we were almost done our guide asked us if we could see the baby fish in the water. Naturally gullible as gringos can be we all looked but the poor guy who fell out of the raft earlier got pushed out of the raft by the guide! The guy took it in stride and before we knew it we were in the sauna warming up (that water was COLD!).
Unfortunately, I was so tired that I left my debit card and some money in the taxi on the way home! So I was stuck without money for a while...
Sunday:
So I bought this tourist ticket to see a bunch of local sights and ruins and I had until that day to use it. Me and two friends went off to Pisac to check out the market (which I then had no money for) and see the ruins. The market was not exciting as I wasn't in the mood to shop with no money. We then decided to climb to the ruins after lunch. So we climbed, and we climbed, we got on the wrong path and had to reclimb part of the mountain. For some reason we didn't realize that 1) we started on the backside of the ruins and 2) it was possible to take a bus to the top. However, we eventually made it to the top after about an hour of climbing and resting and climbing some more. The views were spectacular and in my opinion quite worth it! Not having mountains home in Wisconsin really makes me appreciate what they have here.
Once we were done playing among the ruins, we trekked back down to find a bus. Taxi drivers tried tempting us, promising that we only had to pay 40 soles (about 13 US dollars). A bus is only 2.40 soles (not even a whole dollar). Finally, after about 20 minutes we managed to squeeze our way onto a bus homeward bound. The downside was standing for the entire way home we had to stand squished between everyone else who managed to fit on the bus. At least it was mainly women on that bus... I'll mark that one down as one of my many "experiences"
Saturday:
Me and some friends decided to go whitewater rafting and had a blast! After driving through the country side surrounding Cusco we arrived at the camp which had lockers, hot showers, and a sauna (can you say spoiled?). We rafted class 3-4.5 rapids with this crazy guide who would purposely take us through the wildest parts of the rapids. We were also with a bunch of fun guys from Oklahoma who insisted on chattering and singing the the majority of time, which would explain the ride. While on the calm parts of the river we had a great view of the mountains and countryside. That didn't last long as we found those class 4.5 rapids! At one point me and the guy behind me actually fell out of the raft! I was completely calm and collected while the other guy completely freaked out. The part of the river after we flew out was probably the calmest part of the river and we were never in any real danger. Later on, when we were almost done our guide asked us if we could see the baby fish in the water. Naturally gullible as gringos can be we all looked but the poor guy who fell out of the raft earlier got pushed out of the raft by the guide! The guy took it in stride and before we knew it we were in the sauna warming up (that water was COLD!).
Unfortunately, I was so tired that I left my debit card and some money in the taxi on the way home! So I was stuck without money for a while...
Sunday:
So I bought this tourist ticket to see a bunch of local sights and ruins and I had until that day to use it. Me and two friends went off to Pisac to check out the market (which I then had no money for) and see the ruins. The market was not exciting as I wasn't in the mood to shop with no money. We then decided to climb to the ruins after lunch. So we climbed, and we climbed, we got on the wrong path and had to reclimb part of the mountain. For some reason we didn't realize that 1) we started on the backside of the ruins and 2) it was possible to take a bus to the top. However, we eventually made it to the top after about an hour of climbing and resting and climbing some more. The views were spectacular and in my opinion quite worth it! Not having mountains home in Wisconsin really makes me appreciate what they have here.
Once we were done playing among the ruins, we trekked back down to find a bus. Taxi drivers tried tempting us, promising that we only had to pay 40 soles (about 13 US dollars). A bus is only 2.40 soles (not even a whole dollar). Finally, after about 20 minutes we managed to squeeze our way onto a bus homeward bound. The downside was standing for the entire way home we had to stand squished between everyone else who managed to fit on the bus. At least it was mainly women on that bus... I'll mark that one down as one of my many "experiences"
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Week 3 I'm going to try to remember...
Due to an unforeseen lack of internet, I'll write the cliff notes version of last week:
Spanish lessons continued as normal, though we got a new teacher named Magda. She is as sweet as Danitza was, but she's still really fun and like Danitza, only will speak in Spanish. Friday she took us out on a field trip to two free art museums featuring local artists. One of the artists (whose name I forget at the moment) had very passionate statues about protests, focusing on the native woman and Catholicism. The guy even meet John Paul II! After the artwork, we stopped by a street woman selling something like a small non-spicy tamale (if that makes sense?) for 70 centimos, which is little more than 10 cents. DELICIOUS (and no parasites).
Clinic continued as usual, I cleaned wounds and made bandages. I'm making progress speaking in Spanish with the nurses and I think they are starting to enjoy having me around. There is one nurse though, who I can't figure out if she's a student or not who definitely doesn't care to have gringa volunteers around. Unlike the other nurses she won't return greetings or converse with us at all. If there is a patient around who needs help, she won't let us volunteers help her. I have yet to really see her do actual nursing work. Ok, I'm done ranting about her, but most nurses and doctors at the clinic are really cool and will make at least a little small talk with us.
On a purely fun note, we had the last quiz night at the Muse and this time around my team won! So we each had a hard-earned free drink. Afterwards we went out for a bit and I got to bond with new housemates.
Ok, I think I'll just post this since nothing else remarkable happened during the week...
The weekend was definitely more eventful =D
Spanish lessons continued as normal, though we got a new teacher named Magda. She is as sweet as Danitza was, but she's still really fun and like Danitza, only will speak in Spanish. Friday she took us out on a field trip to two free art museums featuring local artists. One of the artists (whose name I forget at the moment) had very passionate statues about protests, focusing on the native woman and Catholicism. The guy even meet John Paul II! After the artwork, we stopped by a street woman selling something like a small non-spicy tamale (if that makes sense?) for 70 centimos, which is little more than 10 cents. DELICIOUS (and no parasites).
Clinic continued as usual, I cleaned wounds and made bandages. I'm making progress speaking in Spanish with the nurses and I think they are starting to enjoy having me around. There is one nurse though, who I can't figure out if she's a student or not who definitely doesn't care to have gringa volunteers around. Unlike the other nurses she won't return greetings or converse with us at all. If there is a patient around who needs help, she won't let us volunteers help her. I have yet to really see her do actual nursing work. Ok, I'm done ranting about her, but most nurses and doctors at the clinic are really cool and will make at least a little small talk with us.
On a purely fun note, we had the last quiz night at the Muse and this time around my team won! So we each had a hard-earned free drink. Afterwards we went out for a bit and I got to bond with new housemates.
Ok, I think I'll just post this since nothing else remarkable happened during the week...
The weekend was definitely more eventful =D
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Week 2 - El Centro de Salud
So week 2 included the beginning of my first week at the clinic called El Centro de Salud in Cusco just down the street from the Family House. For the first two weeks or so I will be in 'Topico' which focuses on minor wounds and injections. My first half hour focused on an emergency case where a woman was bought in by a couple guys who had no idea who she was or what had happened to her. At first unconcious, when she came around she was very confused. Not until about an hour later were her daughters called to come take her to the hospital. Why wasn't this woman taken to the ER? Why weren't any tests performed? Not even a blood sugar was taken... My first day continued to be crazy and me and Mary Beth, my friend from my Spanish classes didn't get out until 6:30PM when we were supposed to out by 6PM.
The rest of the week in the clinic was nothing like the first day, though we helped clean wounds as well as make 'gasas' (bandages) and cotton balls. Everything the clinic has is what they can make or save or re-use. The lady from the first day? No oxygen was administered. Gloves? Not always available. My first week working in the clinic has shown me how lucky we really are in the states (as corny and over said as that is). Not only that, but I cannot wait to return with more schooling and more to offer than making bandages and pouring soap and water on gauze.
Unfortunately, this week I also experienced what practically every gringo visiting a country where tap water is not legit to drink experiences - A Parasite! Not just any parasite, Giardia... I started sleeping more and not having much of an appetite. Thursday I almost passed out in the clinic twice and was sent home. I have a sinking feeling that the head nurse working that day now thinks I cannot handle the sight of blood. Friday I went to the doctor and got to experience life on the otherside of the stethoscope....
I went with a girl from Maximo to a clinic off the main road and snaked around the clinic until we ended up down a seemingly random hall with a door for a dermatologist, a door for a OB-GYN, and another unmarked mystery door. Another volunteer was with us and went into the mystery door first while I waited my turn outside. From the white plastic chair I couldn't see who I assumed to be the receptionist behind the giant desk. When I made it into the doctor's office, it was basically like any other doctor visit, except for the whole language barrier. I then received my lab orders and made my way with the others through the maze of the clinic. The lab experience I won't go into, but I will mention the blood draw. Normally when you get poked blood only gets added to a sample tube when its connected to the port as oppposed to spraying out the other end of the needle, which is what happened. When the lady was finished, she basically taped a cotton ball to the inside of my elbow and sent me on my way. I didn't make it too far before my arm felt wet... I tore off my fleece to find blood everywhere!! The poor girl who came with us freaked out and I had to go back to the lab tech to get my arm fixed. This time she told me to keep my arm bent and keep the new cotton ball there. I then had to return for my results at 8PM that night. And so it was, I had giardia and had to take 3 pills a day for 5 days!! The bright side of this whole experience was that the pills were extremely cheap!
The rest of the week in the clinic was nothing like the first day, though we helped clean wounds as well as make 'gasas' (bandages) and cotton balls. Everything the clinic has is what they can make or save or re-use. The lady from the first day? No oxygen was administered. Gloves? Not always available. My first week working in the clinic has shown me how lucky we really are in the states (as corny and over said as that is). Not only that, but I cannot wait to return with more schooling and more to offer than making bandages and pouring soap and water on gauze.
Unfortunately, this week I also experienced what practically every gringo visiting a country where tap water is not legit to drink experiences - A Parasite! Not just any parasite, Giardia... I started sleeping more and not having much of an appetite. Thursday I almost passed out in the clinic twice and was sent home. I have a sinking feeling that the head nurse working that day now thinks I cannot handle the sight of blood. Friday I went to the doctor and got to experience life on the otherside of the stethoscope....
I went with a girl from Maximo to a clinic off the main road and snaked around the clinic until we ended up down a seemingly random hall with a door for a dermatologist, a door for a OB-GYN, and another unmarked mystery door. Another volunteer was with us and went into the mystery door first while I waited my turn outside. From the white plastic chair I couldn't see who I assumed to be the receptionist behind the giant desk. When I made it into the doctor's office, it was basically like any other doctor visit, except for the whole language barrier. I then received my lab orders and made my way with the others through the maze of the clinic. The lab experience I won't go into, but I will mention the blood draw. Normally when you get poked blood only gets added to a sample tube when its connected to the port as oppposed to spraying out the other end of the needle, which is what happened. When the lady was finished, she basically taped a cotton ball to the inside of my elbow and sent me on my way. I didn't make it too far before my arm felt wet... I tore off my fleece to find blood everywhere!! The poor girl who came with us freaked out and I had to go back to the lab tech to get my arm fixed. This time she told me to keep my arm bent and keep the new cotton ball there. I then had to return for my results at 8PM that night. And so it was, I had giardia and had to take 3 pills a day for 5 days!! The bright side of this whole experience was that the pills were extremely cheap!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Week 1 Part 2 - La Casa de Familia
So after an adventure with the Dutch, I was finally able to move in the Family House - a little bed and breakfast type place run by Maximo. About 15/16 people are living here now from all over the place, but mainly from the states or UK. I'm sharing a room with one other girl, Leilah, who's from Boston and like Lindy, became certified to teach English as a second language.
Classes went really well the first week, both my group and private classes. Spanish is almost easier to learn here since the teachers always speak Spanish, never English unless you are really confused. My private classes centered on medical Spanish and some verb conjugation. Group classes center on basic grammar, vocab, verb conjugation, etc. It's been a great refresher! I also got to meet some really cool people through my class. One girl, Mary Beth is volunteering at the same clinic where I will be starting and is also in the process of studying for the MCAT and will be applying for med school like myself!
Now, one important (haha) thing I've learned is that when it comes to winning random things, I'm really lucky! When I traveled down to Costa Rica, I won a hat on a coffee plantation. My second night after moving into the family house, we went out to a bar called Muse where they have trivia nights run by an NGO called Bruce Peru. This NGO is all about getting kids into state schools by tutoring and assisting with finances. Unfortunately for me, Bruce Peru questions are usually centered on English culture... Luckily we had an Aussie who had spent a good number of years in England and helped us (ok, carried us) to second place out of 13! We also won Best Name - which I picked out - but they only had one t-shirt as a prize. So they asked our team one final question: In what year was Mickey Mouse first animated? The answer was 1928 and I was the closet guessing 1933!! So I won an authentic Muse t-shirt =D If only I was that lucky with test questions in university...
The weekend also had some exciting activities...
Friday the TEFL people finished their certification and it was Lindy's last day in Cusco. So we went out for that, meeting up with a ton of people from Maximo. The last place we stopped had a local cover band playing American rock songs (good ones, that is), which was really fun. The only not so exciting thing was the guys who tried persuading us to stay out later with them, which was NOT a plan - Machisimo is alive and well in Peru, that's for sure!
Saturday was more or less the same, except we started out at Maximo with their "International Party" which more appropriately should've been called "International Awkward Junior High Dance". Overall it wasn't too bad once people loosened up and started (actually) dancing. My goal here is to learn legitimate salsa dancing, since it looks like soooo much fun!!
Sunday made me wish I had a million dollars and a million suitcases! I went to the Pisac market with Merel, the other Merel, and Sophie for the day. The market was HUGE and there was so much my head was spinning. The nice thing about markets is that you can bargain with vendors and buy fairly nice things for very little American dollars. It's good to know my money is good somewhere... I definitely plan on going back, especially to see the ruins, which are rumored to be the best around Cusco!
Hopefully tomorrow I will post about this past week... It's been quite the experience!
Classes went really well the first week, both my group and private classes. Spanish is almost easier to learn here since the teachers always speak Spanish, never English unless you are really confused. My private classes centered on medical Spanish and some verb conjugation. Group classes center on basic grammar, vocab, verb conjugation, etc. It's been a great refresher! I also got to meet some really cool people through my class. One girl, Mary Beth is volunteering at the same clinic where I will be starting and is also in the process of studying for the MCAT and will be applying for med school like myself!
Now, one important (haha) thing I've learned is that when it comes to winning random things, I'm really lucky! When I traveled down to Costa Rica, I won a hat on a coffee plantation. My second night after moving into the family house, we went out to a bar called Muse where they have trivia nights run by an NGO called Bruce Peru. This NGO is all about getting kids into state schools by tutoring and assisting with finances. Unfortunately for me, Bruce Peru questions are usually centered on English culture... Luckily we had an Aussie who had spent a good number of years in England and helped us (ok, carried us) to second place out of 13! We also won Best Name - which I picked out - but they only had one t-shirt as a prize. So they asked our team one final question: In what year was Mickey Mouse first animated? The answer was 1928 and I was the closet guessing 1933!! So I won an authentic Muse t-shirt =D If only I was that lucky with test questions in university...
The weekend also had some exciting activities...
Friday the TEFL people finished their certification and it was Lindy's last day in Cusco. So we went out for that, meeting up with a ton of people from Maximo. The last place we stopped had a local cover band playing American rock songs (good ones, that is), which was really fun. The only not so exciting thing was the guys who tried persuading us to stay out later with them, which was NOT a plan - Machisimo is alive and well in Peru, that's for sure!
Saturday was more or less the same, except we started out at Maximo with their "International Party" which more appropriately should've been called "International Awkward Junior High Dance". Overall it wasn't too bad once people loosened up and started (actually) dancing. My goal here is to learn legitimate salsa dancing, since it looks like soooo much fun!!
Sunday made me wish I had a million dollars and a million suitcases! I went to the Pisac market with Merel, the other Merel, and Sophie for the day. The market was HUGE and there was so much my head was spinning. The nice thing about markets is that you can bargain with vendors and buy fairly nice things for very little American dollars. It's good to know my money is good somewhere... I definitely plan on going back, especially to see the ruins, which are rumored to be the best around Cusco!
Hopefully tomorrow I will post about this past week... It's been quite the experience!
Monday, February 16, 2009
Week 1 Part 1 - La Casa de Mariana
Well it's already been more than a week, but I'll try to keep this thing going week by week...
So my 24 hour traveling was actually not terrible. I started in Milwaukee around 10:40 AM, landed in Lima at 11:30 PM and had to stay overnight to catch my 6 AM flight to Cuzco. Good thing college students are used to sleeping anywhere (i.e. the library haha). I could've kicked myself for not having a camera on that flight because the views of the mountains were literally breathtaking.
When I got to Cusco, I had to stay in a different house than what I signed up for because the girl (whose place I was supposed to take) was sick. This ended up being a great experience since I met some pretty cool people. Mariana was my Peruvian mother for about 3 days and she was a sweetheart. No english, but really understanding and always there to help us out. I shared a room with an American girl - Lindy - from Colorado who was getting certified to teach English as a second language. She left already this Friday so I didn't get to know her well. A young couple from the UK were also staying with Mariana - Paul and Paula. Due to the wonderful global economy, they haven't been able to get jobs at home and have been traveling and working as they can. There was also a girl from Holland staying there about my age called Merel.
**Cute story: After somewhat unpacking, Lindy, Merel, and I went to the main square in Cusco called 'La Plaza de Armas' where we sat eating some Peruvian ice cream. Of course anyone selling anything was trying to convince us that we needed to get a finger puppet or fake brand pair of sunglasses or a box of cigarettes. Finally a Peruvian family approached us with a camera out. I assumed, in my still jet-lagged state of mind, that they wanted one of us to take a picture of them. But no, we being three blondes in one place must have been such a sight that the mother insisted we take a picture with her children. So we are currently in someone's photo album with a caption saying something to the effect of 'My children with the Giant Blondes'. In case the giant part is confusing, I am rather tall compared to people at home and even larger when compared to the general Peruvian population.
And so I spent the first part of my week here with Mariana and family, got settled into classes, and started to explore the city....
My last night in Mariana's house, Merel and I were watching The Notebook (in English no less and on TV) when she asked if I would want to go learn dancing with her and a couple Dutch friends, Merel and Sophie. Naturally I said yeah and off we went to go find her friends. We met up not far from the salsa school and waited for the class before us to finish. While we waited more and more Dutch girls arrived until I was surrounded by a completely different language that I had no hope of following. I think they assumed I spoke Dutch but was rather quiet?? One of them at least tried talking with me and I had to cut her off saying "English or Spanish because I cannot follow Dutch at all!" Finally we started class and there I was with the Dutch girls, a couple Peruvian guys, and one other American from Montana (of all places). It ended up being an amazing time, though we couldn't always speak the same language! Afterwards Merel, the two friends we met up with, and I went out for Peruvian pizza at Chez Maggie, which made your pizza as you ordered it ~ delicioso!
So my 24 hour traveling was actually not terrible. I started in Milwaukee around 10:40 AM, landed in Lima at 11:30 PM and had to stay overnight to catch my 6 AM flight to Cuzco. Good thing college students are used to sleeping anywhere (i.e. the library haha). I could've kicked myself for not having a camera on that flight because the views of the mountains were literally breathtaking.
When I got to Cusco, I had to stay in a different house than what I signed up for because the girl (whose place I was supposed to take) was sick. This ended up being a great experience since I met some pretty cool people. Mariana was my Peruvian mother for about 3 days and she was a sweetheart. No english, but really understanding and always there to help us out. I shared a room with an American girl - Lindy - from Colorado who was getting certified to teach English as a second language. She left already this Friday so I didn't get to know her well. A young couple from the UK were also staying with Mariana - Paul and Paula. Due to the wonderful global economy, they haven't been able to get jobs at home and have been traveling and working as they can. There was also a girl from Holland staying there about my age called Merel.
**Cute story: After somewhat unpacking, Lindy, Merel, and I went to the main square in Cusco called 'La Plaza de Armas' where we sat eating some Peruvian ice cream. Of course anyone selling anything was trying to convince us that we needed to get a finger puppet or fake brand pair of sunglasses or a box of cigarettes. Finally a Peruvian family approached us with a camera out. I assumed, in my still jet-lagged state of mind, that they wanted one of us to take a picture of them. But no, we being three blondes in one place must have been such a sight that the mother insisted we take a picture with her children. So we are currently in someone's photo album with a caption saying something to the effect of 'My children with the Giant Blondes'. In case the giant part is confusing, I am rather tall compared to people at home and even larger when compared to the general Peruvian population.
And so I spent the first part of my week here with Mariana and family, got settled into classes, and started to explore the city....
My last night in Mariana's house, Merel and I were watching The Notebook (in English no less and on TV) when she asked if I would want to go learn dancing with her and a couple Dutch friends, Merel and Sophie. Naturally I said yeah and off we went to go find her friends. We met up not far from the salsa school and waited for the class before us to finish. While we waited more and more Dutch girls arrived until I was surrounded by a completely different language that I had no hope of following. I think they assumed I spoke Dutch but was rather quiet?? One of them at least tried talking with me and I had to cut her off saying "English or Spanish because I cannot follow Dutch at all!" Finally we started class and there I was with the Dutch girls, a couple Peruvian guys, and one other American from Montana (of all places). It ended up being an amazing time, though we couldn't always speak the same language! Afterwards Merel, the two friends we met up with, and I went out for Peruvian pizza at Chez Maggie, which made your pizza as you ordered it ~ delicioso!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Hola!
Greetings from Wisconsin (haha)! I haven't left quite yet so I thought I'd try out this blog thing to keep you guys updated on my travels. =D
For those who are confused at my decision to flee the country for about 3 months here's the deal: I'm interning/volunteering in a clinic in Cusco, Peru and NOT taking any classes (except the Spanish language classes included with the program) and I'll be staying in a bed and breakfast type house run by the program where I may or may not share a room and bathroom. Even my meals are included. Everything is organized through this pretty cool organization called Maximo Nivel. Basically this is my time to take a breather from school yet do something productive with my time. I also have to study for the MCAT - medical college admissions test - while in Peru.
Now for some FAQ's:
Yes I will graduate on time.
No, this isn't through my school.
No, I'm not getting credit.
No, I don't know anyone there except Ashley who's in Lima.
No, I don't speak Spanish that well but I know some basics.
Yes, I might be slightly crazy, but it's fun.
So with less than a week til take off all I have yet to do is pack for the adventure (and mentally prep myself to try guinea pig and alpaca meat... yum?)
Now for some FAQ's:
Yes I will graduate on time.
No, this isn't through my school.
No, I'm not getting credit.
No, I don't know anyone there except Ashley who's in Lima.
No, I don't speak Spanish that well but I know some basics.
Yes, I might be slightly crazy, but it's fun.
So with less than a week til take off all I have yet to do is pack for the adventure (and mentally prep myself to try guinea pig and alpaca meat... yum?)
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