June 2, 3, & 4 2010 Arequipa
Greetings from Arequipa, a city where the garbage trucks play recordings of Bach’s flute concerto, white city (Cuidad Blanca), and city of churches and monasteries. All the churches may be necessary since you can easily be killed crossing the street by miniature taxis going way too fast and heeding neither man nor signals in their quest to arrive at their destination as rapidly as possible. Horns combine with church bells and disco music to provide a cacophony that recedes into silence as one enters our fascinating hotel or one of the many churches.
When we arrived by bus yesterday on the outskirts of the city it appeared to be just another dusty desert town, albeit with the volcanic cone, Misti (5822 meters), and Chachani Mountain (6075 meters) snow covered on the horizon. The bus depot was busy and noisy and confusing but the tourist police approached us, helped us get a taxi, told us how much we should pay and then wrote down the number of the taxi we chose along with our descriptions. Just in case we disappeared.
We were tired and felt grimy after our long bus ride from Puno in the first class section of a double decker bus. The seats were very comfortable and there was lots of leg room but the air was stale and way too warm. We did have a movie “White Fang” which was dubbed in Spanish but there was no sound for the first 30 minutes. We were quite glad, however, not to be riding up above in the second class section if only because whatever they had going up there sounded like someone screaming and shouting at them for the whole 6 hour ride. It was so loud we could hear it down below and it certainly could not have been pleasant up there. The shouting was likely one of two things – a preacher or two or the news. In Peru both seem to be characterized by shouting and gesticulation.
I really enjoyed the trip through the altiplano. We began with green hills that slowly turned to golden and then as we crested the pass between Puno and Arequipa to desert similar to that seen in AZ and the California deserts. As we climbed up higher and higher we saw huge herds of alpaca, guanaco, and vicuna grazing on the golden grass guarded by alert dogs and sometimes by a brightly clad shepherd or two. This region resembled the high plains of MT and WY. As we moved to the west side of the mountains, the brownish soil turned to sand and we began to see large mining camps with rows of dormitory like housing and columns of bright green outhouses. (I have noticed that many of the outhouses in Peru are painted green and I am not sure why). I am not sure what they were mining. However we saw many truck trailer combinations coming to and from the mining camps that had both a tanker for liquids marked “corrosives” and a dry open container. There was also a railroad that seemed to begin in the mountains near the mines and traveled west toward Arequipa. Near the top of the pass we came to the beautiful large sky blue lake Laguna Lagunillas. Vicuna, Alpaca, and sheep were grazing around the lake and along the river that flowed out of it.
The houses on the east side of the pass had been built mostly of brown clay adobe. Beginning in Puno the fences and corrals had been built of stones stacked somewhat willy nilly on one another but after the lake everything was built of stone, including the houses, until we reached the outskirts of Arequipa. Life high in the Andes is hard. The air is cold, the wind bites, puestas providing health care are few and far between and the only fuel for cooking is animal dung. There are no grocery or hardware stores just little bodegas in the mining towns. Trash accumulating along the roadside was always a signal that we were approaching a town.
Our taxi arrived at our hostal “Casa de Melgar” a rather unremarkable building in a city where most buildings are made of white Sillar, a light weight but strong volcanic rock that is quarried locally from Chichani mountain. Arequipa is in an earthquake zone and building made from this stone withstand the quakes and allow for the building of strong arches that do not collapse. Because of the quakes there are no buildings taller than 2 stories. The highest building in the city is the block long main Cathedral whose two towering spires reach perhaps 5 stories.
Casa Melgar is actually two very large private residences built in the 18th century that have been joined together by numerous courtyards. The courtyards contain flowers and trees and paths that seem to wander all over. Our room is huge with a high arched ceiling, double doors that are 12 ft high and made of wood that has weathered over the centuries. The front part of the hostal was the home of the Bishop of Arequipa in the 19th and 20th century Manuel Segundo Ballon who is remembered for scaling Mt. Misty to place a cross at the summit and for marking the beginning of the new century on January 1, 1900 by saying mass under this cross. It is also believed that the revolutionary poet, Mariano Melgar, who devoted his life to achieving Peruvian independence, was briefly a resident.
In the evening we wandered into town and visited the Church of San Francisco de Asis which is just down the street. San Francisco is perhaps my favorite church because it is the simplest with a beautiful delicately carved wood dome over the altar and the requisite gold altar piece but with less gold than either the Jesuit or the Santa Teresita church. The Spaniards truly knew how to do ostentatious.
This morning we spent exploring the huge Dominican Monastario Santa Catalina de Siena. This convent covers an entire city block and included as many as 84 apartments that were built for the nuns and their servants by their families prior to the late 1800’s when a papal decree required all women religious to live communally. The monastery is beautiful, quiet, and very peaceful. We paid for a guide who provided a wonderful introduction to the monastery and then we explored on our own. The monastery opened in 1579 and grew so large it has 8 streets or calles each named after a city in Spain. Traditionally the second daughter and son in noble Spanish families were given to the church. Many girls entered the convent of Santa Catalina when they were less than 13 years old. There is a story of one girl, aged 7, who walked from her family home to the convent arrayed in wedding attire on a sidewalk of silver that was laid down in front of her by servants as she walked. To assure that their daughters were comfortable families built entire “houses” complete with a sitting room, kitchen, sleeping room and sometimes servant’s quarters. These houses “belonged” to the families who built them and when the daughter died they were rented to the next nun and fees were collected from her family. Some “houses” were built to accommodate as many as three nuns, but only relatives were allowed to share dwellings. Each nun was allowed up to four servants, paid for by her family, who also provided furnishings, paintings, dishes, and other items necessary to keep the nun in the manner to which she was accustomed. Because Arequipa is prone to earthquakes all the nun’s beds were placed within arched alcoves to reduce the risk of the ceiling falling in on her. Servants were not so lucky; they slept on brick beds beneath the ceiling sometimes in the same room but often in another room off the kitchen. Despite these luxuries the nuns wore habits, prayed 5 times a day, and were subject to discipline from the Mother Superior. They also had limited contact with their families and the outside world. All communication took place in the Locutorio or speaking room in the presence of a “listener nun” who made sure communications were chaste and appropriate. The locutorio had a thick screen made of wide strips of metal about two inches apart. In the visitor’s room there was another similar screen and a space of a foot between the two screens assuring that the nuns and their visitors never touched. Gifts and goods were passed through a turntable where they were checked by the
“listener nun” for appropriateness. The only outsiders the nuns ever had direct contact with were the 12 or so young girls who were enrolled in the school and who boarded at the convent. However many of these children were destined to enter as nuns. (An odd and interesting fact is that today the establishments where one goes to place phone calls as well as phone booths in Peru are called locutarios)
Novices preparing to take vows as nuns led even more restricted lives. They entered the convent under a great arch that proclaimed “Silencio”. Silent they would be for the next one to four years unless given permission to speak by the mistress of novices. During the novitiate they learned how to behave, how to pray, and how to sing. They learned the scriptures by reading the paintings representing biblical stories and those who could read also read scriptures and the works of Santa Catherina. Seven novices were accepted at one time and a new class of novices could not enter until all of these 7 had taken vows and entered the convent as nuns. They did not have all the luxuries afforded fully professed nuns and lived much more simply until they passed as into the main convent as fully professed nuns. Although they theoretically had the right to decide not to enter the convent permanently choosing not to would have brought shame on their families and so was an option seldom exercised.
Beginning in the late 1800s the nuns were required to live, sleep and eat communally. The houses were abandoned and all the nuns moved into a remodeled section of the convent where they cooked in a large kitchen, ate in a large refectory, and slept in a dormitory. Only the mother superior and occasionally a “special nun”, usually one who had visions or visitations were allowed separate rooms. Servants were released and were given the option to stay or leave. Many stayed having known no other life. Dowries were outlawed and women from all stations in life were invited to join the order. With the loss of the dowries, the nuns had to make money to support the convent and did so through selling their baked goods and needlework.
In 1970, the nuns, in need of financing worked with the Peruvian Tourism Bureau and private organizations to renovate the unused parts of the convent, build a new convent on the grounds, and then open all but the new convent to the public. Thus we had the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful buildings and grounds and to enjoy a fantastic lunch consisting of a beautiful salad and the best key lime pie I’ve ever had (made by the nuns) along with a well made cappuccino in one of the courtyards under an avocado tree.
After we left this monastery we went to the monastery of St. Theresa of Avila, a convent of the discalced (barefoot) Carmelites. This convent was quite different but it too contained some private houses. The art work, created by the Carmelites was outstanding including paintings with gold leaf, figures carved of cactus wood then painted and clothed, as well as needle work, and wood work. The Carmelites are a much stricter order than the Dominicans’ and are silent for all but 2 hours per day. This convent has housed 21 nuns since its founding and there are 21 living there today ranging in age from 24 to 84. These nuns never leave the convent except for emergencies, medical care, or to visit close relatives who are dying. Much of this convent is still being renovated so only a little of it was accessible. Both the church of St. Theresa and the church of Santa Catalina are only open to the public for a 7AM mass M-Sat and 8 AM mass on Sunday. I returned to the Carmelite church the next morning to hear the nuns sing and they were quite beautiful.
As if we had not had enough church we wandered down to the plaza de Armas only to find that there was a huge celebration of the feast of Corpus Christi beginning. Sand and flower paintings with religious themes created mostly by young people were emerging all around the square. A huge scaffolding had been built in front of the Cathedral and there were large numbers of very young clerics and some elderly nuns milling about hanging drapes and making an altar ready. Soon there was Christian music blasting over the loudspeakers interspersed with exhortations to take this feast seriously and not to see it as a social event. (Everywhere in Peru the music is so loud I am sure the whole country will be deaf in a few years.) After viewing the paintings and watching the various altars being set up around the square in addition to the main one we wandered over to the Jesuit church where a mass was nearly concluded. We had been in this church the day before but all the lights were out. Tonight the reredos wall was brightly lit and showed the carved wood covered with gold leaf filling the entire end of the church from floor to ceiling in all its brilliance. The intricacy of the carving of the wall along with the life like figures of Jesus, Mary, St. Ignatius and others was remarkable. Several side altars were also intricately carved and covered in gold leaf, most prominent among them those honoring the Virgin Mary under several guises including the Virgin of Guadalupe. Most remarkable to me were the long lines of people waiting to go to confession.
When we left the Jesuit church (Iglesia de la Compania) we walked back out in the square to find the Archbishop of Arequipa (Another man surnamed Ballon like at least 3 other Archbishops of Arequipa) saying mass and thousands of people standing in the square participating and watching the proceedings on giant TV screens. All around the square men were stationed in front of the sand/flower paintings protecting them from damage. We expected that we would see these paintings all weekend but by the next morning they were completely gone and one would never know they had been there at all. The altar in front of the Cathedral was dismantled and only the scaffolding the back drapes remained. By late the next day everything was gone and a loud political demonstration complete with riot police has taken its place.
We ate a dinner down the walking street behind the Cathedral having been lured into the establishment by a very young and very cute Irishman. He was traveling in South America and needed money so he took a job drawing people into the restaurant. He seems to be very good at getting Europeans and Americans to patronize the place. He works 11 hours a day and makes the princely sum of S15/day (equivalent of a little more than $3.00/day). His lodgings likely cost at least S5/day so he is not getting wealthy at all. I had the Arequipean speciality of rocoto relleno which consisted of a baked spicy pepper filled with meat and topped with local cheese. It was very tasty, just spicy enough and a great ending to a lovely day. PS. the weather all day was fabulous, warm about 70-75F sunny, with a nice breeze, as the sun set it became cooler perhaps in the 40’s but still with clear skies. All in all a perfect day.
June 4
This was a much more laid back day than we have had in some time. We left the casa at about 10 AM and walked to the Museo de la Univesidad Catlotica de Santa Maria museum where “Juanita” the girl sacrificed to the Ampato Mountain was found in 1995 is housed. We are assigned an English speaking guide and ushered with a small group into a movie theatre where we watch a movie about the discovery of this girl and several other boys and girls on the mountains of Peru and Chile. We also learn why and how they think the ceremony was conducted. They believe the children were born of noble parents and chosen from birth to be sacrificed to the mountain gods to appease their anger and prevent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The ceremony probably began in the capital Cusco with the sacrifice of up to 100 llamas and an audience with the Inca who transferred some of his divinity to the victim. From there a party of 30-50 people marched to the mountain which is near Arequipa. Then in sandals and warm alpaca wraps the party began the ascent of the 21,700 ft mountain. How they managed to reach the top dressed and shod as they were no one really knows. They did camp close to the top because remains of the camp were found at 21,500. Then it is believed the girl was given a sedative drink containing chicha (the corn alcohol) and a sedative drug and then when she was asleep she was killed with a blow to the head. There is evidence that she froze nearly immediately after death so when the priests tried to place her in the fetal position they could only get her bent halfway. She was found several hundred feet below the summit and the site of her grave artifacts. It is believed that the eruption of a nearby volcano caused the snow around her to melt causing her to roll down the mountain about 500 ft. She was found when the team rolled a rock off the summit and it landed right next to her body. She was found completely frozen except for her face which had lost it’s covering and was exposed to the sun. In the museum they treated her with respect but I left with very mixed feelings about whether she and the other sacrificed children should have been disturbed. They were given to the mountain and I am not sure we have the right to take them away even to save them for posterity. I did ask her forgiveness for disturbing her rest because it felt like the right thing to do.
After we left the museum we went to an American style coffee shop where I had a wonderful café mocha and one of the caramel filled cookies that are endemic in Arequipa. Brenda and I discussed my misgivings but I still felt perhaps we should have left the children to the mountain.
After coffee we visited a mansion that housed the Corregidor of Arequipa and his family. The house was large with multiple courtyards and a roof patio with a spectacular view. There was a display of truly lovely watercolors of the city that were the best art I have seen displayed in the city.
Following this we went to the large public market. This is an amazing place it covers a whole city block, is roofed over and has a second floor balcony where fabrics and food vendors have their shops. On the main floor there are aisles of beautiful vegetables, hats, woolen goods, household items, and unrefrigerated meat. Even though it was just after the siesta hour, the market was bustling with people and we enjoyed looking at the products of Peru. We purchased some toasted corn nuts and homemade potato chips after pondering the purchase of some truly beautiful pecans but the price was high so we passed on them. I wish I had room for another hat because they had lovely straw hats for low prices. We left the market and went back to the hotel to rest. We both agreed that we are getting weary of being tourists and are ready to go home. Tomorrow we pack and fly to Lima and then leave for the US at around midnight. It has been a lovely bittersweet goodbye trip for me and I know I will always hold the Peruvian people in my heart especially the people of Iquitos.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Puno and Lake Titicaca - May 30-June 1
May 30- June 1: Lake Titicaca and Puno
We left Cusco this morning at 7 AM and got on a rather nice tourist bus headed for Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca. The bus was scheduled to make 3 stops along the way to allow us to see some sights and stretch our legs. When we left Cusco we continued up onto the Altiplano and stopped at Andahuyaylillas a small village in a Quecha speaking area. We stopped to look at a Jesuit church that is renowned for its gold embellishments and art work. The church is oppressively gold. The stuff is everywhere and the decorations are intricate and outlandish at the same time. At the entrance of the church are two paintings – the one on the right shows the path to heaven and the one on the left the path to hell. The left painting is designed to be frightening and it is. In front of the church there is a market selling goods to the tourists who come. Perhaps the loveliest part of the church is the beautiful garden on the side next to the restrooms.
When we leave Andahuyaylillas and proceed to Raqchi the site of a rather impressive Inca ruin. What is left of a large town are the walls of the temple of the god Viracocha, the god who created the heavens, the earth, the sun, and moon, and time. He is depicted wearing the sun as a crown, carrying thunderbolts in his hands, and with rain running from his eyes as tears. This temple was once one of the holiest sites in the Inca Empire. All that is left are some very high walls over which a roof has been placed to prevent further deterioration by the weather. The walls run many 100s of feet from north to south. They are built on carefully placed stones that are arranged in the shape of the Inca cross, shapes of the Inca trinity, the condor, puma and snake are also built into the foundation. A long walkway with short walls on either side leads up to the temple. This walkway is built so that on the solstices the sun shines directly down the street to the temple. On the way to the temple I encounter a lovely old man with his Carabao. He insists that I pay him when I take his picture from a distance but when I see him up close I am willing to give him another Sole for a close up as he has truly fabulous face. He tells me that he is 85 and a farmer. That he owns a carabao tells me he is not truly poor. Following our visit to this site we go a short ways to a restaurant where we are served a rather unremarkable buffet lunch which we were given one half hour to eat (that was probably all it deserved but I still hated being rushed).
After lunch the bus continued up the mountains until it reached La Raya at 4470 meters or 14,751 ft is the highest place I have ever been. The view is not spectacular but it is pretty with a lake below in a field of golden yellow hills. The ever present vendors are arrayed along the parking area selling the usual alpaca wool items and other Andean crafts. We proceed from La Raya to Pucara. This is a fairly large town that has a museum with some stone large Inca artifacts. I am most interested in the two elderly beggar women who are sitting on the side walk near the museum. The first looks to be well over eighty and speaks only Quecha so I can’t ask her any questions. She was weeping and I exchanged a photo for a sole. The second woman speaks Spanish and she is in her eighties. She has no son to take care of her so she has no source of income. I took her picture and perhaps because I understood her situation better I gave her more soles. There are no social welfare programs in Peru and the elderly who do not have families to take care of them may have little or nothing to eat and may be homeless.
Once we leave Pucara we head towards the dusty busy city of Juliaca. There is a large private university on the main road, because it is Sunday the gates are closed and the campus deserted. The buildings are new and modern in stark contrast with the rest of Juliaca which is brown and dusty and full of buildings in various states of construction. There are mototaxis everywhere. These look like Iquitos motor cars but because Juliaca is cold in winter and at night since it is in the high desert, both the driver and the passenger compartments are enclosed with plastic. They are just as noisy as the ones in Iquitos and cut in and out of traffic with the same aplomb. Soon after we leave Juliaca we are in the outskirts of Puno and we see Lake Titicaca but not until the next morning when we are cruising on the lake do we have any real conception of its size. A taxi from our hotel Tambo Real meets us at the bus station and takes us to the hotel. The hotel is old but well maintained and I think we are its only residents tonight. Soon after we arrive a woman from the travel agency Elena works with comes to tell us about the schedule for tomorrow when we will be going to the islands in Lake Titicaca where we will spend the night with a host family. We wander downtown to the central plaza in Puno and note that there are two large cathedrals. We ate dinner downtown and then looked for some sugar, rice, and oil that had been suggested as gifts for our host family on the island of Amandanti. After a really good night’s sleep in our quiet hotel we were picked up by a mini bus which proceeds to a number of other hotels picking up an Australian family, a couple from Lima, a Danish girl who is blind, and 5 gorgeous Israeli girls on holiday between finishing the army and starting university. We were then conducted to a nice 20 person boat for our trip onto Lake Titicaca. The boat proceeded out of the harbor at Puno and it soon became clear that we would be traveling for more than an hour before we left the bay of Puno and entered the Lake proper. The lake is enormous -178km long and 69 km across at its narrowest point. I always thought the lake was mostly in Boliva but more than two-thirds of the lake is in Peru.
Soon after we departed the dock we are navigating a channel through the tortolla reeds that are used the build the floating islands, the boats, and the houses, and that provide a source of food and medicine for the residents of the floating islands. We went to Uros, a collection of floating tortolla islands in the lake quite near to Puno. The islanders used to live along the shores of the lake but about 20 years ago they moved onto the lake to avoid persecution and mistreatment. The islands are built by layering tortolla reeds in alternating directions making up to 20 layers. This process takes about 3 months to make an island that can support a family. Once the floating island is created houses can be built on it by adding some additional layers for moisture insulation, soil can be laid over it to create a garden, and animals such as pigs, ducks, and geese raised on it. The boats are made with tortolla reeds and 3 liter empty plastic water and pop bottles. It takes about 2000 bottles for a boat that will hold 20 people. Boat building takes 6 men 15 days and the boats have to be replaced every year.
Uros is a collection of these floating islands most in visual contact with one another. Every island has an observation tower that prior to the advent of cell phones served as a way of communicating between the islands. Only Uros people can live on the islands and tourists are taken to various islands in rotation so that all islands get visitors and the income from the fees and from tourist goods. There is no electrical service on the islands but every one of them had solar panels that powered not only the lights but also TVs, stereos, small refrigerators, and computers. Although they have modern conveniences, the Uros people live traditional life styles. The status of a woman is evident in the pom poms she ties to her braids. Young unmarried women have large and very colorful pom poms, married women have smaller and less brightly colored pom poms and widows or grandmothers wear dull colored pom poms.
Women also wear brightly colored skirts that identify their village. Some of the colors are neon bright and I wondered where they got the dye or the fabric. The men dress in trousers and homespun shirts the children dress as their parents do. Many of the islands raise trout for food and for sale the men also catch ducks, coots, and blue heron for food which is served fresh or dried. Quinoa, the staple grain is grown on the mainland or on the natural islands. We went for a ride in one of the tortolla canoes which skims above the water. I tried to paddle it but it is really hard work and with the lake at 12,500 ft I soon ran out of breath and happily gave the paddle back to the islander. After a short visit to Uros we were off to Amantandi island where we will have lunch served by our host mothers and see our accommodations for the night. While the Uros islands are in Puno bay, Amatandi is in the lake proper so we motor for about another hour before we arrive.
Amantadi Island is a quiet beautiful place. There are no cars or motorcycles. There are a few small bodegas but no real stores. There is an elementary school and a community center. There are 5 villages on one side of the island and 3 on the other. The women who meet us are clad in traditional skirts and chupas (a long shawl that is embroidered by the husband with beautiful roses ). The color of skirt worn by the women identifies the village. Our host mother, Naomi, wears a black skirt as do many other women at the wharf but we also see women in red and green. We were conducted up a hill along a dirt path to our “home” for the night. The accommodations are surprisingly comfortable with two double beds and one single, a chair, and an electric overhead light. Downstairs there was a modern tiled bathroom with shower. However I don’t think anyone will be showering as the water is cold and the ambient temperature on this island at night and in the early morning is somewhere around 40 F. We were given one room and a young couple on their honeymoon were accommodated in another nearby room but they have a different host mother. The host mothers are related but we are fed in different kitchens. For lunch we all have quinoa soup (very good), potatoes, cucumbers, and cheese toast. After lunch we can walk around a bit and then we are to meet at 3:30 to walk up to the top of either Pachymama (Earth mother) or Pachytata (Earth father), two very imposing looking mountains. I barely make it to the saddle where one has a view of the lake on the other side of the island but then my Israeli friends convinced me that it was not very much further to the top and that I could make it. I was so out of breathe from the altitude and the steepness of the path I couldn’t imagine how I would get to the top but being stubborn old lady I just pushed on, stopping every once in a while to breathe with pursed lips trying to suck every bit of oxygen out of the thin air. Just as the sun was nearly set I reached the top and could see the lake on both sides of the island in the light of the setting sun. I was able to walk around the remains of the temple and hear how the people of the island climb to the temple in mid January each year just as the plants are beginning to grow in the fields and ask the blessings of Pachytata on the crops and people. Then I was urged to hurry down before it got dark because indeed it becomes nearly pitch black on the island at night. I hurried down and reached the plaza before my host family who intercepted me on the way down and led me back up! Good lord that bit of a walk nearly killed me but while I waited for Brenda to arrive from Pachymama I got a Coke Zero at the store and found a lovely older woman to photograph. At last Brenda arrived and we were led down to our host’s house grateful for our flashlights. After a few minutes to wash up we were called to dinner of a potato, rice and tomato stew. We were invited to the go to the “disco” and dance with the islanders but by then all I could think about was bed. We’d had little sleep the night before we came to Puno and not much the night before. Both of us were tired and I was asleep before 830PM which is pretty unbelievable since I hardly ever go to sleep before 1100PM.
We slept well although our room was quite cold. We had plenty of blankets and slept in our long underwear and socks so we stayed warm. We were up early and met our host families’ parents – Rufino age 63 and his wife age 61 whose Quecha name I could neither remember nor pronounce. Rufino was out chopping wood before six and there was a cozy fire in the room the family uses for a sitting-cooking room. Naomi’s sister was cooking when we were called to a wonderful pancake breakfast and Nadine, her brother’s 1 year old was entertaining us and having her picture taken – she was really cute and very photogenic. After breakfast we thanked our hosts, packed our backpacks, and were led back to the wharf to board our boat for the trip to Taquile Island.
After about an hour’s ride we arrived at Taquile where we were confronted with another big hill to climb but this one was not as difficult as Pachytata and I was less tired so I only had to stop a few times to catch my breath. Once again, I had my wonderful Israeli women to encourage me on and it was fun to talk to them as we made our way to the town plaza at the top of the hill. I was grateful that we could walk up the path and not be required to climb the 532 steps that we would be asked to descend when we left. The town plaza was quite lovely and I had my photo taken with my Israeli supporters , I bought a gift for my husband and yes climbed to the top of the building to see the observation point. Then we climbed some more to the restaurant where we had a lovely lunch of quinoa soup, trout, and potatoes. Then we walked down all 532 steps to the boat for the three hour trip back to Puno.
During the ride back I had a chance to talk to several of the other passengers including Karen, the Danish girl who is blind. She had been in Bolivia teaching Braille for the past 4 months. She often travels alone and always finds people to help when she needs it, which is not often. I watched her walk across the top deck of the boat, step up onto the roof and unerringly walk to the edge where the ladder was, step on the ladder and go down without a misstep. Utterly amazing! I also talked a bit to the Chinese couple who were a brother and sister – he lived in Taiwan and designed cell phone programs and she lived in Manhattan and was web designer they were both on their first trip to South America. I had spent a little time the day before with an older couple – meaning nearly as old as me – from Lima. He was a retired professor of animal science and she worked for the department of Agriculture. He was surprised I was still working since he was required to retire when he was 60. We had a great time trying to communicate with my limited Spanish and his limited English – nevertheless we talked for more than an hour and mostly in Spanish. (I love it when I know I am getting more words!).
After a lovely boat ride over the beautiful blue lake we arrived in Puno about 4:00 PM and were taken back to our hotel in the van. We freshened up, organized our belongings for our trip to Arequipa the next morning and went down to the Plaza. We found a place to eat, did a little shopping and returned to our early hotel since we had a bus trip early in the AM. I am so glad we did this little side trip it was tough but delightful.
We left Cusco this morning at 7 AM and got on a rather nice tourist bus headed for Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca. The bus was scheduled to make 3 stops along the way to allow us to see some sights and stretch our legs. When we left Cusco we continued up onto the Altiplano and stopped at Andahuyaylillas a small village in a Quecha speaking area. We stopped to look at a Jesuit church that is renowned for its gold embellishments and art work. The church is oppressively gold. The stuff is everywhere and the decorations are intricate and outlandish at the same time. At the entrance of the church are two paintings – the one on the right shows the path to heaven and the one on the left the path to hell. The left painting is designed to be frightening and it is. In front of the church there is a market selling goods to the tourists who come. Perhaps the loveliest part of the church is the beautiful garden on the side next to the restrooms.
When we leave Andahuyaylillas and proceed to Raqchi the site of a rather impressive Inca ruin. What is left of a large town are the walls of the temple of the god Viracocha, the god who created the heavens, the earth, the sun, and moon, and time. He is depicted wearing the sun as a crown, carrying thunderbolts in his hands, and with rain running from his eyes as tears. This temple was once one of the holiest sites in the Inca Empire. All that is left are some very high walls over which a roof has been placed to prevent further deterioration by the weather. The walls run many 100s of feet from north to south. They are built on carefully placed stones that are arranged in the shape of the Inca cross, shapes of the Inca trinity, the condor, puma and snake are also built into the foundation. A long walkway with short walls on either side leads up to the temple. This walkway is built so that on the solstices the sun shines directly down the street to the temple. On the way to the temple I encounter a lovely old man with his Carabao. He insists that I pay him when I take his picture from a distance but when I see him up close I am willing to give him another Sole for a close up as he has truly fabulous face. He tells me that he is 85 and a farmer. That he owns a carabao tells me he is not truly poor. Following our visit to this site we go a short ways to a restaurant where we are served a rather unremarkable buffet lunch which we were given one half hour to eat (that was probably all it deserved but I still hated being rushed).
After lunch the bus continued up the mountains until it reached La Raya at 4470 meters or 14,751 ft is the highest place I have ever been. The view is not spectacular but it is pretty with a lake below in a field of golden yellow hills. The ever present vendors are arrayed along the parking area selling the usual alpaca wool items and other Andean crafts. We proceed from La Raya to Pucara. This is a fairly large town that has a museum with some stone large Inca artifacts. I am most interested in the two elderly beggar women who are sitting on the side walk near the museum. The first looks to be well over eighty and speaks only Quecha so I can’t ask her any questions. She was weeping and I exchanged a photo for a sole. The second woman speaks Spanish and she is in her eighties. She has no son to take care of her so she has no source of income. I took her picture and perhaps because I understood her situation better I gave her more soles. There are no social welfare programs in Peru and the elderly who do not have families to take care of them may have little or nothing to eat and may be homeless.
Once we leave Pucara we head towards the dusty busy city of Juliaca. There is a large private university on the main road, because it is Sunday the gates are closed and the campus deserted. The buildings are new and modern in stark contrast with the rest of Juliaca which is brown and dusty and full of buildings in various states of construction. There are mototaxis everywhere. These look like Iquitos motor cars but because Juliaca is cold in winter and at night since it is in the high desert, both the driver and the passenger compartments are enclosed with plastic. They are just as noisy as the ones in Iquitos and cut in and out of traffic with the same aplomb. Soon after we leave Juliaca we are in the outskirts of Puno and we see Lake Titicaca but not until the next morning when we are cruising on the lake do we have any real conception of its size. A taxi from our hotel Tambo Real meets us at the bus station and takes us to the hotel. The hotel is old but well maintained and I think we are its only residents tonight. Soon after we arrive a woman from the travel agency Elena works with comes to tell us about the schedule for tomorrow when we will be going to the islands in Lake Titicaca where we will spend the night with a host family. We wander downtown to the central plaza in Puno and note that there are two large cathedrals. We ate dinner downtown and then looked for some sugar, rice, and oil that had been suggested as gifts for our host family on the island of Amandanti. After a really good night’s sleep in our quiet hotel we were picked up by a mini bus which proceeds to a number of other hotels picking up an Australian family, a couple from Lima, a Danish girl who is blind, and 5 gorgeous Israeli girls on holiday between finishing the army and starting university. We were then conducted to a nice 20 person boat for our trip onto Lake Titicaca. The boat proceeded out of the harbor at Puno and it soon became clear that we would be traveling for more than an hour before we left the bay of Puno and entered the Lake proper. The lake is enormous -178km long and 69 km across at its narrowest point. I always thought the lake was mostly in Boliva but more than two-thirds of the lake is in Peru.
Soon after we departed the dock we are navigating a channel through the tortolla reeds that are used the build the floating islands, the boats, and the houses, and that provide a source of food and medicine for the residents of the floating islands. We went to Uros, a collection of floating tortolla islands in the lake quite near to Puno. The islanders used to live along the shores of the lake but about 20 years ago they moved onto the lake to avoid persecution and mistreatment. The islands are built by layering tortolla reeds in alternating directions making up to 20 layers. This process takes about 3 months to make an island that can support a family. Once the floating island is created houses can be built on it by adding some additional layers for moisture insulation, soil can be laid over it to create a garden, and animals such as pigs, ducks, and geese raised on it. The boats are made with tortolla reeds and 3 liter empty plastic water and pop bottles. It takes about 2000 bottles for a boat that will hold 20 people. Boat building takes 6 men 15 days and the boats have to be replaced every year.
Uros is a collection of these floating islands most in visual contact with one another. Every island has an observation tower that prior to the advent of cell phones served as a way of communicating between the islands. Only Uros people can live on the islands and tourists are taken to various islands in rotation so that all islands get visitors and the income from the fees and from tourist goods. There is no electrical service on the islands but every one of them had solar panels that powered not only the lights but also TVs, stereos, small refrigerators, and computers. Although they have modern conveniences, the Uros people live traditional life styles. The status of a woman is evident in the pom poms she ties to her braids. Young unmarried women have large and very colorful pom poms, married women have smaller and less brightly colored pom poms and widows or grandmothers wear dull colored pom poms.
Women also wear brightly colored skirts that identify their village. Some of the colors are neon bright and I wondered where they got the dye or the fabric. The men dress in trousers and homespun shirts the children dress as their parents do. Many of the islands raise trout for food and for sale the men also catch ducks, coots, and blue heron for food which is served fresh or dried. Quinoa, the staple grain is grown on the mainland or on the natural islands. We went for a ride in one of the tortolla canoes which skims above the water. I tried to paddle it but it is really hard work and with the lake at 12,500 ft I soon ran out of breath and happily gave the paddle back to the islander. After a short visit to Uros we were off to Amantandi island where we will have lunch served by our host mothers and see our accommodations for the night. While the Uros islands are in Puno bay, Amatandi is in the lake proper so we motor for about another hour before we arrive.
Amantadi Island is a quiet beautiful place. There are no cars or motorcycles. There are a few small bodegas but no real stores. There is an elementary school and a community center. There are 5 villages on one side of the island and 3 on the other. The women who meet us are clad in traditional skirts and chupas (a long shawl that is embroidered by the husband with beautiful roses ). The color of skirt worn by the women identifies the village. Our host mother, Naomi, wears a black skirt as do many other women at the wharf but we also see women in red and green. We were conducted up a hill along a dirt path to our “home” for the night. The accommodations are surprisingly comfortable with two double beds and one single, a chair, and an electric overhead light. Downstairs there was a modern tiled bathroom with shower. However I don’t think anyone will be showering as the water is cold and the ambient temperature on this island at night and in the early morning is somewhere around 40 F. We were given one room and a young couple on their honeymoon were accommodated in another nearby room but they have a different host mother. The host mothers are related but we are fed in different kitchens. For lunch we all have quinoa soup (very good), potatoes, cucumbers, and cheese toast. After lunch we can walk around a bit and then we are to meet at 3:30 to walk up to the top of either Pachymama (Earth mother) or Pachytata (Earth father), two very imposing looking mountains. I barely make it to the saddle where one has a view of the lake on the other side of the island but then my Israeli friends convinced me that it was not very much further to the top and that I could make it. I was so out of breathe from the altitude and the steepness of the path I couldn’t imagine how I would get to the top but being stubborn old lady I just pushed on, stopping every once in a while to breathe with pursed lips trying to suck every bit of oxygen out of the thin air. Just as the sun was nearly set I reached the top and could see the lake on both sides of the island in the light of the setting sun. I was able to walk around the remains of the temple and hear how the people of the island climb to the temple in mid January each year just as the plants are beginning to grow in the fields and ask the blessings of Pachytata on the crops and people. Then I was urged to hurry down before it got dark because indeed it becomes nearly pitch black on the island at night. I hurried down and reached the plaza before my host family who intercepted me on the way down and led me back up! Good lord that bit of a walk nearly killed me but while I waited for Brenda to arrive from Pachymama I got a Coke Zero at the store and found a lovely older woman to photograph. At last Brenda arrived and we were led down to our host’s house grateful for our flashlights. After a few minutes to wash up we were called to dinner of a potato, rice and tomato stew. We were invited to the go to the “disco” and dance with the islanders but by then all I could think about was bed. We’d had little sleep the night before we came to Puno and not much the night before. Both of us were tired and I was asleep before 830PM which is pretty unbelievable since I hardly ever go to sleep before 1100PM.
We slept well although our room was quite cold. We had plenty of blankets and slept in our long underwear and socks so we stayed warm. We were up early and met our host families’ parents – Rufino age 63 and his wife age 61 whose Quecha name I could neither remember nor pronounce. Rufino was out chopping wood before six and there was a cozy fire in the room the family uses for a sitting-cooking room. Naomi’s sister was cooking when we were called to a wonderful pancake breakfast and Nadine, her brother’s 1 year old was entertaining us and having her picture taken – she was really cute and very photogenic. After breakfast we thanked our hosts, packed our backpacks, and were led back to the wharf to board our boat for the trip to Taquile Island.
After about an hour’s ride we arrived at Taquile where we were confronted with another big hill to climb but this one was not as difficult as Pachytata and I was less tired so I only had to stop a few times to catch my breath. Once again, I had my wonderful Israeli women to encourage me on and it was fun to talk to them as we made our way to the town plaza at the top of the hill. I was grateful that we could walk up the path and not be required to climb the 532 steps that we would be asked to descend when we left. The town plaza was quite lovely and I had my photo taken with my Israeli supporters , I bought a gift for my husband and yes climbed to the top of the building to see the observation point. Then we climbed some more to the restaurant where we had a lovely lunch of quinoa soup, trout, and potatoes. Then we walked down all 532 steps to the boat for the three hour trip back to Puno.
During the ride back I had a chance to talk to several of the other passengers including Karen, the Danish girl who is blind. She had been in Bolivia teaching Braille for the past 4 months. She often travels alone and always finds people to help when she needs it, which is not often. I watched her walk across the top deck of the boat, step up onto the roof and unerringly walk to the edge where the ladder was, step on the ladder and go down without a misstep. Utterly amazing! I also talked a bit to the Chinese couple who were a brother and sister – he lived in Taiwan and designed cell phone programs and she lived in Manhattan and was web designer they were both on their first trip to South America. I had spent a little time the day before with an older couple – meaning nearly as old as me – from Lima. He was a retired professor of animal science and she worked for the department of Agriculture. He was surprised I was still working since he was required to retire when he was 60. We had a great time trying to communicate with my limited Spanish and his limited English – nevertheless we talked for more than an hour and mostly in Spanish. (I love it when I know I am getting more words!).
After a lovely boat ride over the beautiful blue lake we arrived in Puno about 4:00 PM and were taken back to our hotel in the van. We freshened up, organized our belongings for our trip to Arequipa the next morning and went down to the Plaza. We found a place to eat, did a little shopping and returned to our early hotel since we had a bus trip early in the AM. I am so glad we did this little side trip it was tough but delightful.
May 22-24 The jungle adventure
May 20-22 The Jungle Adventure
The jungle trip begins the evening before we leave when we all try to find a pair of boots that fits. Those with smaller feet don’t have too much trouble but our beautiful 6’2” Allison never found a pair to really fit her. We may or may not need them depending on how high the water is in the jungle villages, but like good scouts we are prepared. Early in the morning we helped to pack our backpacks, the camping tents, food, and utensils into the bus and then into People of Peru’s big boat. Loading the boat is a challenge because it is docked at the bottom of a steep and uneven set of wooden stairs. Most items were loaded by passing them hand to hand from the bus down to the boat. The loading process went very quickly although I really felt very sorry for the translators who had to carry the heavy ice chests down after hoisting them on their heads. These guys are really strong! Once we loaded the boat, we donned our life vests for the trip out of Iquitos harbor. Once we are out of the harbor we can take them off. The view of Iquitos from the boat really helped everyone to see the commerce that comes into the port and the outstanding buildings of the city. After we have gone a little way upriver on the Nanay we came to the place where the Amazon begins at the confluence of the Nanay, the Negra and the Amazon. The Amazon is muddy brown, the Nanay is lighter in color than the Amazon, the negra as its name implies is black. As we progressed down the river we saw floating houses, rafts of logs being floated down from the Amazon forest, and local taxi and bus boats who ply the river from Iquitos to the many small communities up and down the river. Our first stop is the Bora tribe. The Bora people originally came from Columbia. I have heard two stories about how they came to live in Peru. The first story I heard was that they were essentially kidnapped by the rubber farmers in the early 19th century and brought to Peru as slave labor in the rubber plantations. The story the chief told us today was that they were a tribe that did not pierce their ears and lips and so they were persecuted, pursued, and eaten by those tribes who did, consequently they fled to Peru as refugees. I don’t doubt his story and wonder if they were then enslaved by the rubber growers as they were vulnerable refugees. The Bora have created a facsimile of their original village where they sell traditional crafts designed to appeal to tourists and do their traditional dances wearing their indigenous clothing made of bark cloth (tapa) and painted with traditional designs. One thing I noticed this year at the Bora village was they had become much more aggressive in selling their wares. I actually got cheated when I bought a necklace and then wanted to trade it for another I liked. So I gave it back but then I had to pay to get the one I wanted and I never got the first one back. I know they understood me and it makes me feel sad because they have always been so gracious in the past.
When we left the Bora we traveled on a little way to the “petting zoo”. There we found many fewer animals than in the past however conditions for the animals were much improved. There were only the big Anacondas, the Boa, one monkey, two sloths, and a large prehistoric looking turtle. The Anaconda which weighs more than 100 pounds got very cranky after several students had their picture taken with it around their necks and then one student dropped him. Cranky snakes that big can be dangerous so that was the last of the pictures with him. As we moved up river we saw that the water was lower than it had been the previous two years but still quite high. The damage done to steps carved out of the banks of the river near several villages was quite evident and men could be seen carving new steps in several places.
The ride up river is always peaceful and pleasant. Most of the student slept for a good part of the journey either down below or in the 4 hammocks on the top deck. I just enjoyed the ride and scenery and getting to know some of the students. We stopped in Tamishiyacu a large village about 2/3 of the way up river. Tamishiyacu is a major stopping place for travelers on the river needing food and fluids and is the shopping hub for people unable to make the long trip to Iquitos. The village sits high on the banks of the river and has a large central plaza stretching two blocks from the river into the village. The plaza is paved and also has plantings. This year there had been some new civic construction consisting of a lovely cement walkway from about ½ way up the river bank and continuing on into the plaza. Along the pathway there were a number of vendors selling water and prepared foods. The group didn’t stop at any of these for we were intent on getting to the bakery at the end of the plaza where we knew we would find hot sweet bread fresh from the oven. The big loaves have a slit made in the middle before rising and baking that spreads to look like two wide lips. One of our translators told me that the slang name for this loaf was “pussy bread”. I bought 4 single rolls and scarfed two down almost immediately.
After our visit to Tamishiyacu it was just a short hour and a half to the jungle camp but we arrived just as night was falling so we had to hurry to help the translators and other workers set up the tents and get them closed up before the mosquitoes swarmed. The temperature and humidity were very high – much higher than they have been in previous years so it was stifling sweaty work. Once the tents were up and our little bit of gear moved in we slathered ourselves with repellant (which seemed to do little good against the swarms of mosquitoes) and prepared for dinner of chicken and rice. After dinner the translators played guitar, found a way to hook up a radio to some big batteries and proceeded to hold a dance party until 11 PM when I asked them to be quiet. At about 8 PM I escaped to my tent mainly because I was too darn hot in all the clothes I had to wear to protect myself from the mosquitoes and I could lay in my bed practically nude and cool off. Despite all precautions we all got pretty badly bitten. Most of the women got their buttocks bitten as they went to the bathroom – nasty buggers!
After a hot night in the tent we got up early and prepared to go up river to do a clinic. We were told we were going to one village but then told no we actually were going to Samaria. So we loaded up the boat with medical supplies and all of us and headed upriver a little further until we came to a high bank. This is where my travel coffee cup decided to take a swim in the Amazon. I waved bye, bye but lo and behold about an hour later someone gave it back to me sans lid. One of the village boys had retrieved it and brought it back. This was one of the many things I lost on this trip that came back to me).
We climbed up the bank and found a concrete walkway leading into the village, after a ten minutewalk we arrived at the central square where the school we would be using was located. It was very very hot and the there was little ventilation in the one-room school house where we set up the clinic. This was hands down the most miserable clinic we have ever done – everyone was itchy from multiple mosquito bites, it was hot as Hades with no breeze so the sweat was pouring off us and to add to the misery there were black biting flies that took big chunks of flesh along with them. The students complained very little they just did what needed to be done. I am so proud of them.
There was a relatively long line of people waiting to see us. Most looked quite healthy and unlike the clinics we did in the city, there were a significant number of older people. From past clinics I know that the jungle people are much healthier overall than the city people. We saw the usual colds, flu, earaches, requests for parasite medicines and pregnancy related issues. The two people who really stood out for me were both elderly. One was a woman of about 70 who had diabetes. Her blood sugar was quite high and she was on an inadequate dose or oral meds and was in all probability not taking them regularly anyway. She certainly needed a dose adjustment but she couldn’t get them at the clinic in Tamishiyacu because they were out as usual. We couldn’t give her any because we couldn’t monitor her and also Paul’s organization would not be able to do anything else if they began to provide for people with chronic disease. The other one was a man (see photo) 89 years old. He had spent most of his life in the altiplano driving a truck between Aeriquipa and Lima. He had 3 wives (some of them simultaneously I think) and “at least 40 other women”. He had 27 children in various parts of Peru and was currently living with another woman who appeared to be about 60 (see photo). He said he still had sex and that he didn’t even need the help of jungle Viagra. He said he still worked every day and he appeared very strong and younger than his age. He also appeared to be quite well-to-do. His house was fairly large with a large garden and many pigs. He wanted help with headaches, vision problems and some other age related problems. He had cataracts and rather large Ptyergiums neither of which can fixed in Iquitos, and he of course did not drink adequate fluids. His blood pressure was low as was his pulse attesting to his good conditioning. We finished the clinic around 1:30 and packed our sweaty, itchy selves and our equipment back to the boat and went back to camp for lunch and to see the members of the jungle caretaker’s family most of whom were really quite well. Their two year old was the one Sue had drained a the scalp boil on the previous Sunday so we were happy to see that it was healing well and that she had no further problems. Neither the students or faculty were in any mood to provide care but we buckled down and did it. Our reward was a swim in the Amazon’
The boat captain took us to new spot across the river from the tributary the camp is on. We went a short ways up another tributary to a black sand beach area where the water was quite shallow. This allowed even our non-swimmers a chance to cool off. Even though it was shallow the current was quite strong so we were content to float the length of the boat and walk back to the front since they had warned us there was a big drop off. The swim was an absolute treat and we returned to camp just as night was falling for a supper of yes you guessed it chicken and rice. After a short sing along small groups were invited to go alligator hunting. However the first group got a fishing net tangled in the motor and had to paddle back for a machete to cut it off the propeller so they had an adventure in the dark and didn’t get any alligators. The second group which I was in had no mishaps and found a foot long baby and a smaller one. However by then everyone was so tired we were falling asleep on the bare boards at the bottom of the boat. When we got back we all just went to bed and looked forward to morning when at least for a short time we would be cool. The next morning we got up early packed our belongings, took down the tents and got ready to leave. Nearly everyone but me went on the jungle walk but didn’t see much that was new to me. I stayed behind and listened to Carlos play guitar and sing and I also talked with the cooks. When everyone returned we passed everything hand to hand and got the boat packed and we were ready for the return trip down to Iquitos. We had been promised a treat so the boat went down a smaller channel off the main river until we came to a village where we were told there was a lake. After a short walk through town we came to a beautiful little spring fed lake with clear clean cool water. Nearly everyone played in the water or swam for over an hour. What a treat!!. On our way out we stopped and bought handcrafts from the village women which because we were in such an out of the way place were much cheaper than on the main river. After a leisurely sail down the Amazon which most people slept through we were back at the port of Iquitos where we once again carried all our equipment and personal stuff hand over hand up the steep stairs. Everyone was delighted to get “home” and take a shower and then we were off to have a good pizza dinner downtown. At the pizza shop we met a small group of people who were part of a singles group at a big church in North Carolina that were there to do dental wrok and to work with the kids on religious studies. They were also helping Paul feed some street kids and more than half the students joined them after dinner to go feed the street kids. We were just happy to go home to bed in sleep in a cooler less buggy environment.
The jungle trip begins the evening before we leave when we all try to find a pair of boots that fits. Those with smaller feet don’t have too much trouble but our beautiful 6’2” Allison never found a pair to really fit her. We may or may not need them depending on how high the water is in the jungle villages, but like good scouts we are prepared. Early in the morning we helped to pack our backpacks, the camping tents, food, and utensils into the bus and then into People of Peru’s big boat. Loading the boat is a challenge because it is docked at the bottom of a steep and uneven set of wooden stairs. Most items were loaded by passing them hand to hand from the bus down to the boat. The loading process went very quickly although I really felt very sorry for the translators who had to carry the heavy ice chests down after hoisting them on their heads. These guys are really strong! Once we loaded the boat, we donned our life vests for the trip out of Iquitos harbor. Once we are out of the harbor we can take them off. The view of Iquitos from the boat really helped everyone to see the commerce that comes into the port and the outstanding buildings of the city. After we have gone a little way upriver on the Nanay we came to the place where the Amazon begins at the confluence of the Nanay, the Negra and the Amazon. The Amazon is muddy brown, the Nanay is lighter in color than the Amazon, the negra as its name implies is black. As we progressed down the river we saw floating houses, rafts of logs being floated down from the Amazon forest, and local taxi and bus boats who ply the river from Iquitos to the many small communities up and down the river. Our first stop is the Bora tribe. The Bora people originally came from Columbia. I have heard two stories about how they came to live in Peru. The first story I heard was that they were essentially kidnapped by the rubber farmers in the early 19th century and brought to Peru as slave labor in the rubber plantations. The story the chief told us today was that they were a tribe that did not pierce their ears and lips and so they were persecuted, pursued, and eaten by those tribes who did, consequently they fled to Peru as refugees. I don’t doubt his story and wonder if they were then enslaved by the rubber growers as they were vulnerable refugees. The Bora have created a facsimile of their original village where they sell traditional crafts designed to appeal to tourists and do their traditional dances wearing their indigenous clothing made of bark cloth (tapa) and painted with traditional designs. One thing I noticed this year at the Bora village was they had become much more aggressive in selling their wares. I actually got cheated when I bought a necklace and then wanted to trade it for another I liked. So I gave it back but then I had to pay to get the one I wanted and I never got the first one back. I know they understood me and it makes me feel sad because they have always been so gracious in the past.
When we left the Bora we traveled on a little way to the “petting zoo”. There we found many fewer animals than in the past however conditions for the animals were much improved. There were only the big Anacondas, the Boa, one monkey, two sloths, and a large prehistoric looking turtle. The Anaconda which weighs more than 100 pounds got very cranky after several students had their picture taken with it around their necks and then one student dropped him. Cranky snakes that big can be dangerous so that was the last of the pictures with him. As we moved up river we saw that the water was lower than it had been the previous two years but still quite high. The damage done to steps carved out of the banks of the river near several villages was quite evident and men could be seen carving new steps in several places.
The ride up river is always peaceful and pleasant. Most of the student slept for a good part of the journey either down below or in the 4 hammocks on the top deck. I just enjoyed the ride and scenery and getting to know some of the students. We stopped in Tamishiyacu a large village about 2/3 of the way up river. Tamishiyacu is a major stopping place for travelers on the river needing food and fluids and is the shopping hub for people unable to make the long trip to Iquitos. The village sits high on the banks of the river and has a large central plaza stretching two blocks from the river into the village. The plaza is paved and also has plantings. This year there had been some new civic construction consisting of a lovely cement walkway from about ½ way up the river bank and continuing on into the plaza. Along the pathway there were a number of vendors selling water and prepared foods. The group didn’t stop at any of these for we were intent on getting to the bakery at the end of the plaza where we knew we would find hot sweet bread fresh from the oven. The big loaves have a slit made in the middle before rising and baking that spreads to look like two wide lips. One of our translators told me that the slang name for this loaf was “pussy bread”. I bought 4 single rolls and scarfed two down almost immediately.
After our visit to Tamishiyacu it was just a short hour and a half to the jungle camp but we arrived just as night was falling so we had to hurry to help the translators and other workers set up the tents and get them closed up before the mosquitoes swarmed. The temperature and humidity were very high – much higher than they have been in previous years so it was stifling sweaty work. Once the tents were up and our little bit of gear moved in we slathered ourselves with repellant (which seemed to do little good against the swarms of mosquitoes) and prepared for dinner of chicken and rice. After dinner the translators played guitar, found a way to hook up a radio to some big batteries and proceeded to hold a dance party until 11 PM when I asked them to be quiet. At about 8 PM I escaped to my tent mainly because I was too darn hot in all the clothes I had to wear to protect myself from the mosquitoes and I could lay in my bed practically nude and cool off. Despite all precautions we all got pretty badly bitten. Most of the women got their buttocks bitten as they went to the bathroom – nasty buggers!
After a hot night in the tent we got up early and prepared to go up river to do a clinic. We were told we were going to one village but then told no we actually were going to Samaria. So we loaded up the boat with medical supplies and all of us and headed upriver a little further until we came to a high bank. This is where my travel coffee cup decided to take a swim in the Amazon. I waved bye, bye but lo and behold about an hour later someone gave it back to me sans lid. One of the village boys had retrieved it and brought it back. This was one of the many things I lost on this trip that came back to me).
We climbed up the bank and found a concrete walkway leading into the village, after a ten minutewalk we arrived at the central square where the school we would be using was located. It was very very hot and the there was little ventilation in the one-room school house where we set up the clinic. This was hands down the most miserable clinic we have ever done – everyone was itchy from multiple mosquito bites, it was hot as Hades with no breeze so the sweat was pouring off us and to add to the misery there were black biting flies that took big chunks of flesh along with them. The students complained very little they just did what needed to be done. I am so proud of them.
There was a relatively long line of people waiting to see us. Most looked quite healthy and unlike the clinics we did in the city, there were a significant number of older people. From past clinics I know that the jungle people are much healthier overall than the city people. We saw the usual colds, flu, earaches, requests for parasite medicines and pregnancy related issues. The two people who really stood out for me were both elderly. One was a woman of about 70 who had diabetes. Her blood sugar was quite high and she was on an inadequate dose or oral meds and was in all probability not taking them regularly anyway. She certainly needed a dose adjustment but she couldn’t get them at the clinic in Tamishiyacu because they were out as usual. We couldn’t give her any because we couldn’t monitor her and also Paul’s organization would not be able to do anything else if they began to provide for people with chronic disease. The other one was a man (see photo) 89 years old. He had spent most of his life in the altiplano driving a truck between Aeriquipa and Lima. He had 3 wives (some of them simultaneously I think) and “at least 40 other women”. He had 27 children in various parts of Peru and was currently living with another woman who appeared to be about 60 (see photo). He said he still had sex and that he didn’t even need the help of jungle Viagra. He said he still worked every day and he appeared very strong and younger than his age. He also appeared to be quite well-to-do. His house was fairly large with a large garden and many pigs. He wanted help with headaches, vision problems and some other age related problems. He had cataracts and rather large Ptyergiums neither of which can fixed in Iquitos, and he of course did not drink adequate fluids. His blood pressure was low as was his pulse attesting to his good conditioning. We finished the clinic around 1:30 and packed our sweaty, itchy selves and our equipment back to the boat and went back to camp for lunch and to see the members of the jungle caretaker’s family most of whom were really quite well. Their two year old was the one Sue had drained a the scalp boil on the previous Sunday so we were happy to see that it was healing well and that she had no further problems. Neither the students or faculty were in any mood to provide care but we buckled down and did it. Our reward was a swim in the Amazon’
The boat captain took us to new spot across the river from the tributary the camp is on. We went a short ways up another tributary to a black sand beach area where the water was quite shallow. This allowed even our non-swimmers a chance to cool off. Even though it was shallow the current was quite strong so we were content to float the length of the boat and walk back to the front since they had warned us there was a big drop off. The swim was an absolute treat and we returned to camp just as night was falling for a supper of yes you guessed it chicken and rice. After a short sing along small groups were invited to go alligator hunting. However the first group got a fishing net tangled in the motor and had to paddle back for a machete to cut it off the propeller so they had an adventure in the dark and didn’t get any alligators. The second group which I was in had no mishaps and found a foot long baby and a smaller one. However by then everyone was so tired we were falling asleep on the bare boards at the bottom of the boat. When we got back we all just went to bed and looked forward to morning when at least for a short time we would be cool. The next morning we got up early packed our belongings, took down the tents and got ready to leave. Nearly everyone but me went on the jungle walk but didn’t see much that was new to me. I stayed behind and listened to Carlos play guitar and sing and I also talked with the cooks. When everyone returned we passed everything hand to hand and got the boat packed and we were ready for the return trip down to Iquitos. We had been promised a treat so the boat went down a smaller channel off the main river until we came to a village where we were told there was a lake. After a short walk through town we came to a beautiful little spring fed lake with clear clean cool water. Nearly everyone played in the water or swam for over an hour. What a treat!!. On our way out we stopped and bought handcrafts from the village women which because we were in such an out of the way place were much cheaper than on the main river. After a leisurely sail down the Amazon which most people slept through we were back at the port of Iquitos where we once again carried all our equipment and personal stuff hand over hand up the steep stairs. Everyone was delighted to get “home” and take a shower and then we were off to have a good pizza dinner downtown. At the pizza shop we met a small group of people who were part of a singles group at a big church in North Carolina that were there to do dental wrok and to work with the kids on religious studies. They were also helping Paul feed some street kids and more than half the students joined them after dinner to go feed the street kids. We were just happy to go home to bed in sleep in a cooler less buggy environment.
Friday May 21 - The mental hospital
Friday May 19, 2010
The mental hospital.
Today we are going to the mental hospital that serves all of Loreto province, the largest province in all of Peru. I have been there many times and I never know what to expect. The buildings are old and some of the patients are confined in rooms for 8-10 or in single cells with bars. Some are locked and in some roam free around the compound. There are usually 40-50 patients many of whom have been confined here for years because they have nowhere to go and their families have given up on them. Others are confined here because they have been found criminally insane. Conditions at the hospital vary depending on who is in power. Four years ago the hospital was in fairly terrible shape with dogs roaming about and prowling under the outdoor tables where chickens were cut up under conditions of poor sanitation and food was prepared with help from the patients who seldom washed. The pond where fish were raised to feed the patients was full of algae and the garden overgrown with weeds. Patients were wearing dirty torn clothes and many looked like they had not bathed in many weeks. The only meds available were those used in the US in the 1970s and sometimes even these were not available regularly. Three years ago things were much improved the fish pond was clean and productive, the garden was producing, and the cooking facilities and methods more sanitary but certainly not up to US standards. The patient rooms were still barren and patients were sleeping on thin bare mattress and had few clothes. However the treatment regime was improved with more meds available and even a visiting psychiatrist once a week to monitor care and psychology students doing practicums providing some therapy. What will it be like this year?
We have planned to do some activities with the patients but we aren’t sure how it will all go we have all learned to sing three songs in Spanish – Bienvenidos Iquitos (Welcome to Iquitos), Que Sera (What will be), and … Our translators have their guitars and Paul is bringing the sound system and CDs so the patients can sing and dance. We have brought personal care items like soap, toothbrushes, shampoo and lotion as well as nail polish, manicure supplies and students who know how to do foot care and massage. We have also asked the Hamburguesa lady to cook for the patients, the staff and us. Paul is paying for the students and translators and the grant from WSU students for students is paying for the food for the patients and staff. Thank you so much.
When we arrived at the hospital we were met by several patients many of whom know me. Lupe, a sweet woman who is unable to speak but is not mute latched onto me at once as she has every time I have come. One of the other patients started singing to us – he really has a good voice and certainly knows the songs he is singing even if I don’t. We were met by staff wearing uniforms who seem very competent and as we walk through the facility it is clear some things have changed for the better. The patient rooms are less barren, more people look clean and cared for and there are only a few dogs roaming about. There are also fewer patients. We are informed that things are changing in a big way that may not necessarily be good. They are planning to close the facility and move the patients to group homes throughout Iquitos. Those who are incarcerated as dangerous or criminally insane will be moved to the prison. Paul says he thinks this move was made in part because the facility has received so much criticism from foreign groups. He and I fear that moving the patients to group homes will make the mentally ill invisible and that the care they get will actually be less and may be worse because there will likely be little or no monitoring. In addition meds may not be available or may get diverted. Professional care will likely be absent. Also many of these patients have lived here for many years and moving them may precipitate exacerbation of symptoms. Those who were incarcerated as criminally insane will likely receive little or no care at the prison and may actually be killed by other inmates because some of them are very vulnerable. We shall see what happens.
Meanwhile the “day” room (a big room with a concrete floor and some plastic chairs) was set up and the patients who are not confined were invited to come and sit down. The PA system was set up and the guitars were ned. The students and translators sang the three songs and many patients and staff joined in. Then our singing patient sang two songs for us. Students and patients are scattered all over the room well integrated despite initial hesitance on the part of both students and some patients. Patients were were invited to dance, to come and have their nails done or to get a massage. Then the speakers were cranked up. (Sue was worried that the patients who were confined might feel left out but I am sure they can hear the music better than people in the day room.) The students and the patients danced and danced while David our man of all work extraordinaire acted as a fabulous DJ. I couldn’t take the noise so I helped with a few pedicures and saw to the food. I also talked to a couple of patients in my broken ungrammatical Spanish. The person who really pulled at my heart strings was a young man of 34 who was locked in a single cell. He had been a policeman and had accidentally killed his father while cleaning his gun. He had then apparently gone completely psychotic and may have hurt others ( I am not sure about this) he just kept telling me in Spanish “I am a patricide, I am a patricide”. I felt so sad.
The patients who were confined were served first by some of the students. Most of the Peruvians didn’t want the hamburguesas – they wanted Chuafa which the woman had also prepared in large quantities. Chaufa is fried rice with deep fried chicken and French fries potatoes – it is really good especially with hot sauce. Once the confined patients were fed we fed all the other patients in the dining room and gave them personal care supplies. Then we all ate, mostly hamburguesas except the translators and a few students who ate chaufa. We fed 70 people and provided polish and nail care supplies for about 300 soles (that would be about $106.00). When we left at 2PM the patients and staff were happier than they had been in a long time. The students were satisfied that they had done some really good work and the patients felt cared about. What more could one ask for than food for body and soul and what better way than music and dancing especially for Peruvians. Paul also commented on his appreciation of the “heart” students brought to this event and many students have described this as their favorite day in Iquitos. Gracias otra vez a WSU estudiantes por estudiantes! You made a big difference here and there is more to come.
If you would like to see pictures of the dancing go to PEOPLE OF PERU web site where Paul has downloaded pictures and may download a video of the dancing .
Tomorrow we are off to the jungle.
The mental hospital.
Today we are going to the mental hospital that serves all of Loreto province, the largest province in all of Peru. I have been there many times and I never know what to expect. The buildings are old and some of the patients are confined in rooms for 8-10 or in single cells with bars. Some are locked and in some roam free around the compound. There are usually 40-50 patients many of whom have been confined here for years because they have nowhere to go and their families have given up on them. Others are confined here because they have been found criminally insane. Conditions at the hospital vary depending on who is in power. Four years ago the hospital was in fairly terrible shape with dogs roaming about and prowling under the outdoor tables where chickens were cut up under conditions of poor sanitation and food was prepared with help from the patients who seldom washed. The pond where fish were raised to feed the patients was full of algae and the garden overgrown with weeds. Patients were wearing dirty torn clothes and many looked like they had not bathed in many weeks. The only meds available were those used in the US in the 1970s and sometimes even these were not available regularly. Three years ago things were much improved the fish pond was clean and productive, the garden was producing, and the cooking facilities and methods more sanitary but certainly not up to US standards. The patient rooms were still barren and patients were sleeping on thin bare mattress and had few clothes. However the treatment regime was improved with more meds available and even a visiting psychiatrist once a week to monitor care and psychology students doing practicums providing some therapy. What will it be like this year?
We have planned to do some activities with the patients but we aren’t sure how it will all go we have all learned to sing three songs in Spanish – Bienvenidos Iquitos (Welcome to Iquitos), Que Sera (What will be), and … Our translators have their guitars and Paul is bringing the sound system and CDs so the patients can sing and dance. We have brought personal care items like soap, toothbrushes, shampoo and lotion as well as nail polish, manicure supplies and students who know how to do foot care and massage. We have also asked the Hamburguesa lady to cook for the patients, the staff and us. Paul is paying for the students and translators and the grant from WSU students for students is paying for the food for the patients and staff. Thank you so much.
When we arrived at the hospital we were met by several patients many of whom know me. Lupe, a sweet woman who is unable to speak but is not mute latched onto me at once as she has every time I have come. One of the other patients started singing to us – he really has a good voice and certainly knows the songs he is singing even if I don’t. We were met by staff wearing uniforms who seem very competent and as we walk through the facility it is clear some things have changed for the better. The patient rooms are less barren, more people look clean and cared for and there are only a few dogs roaming about. There are also fewer patients. We are informed that things are changing in a big way that may not necessarily be good. They are planning to close the facility and move the patients to group homes throughout Iquitos. Those who are incarcerated as dangerous or criminally insane will be moved to the prison. Paul says he thinks this move was made in part because the facility has received so much criticism from foreign groups. He and I fear that moving the patients to group homes will make the mentally ill invisible and that the care they get will actually be less and may be worse because there will likely be little or no monitoring. In addition meds may not be available or may get diverted. Professional care will likely be absent. Also many of these patients have lived here for many years and moving them may precipitate exacerbation of symptoms. Those who were incarcerated as criminally insane will likely receive little or no care at the prison and may actually be killed by other inmates because some of them are very vulnerable. We shall see what happens.
Meanwhile the “day” room (a big room with a concrete floor and some plastic chairs) was set up and the patients who are not confined were invited to come and sit down. The PA system was set up and the guitars were ned. The students and translators sang the three songs and many patients and staff joined in. Then our singing patient sang two songs for us. Students and patients are scattered all over the room well integrated despite initial hesitance on the part of both students and some patients. Patients were were invited to dance, to come and have their nails done or to get a massage. Then the speakers were cranked up. (Sue was worried that the patients who were confined might feel left out but I am sure they can hear the music better than people in the day room.) The students and the patients danced and danced while David our man of all work extraordinaire acted as a fabulous DJ. I couldn’t take the noise so I helped with a few pedicures and saw to the food. I also talked to a couple of patients in my broken ungrammatical Spanish. The person who really pulled at my heart strings was a young man of 34 who was locked in a single cell. He had been a policeman and had accidentally killed his father while cleaning his gun. He had then apparently gone completely psychotic and may have hurt others ( I am not sure about this) he just kept telling me in Spanish “I am a patricide, I am a patricide”. I felt so sad.
The patients who were confined were served first by some of the students. Most of the Peruvians didn’t want the hamburguesas – they wanted Chuafa which the woman had also prepared in large quantities. Chaufa is fried rice with deep fried chicken and French fries potatoes – it is really good especially with hot sauce. Once the confined patients were fed we fed all the other patients in the dining room and gave them personal care supplies. Then we all ate, mostly hamburguesas except the translators and a few students who ate chaufa. We fed 70 people and provided polish and nail care supplies for about 300 soles (that would be about $106.00). When we left at 2PM the patients and staff were happier than they had been in a long time. The students were satisfied that they had done some really good work and the patients felt cared about. What more could one ask for than food for body and soul and what better way than music and dancing especially for Peruvians. Paul also commented on his appreciation of the “heart” students brought to this event and many students have described this as their favorite day in Iquitos. Gracias otra vez a WSU estudiantes por estudiantes! You made a big difference here and there is more to come.
If you would like to see pictures of the dancing go to PEOPLE OF PERU web site where Paul has downloaded pictures and may download a video of the dancing .
Tomorrow we are off to the jungle.
Thursday May 20
Thursday May 18, 2010
Today is our clinic in Belen but before we go to the clinic you’ll need a little more information about this section of Iquitos. As you remember from the first journals Belen is a center of local commerce, in addition to the market previously described, many of the larger stores frequented by the locals including Quisneros, the Iquitos “K Mart” are located on the outskirts of Belen. The rest of Belen is a huge teeming slum sitting on the banks of the Amazon. I would guess between 75-100,000 people live there, most in shanty house cobbled together from whatever can be found, however there are some substantial concrete houses as well as the floating houses that ride on the river when the water is high and sink onto land when the water goes down. There are also some floating houses that are always on the water and are usually reachable only by canoe. The concrete houses are often occupied by rather well to do businesspeople who live in Belen because their businesses are there. Rooms rent in Belen for $1.00 a day however these usually have no bathroom facilities except an outhouse or the river. Belen is the poorest and at night the most dangerous section of the city. We are warned never to go there at night and when we go in the daytime we are accompanied by the translators as well as some local security loaned from the military that police Belen. The danger is more from robbery and muggings not physical violence. The people are poor. We are Americans, hence we are rich. We have cameras and other items that could be fenced to feed a family for several weeks or even months so why not share the wealth? The sanitation in Belen is the worst in the city. The river is used for everything – you will see a floating outhouse and downstream you’ll see kids swimming and women washing clothes. When the water is high as it is now the river picks up all the garbage sewage and refuse and takes it away.
Our clinic is in the basement of a large Catholic church – but don’t have in mind a big fancy place. Although it is made of concrete and has a basement and an upper level church so if the water is really high the church stays dry, it is not at all grand. The basement does have a concrete floor but is just one big rather dirty room with a toilet stall at the far end. (In Peru most toilets are US style but never have seats and TP does not come with the bathroom nor does soap, paper towels or hot water. The really good restaurants and other establishments have TP or soap – nobody has paper towels. So hand santizer is our friend and is carried everywhere along with extra TP). The security people organized the crowd that is forming outside while we organize the room for our clinic. Thankfully there is some furniture that we can use to set up our four nursing and one pharmacy stations as well as triage. We will not be able to see every one because we have to leave Belen before dark which means we will stop triage at 4Pm so we can be walking out through the market at 5. Camilla, Paul’s wonderful fulltime Peruvian nurse gives out number and limits the numbers she gives out to the number of people she thinks we can see. In the end we saw 84 people in Belen which is a smaller number than we have seen at the two previous clinics.
This is in many ways the most difficult clinic we have done because of the problems people presented. Perhaps the most remarkable was a woman Sue saw whose son had been killed in an accident and since he provided the entire income for them both she had no money and was grieving and hungry. As in many places there are no soup kitchens in Belen so she had no where to go. After seeing her Sue couldn’t eat her own lunch and was in tears grieving for all the hungry people. I think the person that struck the biggest chord for me was an older woman with diabetes and a blood sugar of 450 who was on Metformin. She could not get the posta to do more – they told her to go to the private clinic and of course she had no money for that and we don’t treat chronic problems because we can’t provide follow up and she really needed that. I referred her to Camilla who is sometimes able to help people negotiate the system and get what they need. But I fear that she will die of ketotic coma some night and it is a terrible shame. She too was in tears just with frustration of trying to get what she needed. I had a hard time with the letting what is, be. The Peruvians have to live with their system and we can’t fix it I hope that Camilla can get her appropriate care at the posta or at a private clinic but it is possible Camilla won’t be able to find her again. The other person that tugged at my heartstrings was a 13 year old girl who was having sex with a man who had multiple partners and who was likely a lot older than she. She likely had an STD for which we treated her but she will be pregnant and run down by the time she is 15 and likely have HIV. Yet I am sure some of her motivation is survival – he probably helps her family with food and if it is not him it will be someone else. Not surprisingly we saw a lot impetigo and other skin rashes, the usual dizziness from inadequate fluid intake and hard work in the hot sun, parasites which I am sure nearly everyone in Belen has, and back and muscle pains. The children present with colds most attributed to the change in weather as fall moves into winter in the southern hemisphere. They had a couple of cold snaps right before we came. (Cold means 70 F). Many people attributed their maladies to this.
As we were leaving Belen I noticed a mother dog with 3 small puppies sleeping under the stairs and all I could think of after all the human misery was the miserable life those three cute puppies would have if they managed to survive the next few weeks. We have seen some healthy animals but most are managy, thin, and have injured limbs from encounters with motor cars. There is a free spay and neuter clinic but it is open only when visiting vet teams come from outside the country. There are also several nice veterinary clinics in the neighborhoods but these dogs will never visit one. Even the dogs at the POPP compound although they are healthy have skin stuff and Ly the big boxer who loves to sneak into our room and hide under my bed STINKS a lot. (Additionally Brenda is allergic to dogs so we can’t let him in even if we could stand the smell).
After a long day we went home to rest and prepare for our event at the Mental Hospital and then off to the jungle adventure.
Tuesday - Wednesday may 18-19
Tuesday and Wednesday May 18-19
Tuesday we got up and got all dressed up in our finest clothes to go to the posta in Santo Tomas, the same village we visited Sunday night. The posta is a health department satellite and they are found in nearly every large neighborhood and village. They provide basic preventive health care for pregnant women and children as well as treatment for Tb and malaria for everyone and for STDs, and chronic illnesses for adults. As always the courtyard and waiting area is full of mostly women and children seeking care. In one room children with RSV (brochiolitis) and presumably asthma are being treated with nebulizer treatments. The lab can test for malaria, dengue fever, glucose, and do urinalysis. It is also an urgent care. Pharmacy had all the Tb meds, usual antibiotics, no HIV meds, salbutamol for asthma. They had no diabetic medications, or meds for other chronic diseases despite their supposed role in helping patients manage chronic illnesses. We hear all the time from patients that they don’t have meds and we are not sure why but this has usually been the case. The students enjoyed photographing the children in the courtyard – my favorite child was a little 3 year old who found a wrought iron gate leaning against a wall and he was crawling back and forth behind it and would sit there looking through the bars. The ground was dirty and his mother was nowhere in sight be he was happy as a clam and as you might expect REALLY dirty. We finished the posta in under an hour and so we walked on the street talking to the vendor. The owners of the store next door were very friendly and not only told us about their store but also gave each of us a green tangerine. Their store carries necessaries like soap, toilet paper, canned goods and a few fresh fruits and vegetables like yucca and onions.
We then went with Princessa, one of the volunteers from Poppy’s house, to the Santo Tomas school where we were given a tour and had a chance to talk to some of the kids. The school was impressive in that each student had a book for each subject that they could use and all of the books were new. I paged through the social studies book for fifth grade. They study the history of South America, china, the pacific, Europe and the United States. They learn things our children either never learn or learn only in high school or college. Children start school when they are three and most graduate by the time they are 16. If students fall behind or drop out they can go to the grade they need to be in regardless of age. Some of the girls at Poppy’s house who are in 5th grade are 14-16 years old. The Santo Tomas school has an exceptional principal who has gotten a lot of resources for it and also holds the faculty accountable. This is not true for every school. In some schools there are no books and teachers basically come when they feel like it. This is very sad as education is enshrined in the Peruvian constitution as the sine qua non for a free society so every child has the right to free and compulsory education. (Susan the schools are a lot like some of the ones in Guam and Micronesia). The primary students go to school in the morning from 730-1200 and the secondary students go from 1:00-6:00 PM. We had a chance to talk with children in the 5th grade classroom and noticed that there was a student created posted about using condoms. The teacher said the poster was created as part of a project by the secondary students. The one thing that struck me is that all the chairs in the school were primary sized and I wondered how the secondary students managed to sit in them for 6 or more hours.
After we left the school we went back to Paul’s for lunch and to prepare for the teaching programs and to go to the hospital. We had a short siesta period when we walked over to the artisan’s market and went shopping.
In the afternoon we went to the Iquitos hospital (not the big regional hospital but the older hospital). The hospital was built 64 years ago and has been added onto somewhat willy nilly since then. We went to the OB ward where Lucia the obstetrician who has been working with us in the clinics has her clinical internship. She met us there and she had been working all night delivering babies. Interns work 12 hour shifts. So she worked 6PM to 6Am then went home to bed and was at the hospital to meet us at 3 PM. The hospital is old and the healthy women who have given birth in the last forty eight hours are in a big ward that is somewhat dark. There are two beds in each cubicle. The beds are small and narrow and are shared by both mother and child. The beds are closer together than they would be in the US and as is true in most developing countries the individuals need to bring their own sheets otherwise they lie on bare mattresses. Nearly all babies are delivered by the “obstetricians” who are similar to a nurse midwife. Only mothers requiring C-sections are attended by physicians. The children’s ward is quite full there is an RSV outbreak as there often is when the seasons change. The ward is large and brightly painted with cartoon characters. The equipment is quite old but is also well used.
We were shown a new room in the hospital which is tiled, air conditioned and contains new modern beds but little else. The supervising nurse who also teaches at the University of the Amazon said that it was an ICU for “people like us” and they were hoping to get donations from foreigners for equipment. I found it disturbing that they were building a nice facility for people who didn’t live in Peru and leaving the old and decrepit to the Peruvians. Watching the old people lying in beds in wards of 6 in the heat without sheets or with only what they could bring from home. Some of the older people looked so ill and their care so minimal. Although the supervising nurse said there were supposed to be 5 patients per nurse, more likely there were 2 nurses for 30 patients. She also said that there were plenty of openings for nurses in the hospital but that the pay was so low that graduates of the university went to Brazil or elsewhere in South America where they could make more money. This is quite different from what we were told two years ago when they said there were no jobs for nurses in government hospitals.
Wednesday
Today was our day to tour the College of Nursing. All of the faculty were gone testing – we think they were proctoring tests and there were very few students in the building. Most of the ones’ we saw were similar to CNAs. We encountered 5 nursing student and their faculty member in the library looking up some topics on Google – they were working on a project perhaps for their senior thesis. All students complete a thesis in their fourth year. We had a chance to peruse some of the theses which can be written by from one to three students. Most appeared to be descriptions of health issues from health department data. One was on the prevention of HIV among hotel and bar workers in Iquitos, another on the incidence of Malaria in Iquitos and a third on dengue fever. We also looked through their books and found Perry and Potter in Spanish as well as Kozier and Erb and several well known Maternity texts. I looked for Ball and Bindler but much to my surprise did not find it. The public health and psych texts were nearly all written originally in Spanish and published either in South America or Spain. There were however several US psych texts but I can’t recall the authors. Although we went on a nice tour I was disappointed that there were few students and no faculty for our students to interact with. I did discover that Perla who was the dean two years ago is now the director whose role is similar to the Associate Dean for Academic programs (Anne’s role at the CON). There is a new dean Dr. Rosetta ?? When we asked the administrative assistant she said all the faculty had doctorates but that has not been the case up to now and I am pretty certain that the people who were here have not obtained Phds in the last two years.
After our return we prepared for a teaching session at the orphanage that was scheduled for 3 PM. We went to La Nina de Loreto, where we went 3 or 4 years ago. The building and grounds are beautiful with trees and gardens a large play yard and lovely Spanish style buildings. This is really more like a boarding home since some of the students have parents in the jungle and live here, others have parents in Iquitos and live here for enrichment, while yet others are without parents like the little girl who spent a lot of time with me. Her father is in Lima and she has not seen him in a long time and has never visited him in Lima, her mother is in Iquitos but she never sees her either. She has an uncle who she visits from time to time but she says he really doesn’t want her with him much. She wishes she had a real family. It must be so hard for girls like her to share space with other girls who have families. The nuns we met, two Peruvians and one Columbian seemed to genuinely care about the girls and treated them with warmth and tenderness. The girls flocked around our students and they played and talked together until a giant tropical rainstorm suddenly dumped huge buckets of water on us and we had to run in to the building. Our students did some really great educational presentations that kept the girls engaged the whole time. The group doing exercise had a small group come to the center and get down on the floor and do some simple yoga by having them pretend to be cats hissing and cows pushing out their bellies and dogs getting up. A second group did a tooth brushing song that was hilarious, then a group did a germ transmission skit using glitter for the germs and showing how it spread around the whole group. The last group did a hilarious skit about antibiotic resistance complete with germenes with glittery antennae. One student pantomimed being ill and taking only part of an antibiotic while the others were the germs only some of whom died before she stopped. Soon she was sick again and went back to the doctor and got another antibiotic and this time she took it all and all the germs died. The girls loved it as did we. The afternoon was really a lot of fun. Tomorrow a clinic in Belen.
Tuesday we got up and got all dressed up in our finest clothes to go to the posta in Santo Tomas, the same village we visited Sunday night. The posta is a health department satellite and they are found in nearly every large neighborhood and village. They provide basic preventive health care for pregnant women and children as well as treatment for Tb and malaria for everyone and for STDs, and chronic illnesses for adults. As always the courtyard and waiting area is full of mostly women and children seeking care. In one room children with RSV (brochiolitis) and presumably asthma are being treated with nebulizer treatments. The lab can test for malaria, dengue fever, glucose, and do urinalysis. It is also an urgent care. Pharmacy had all the Tb meds, usual antibiotics, no HIV meds, salbutamol for asthma. They had no diabetic medications, or meds for other chronic diseases despite their supposed role in helping patients manage chronic illnesses. We hear all the time from patients that they don’t have meds and we are not sure why but this has usually been the case. The students enjoyed photographing the children in the courtyard – my favorite child was a little 3 year old who found a wrought iron gate leaning against a wall and he was crawling back and forth behind it and would sit there looking through the bars. The ground was dirty and his mother was nowhere in sight be he was happy as a clam and as you might expect REALLY dirty. We finished the posta in under an hour and so we walked on the street talking to the vendor. The owners of the store next door were very friendly and not only told us about their store but also gave each of us a green tangerine. Their store carries necessaries like soap, toilet paper, canned goods and a few fresh fruits and vegetables like yucca and onions.
We then went with Princessa, one of the volunteers from Poppy’s house, to the Santo Tomas school where we were given a tour and had a chance to talk to some of the kids. The school was impressive in that each student had a book for each subject that they could use and all of the books were new. I paged through the social studies book for fifth grade. They study the history of South America, china, the pacific, Europe and the United States. They learn things our children either never learn or learn only in high school or college. Children start school when they are three and most graduate by the time they are 16. If students fall behind or drop out they can go to the grade they need to be in regardless of age. Some of the girls at Poppy’s house who are in 5th grade are 14-16 years old. The Santo Tomas school has an exceptional principal who has gotten a lot of resources for it and also holds the faculty accountable. This is not true for every school. In some schools there are no books and teachers basically come when they feel like it. This is very sad as education is enshrined in the Peruvian constitution as the sine qua non for a free society so every child has the right to free and compulsory education. (Susan the schools are a lot like some of the ones in Guam and Micronesia). The primary students go to school in the morning from 730-1200 and the secondary students go from 1:00-6:00 PM. We had a chance to talk with children in the 5th grade classroom and noticed that there was a student created posted about using condoms. The teacher said the poster was created as part of a project by the secondary students. The one thing that struck me is that all the chairs in the school were primary sized and I wondered how the secondary students managed to sit in them for 6 or more hours.
After we left the school we went back to Paul’s for lunch and to prepare for the teaching programs and to go to the hospital. We had a short siesta period when we walked over to the artisan’s market and went shopping.
In the afternoon we went to the Iquitos hospital (not the big regional hospital but the older hospital). The hospital was built 64 years ago and has been added onto somewhat willy nilly since then. We went to the OB ward where Lucia the obstetrician who has been working with us in the clinics has her clinical internship. She met us there and she had been working all night delivering babies. Interns work 12 hour shifts. So she worked 6PM to 6Am then went home to bed and was at the hospital to meet us at 3 PM. The hospital is old and the healthy women who have given birth in the last forty eight hours are in a big ward that is somewhat dark. There are two beds in each cubicle. The beds are small and narrow and are shared by both mother and child. The beds are closer together than they would be in the US and as is true in most developing countries the individuals need to bring their own sheets otherwise they lie on bare mattresses. Nearly all babies are delivered by the “obstetricians” who are similar to a nurse midwife. Only mothers requiring C-sections are attended by physicians. The children’s ward is quite full there is an RSV outbreak as there often is when the seasons change. The ward is large and brightly painted with cartoon characters. The equipment is quite old but is also well used.
We were shown a new room in the hospital which is tiled, air conditioned and contains new modern beds but little else. The supervising nurse who also teaches at the University of the Amazon said that it was an ICU for “people like us” and they were hoping to get donations from foreigners for equipment. I found it disturbing that they were building a nice facility for people who didn’t live in Peru and leaving the old and decrepit to the Peruvians. Watching the old people lying in beds in wards of 6 in the heat without sheets or with only what they could bring from home. Some of the older people looked so ill and their care so minimal. Although the supervising nurse said there were supposed to be 5 patients per nurse, more likely there were 2 nurses for 30 patients. She also said that there were plenty of openings for nurses in the hospital but that the pay was so low that graduates of the university went to Brazil or elsewhere in South America where they could make more money. This is quite different from what we were told two years ago when they said there were no jobs for nurses in government hospitals.
Wednesday
Today was our day to tour the College of Nursing. All of the faculty were gone testing – we think they were proctoring tests and there were very few students in the building. Most of the ones’ we saw were similar to CNAs. We encountered 5 nursing student and their faculty member in the library looking up some topics on Google – they were working on a project perhaps for their senior thesis. All students complete a thesis in their fourth year. We had a chance to peruse some of the theses which can be written by from one to three students. Most appeared to be descriptions of health issues from health department data. One was on the prevention of HIV among hotel and bar workers in Iquitos, another on the incidence of Malaria in Iquitos and a third on dengue fever. We also looked through their books and found Perry and Potter in Spanish as well as Kozier and Erb and several well known Maternity texts. I looked for Ball and Bindler but much to my surprise did not find it. The public health and psych texts were nearly all written originally in Spanish and published either in South America or Spain. There were however several US psych texts but I can’t recall the authors. Although we went on a nice tour I was disappointed that there were few students and no faculty for our students to interact with. I did discover that Perla who was the dean two years ago is now the director whose role is similar to the Associate Dean for Academic programs (Anne’s role at the CON). There is a new dean Dr. Rosetta ?? When we asked the administrative assistant she said all the faculty had doctorates but that has not been the case up to now and I am pretty certain that the people who were here have not obtained Phds in the last two years.
After our return we prepared for a teaching session at the orphanage that was scheduled for 3 PM. We went to La Nina de Loreto, where we went 3 or 4 years ago. The building and grounds are beautiful with trees and gardens a large play yard and lovely Spanish style buildings. This is really more like a boarding home since some of the students have parents in the jungle and live here, others have parents in Iquitos and live here for enrichment, while yet others are without parents like the little girl who spent a lot of time with me. Her father is in Lima and she has not seen him in a long time and has never visited him in Lima, her mother is in Iquitos but she never sees her either. She has an uncle who she visits from time to time but she says he really doesn’t want her with him much. She wishes she had a real family. It must be so hard for girls like her to share space with other girls who have families. The nuns we met, two Peruvians and one Columbian seemed to genuinely care about the girls and treated them with warmth and tenderness. The girls flocked around our students and they played and talked together until a giant tropical rainstorm suddenly dumped huge buckets of water on us and we had to run in to the building. Our students did some really great educational presentations that kept the girls engaged the whole time. The group doing exercise had a small group come to the center and get down on the floor and do some simple yoga by having them pretend to be cats hissing and cows pushing out their bellies and dogs getting up. A second group did a tooth brushing song that was hilarious, then a group did a germ transmission skit using glitter for the germs and showing how it spread around the whole group. The last group did a hilarious skit about antibiotic resistance complete with germenes with glittery antennae. One student pantomimed being ill and taking only part of an antibiotic while the others were the germs only some of whom died before she stopped. Soon she was sick again and went back to the doctor and got another antibiotic and this time she took it all and all the germs died. The girls loved it as did we. The afternoon was really a lot of fun. Tomorrow a clinic in Belen.
Sunday May 16
Sunday May 16, 2010
Ah a morning off to recover from yesterday’s marathon clinic day. I didn’t get up until 7:00 and was looking forward to a rest and walk across the street to the Artisan Market which is only open during the daylight hours. Just a few students went to church and two walked to church twice but found no one there and bagged the whole thing. We worked a bit on checking supplies and planning for the week. I ordered the ice cream for the event we planned at Poppy’s house in the afternoon and was amazed at the cost. Four gallons to feed about 40 people cost $140 Soles ($50) plus about $15 for cones. Just as I finished sending Moises to buy the ice cream the family who lives at the jungle camp arrived with their children. The youngest child had several large abcesses on her scalp and other parts of her body. We see these here a lot in little children but the one on her scalp was very large. Sue examined it and decided it really needed to be drained so while she was looking at the rest of the family several students and myself located the supplies so she could drain it. We borrowed Lidocaine and scalpels from the dental box and the rest from the medical supplies. We were working in a storeroom with terrible light and no airconditioning or ventilation. The best light was in the room where we store meds (the pharmacy) but that morning it bore more resemblance to a sauna.. We gathered some headlamps so Sue could see to work, put the mom in a plastic chair holding the child who was 15 months. The baby was pretty quiet until Sue started injecting the Lidocaine and she got more agitated and screaming from there on. The abcess was difficult to drain and seemed to have several pockets, getting it open on a screaming squirming child added to the difficulties. In addition we were all sweating so much we could hardly see what we were doing. After about 20 minutes Sue finally felt she had gotten all the pus out she could. She ordered antibiotics and we taught the mother how to care for the wound. After the rest of the family was treated for minor problems they were off in the motor car for downtown and the ride back up river. The morning was gone, lunch was nearly ready and we had planned to debrief the clinic from the day before, preview the activities at Poppy’s house for the afternoon, and go to the zoo. So much for our rest day.
The debrief was very helpful. The students had some excellent suggestions and we were also able to determine an approximate number of groups of people we could see. The translators give out numbers to the people waiting but each “family” group gets a number so when we give out 50 tickets that probably means 200 people, most have minor problems but we do an enormous amount of health teaching which is not done by the medical groups. The translators are more accustomed to the medical groups so they want to try to make us hurry up and see more people.
After lunch we loaded up the buses to go to the zoo. I planned to take my book and sit on the beach and read but that’s not what I did. By the time I visited all the animals I really like – that would be all the cats, the alligators, monkeys, and the birds. I also had to watch the students handling the anaconda – it’s so much fun because they expect it to be slimy and it’s smooth and dry and heavier than they expect. The beach was packed – I don’t know when I’ve seen so many people in the water here. Very soon it was time to go off to Poppy’s house.
Poppy’s house the living center for young girls who have been living on the streets or whose home situations are abusive. Currently there are 9 girls and three children. The girls range in age from 8-22. The moms have single rooms and the girls without children are paired up in rooms. They all go to school, have study hall in the afternoons, and are required to assist with running the facility by helping to cook, wash up, maintain the grounds and etc. Once they finish their schooling they are transitioned to work or university. The compound is quite large with a pond, fruit trees, a play yard with a large play fort with a slide and climbing ladder and platforms with hammocks. There is also a kitchen, dining room, parlor area that is used for group activities including study hall. An interesting innovation is that one of the staff goes to school with the children and the consequence is that education for all the children at the school has improved because the teachers and the children are held accountable. We planned to do pedicures, manicures, and massage for the girls and developmental testing for the small children. In addition a woman who lives in the community had a stand selling “hamburgeusas” and chifa (chifa is a rice and chicken dish that is so popular with Peruvians there seems to be a Chifa store on every corner). She was initially supported by a microloan from People of Peru so we decided to support her business and we paid for chifa or burgers for all of the residents and staff of Poppy’s house. She was setting up to cook when we arrived so one of the staff took us on a tour of the community of Santo Tomas which is where Poppy’s house is located. This is an interesting community. The main street contains many small tiendas selling produce, dry goods and other “corner store” items. On the road behind the main street to the east is a tributary of the Nanay river and there are some rather large and very beautiful homes that are owned by people who come for weekends and holidays. According to our guide the owners are mostly military folks. On this road we saw more cars than anywhere else in the Iquitos area including one restored 65 Mustang and Willy’s jeep both owned by the same family who also had a several large boats. One of the side streets contains the homes of a number of artists some carve wood others paint. One of the houses has a large workshop where the artist makes large numbers of carvings that are sold to tourists. He carves them and another person in the village paints them. Right now he is working on butterflies.
When we returned to Poppy’s house the hamburger lady had her grills and oil hot and she was cooking. The chifa that most of the Peruvians ordered was quick. The “burgers” took more time. The burgers which really tasted wonderful were more like French fry burgers than hamburgers. She cooked a paper thin slice of meat (who knows what kind someone said it was lunch meat) with a layer of excellent French fries topped with watered down ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise with cabbage and tomatoes on a hamburger bun all for 2 soles or $0.60 each. They were surprisingly tasty – so much so that we are ordering them for the mental hospital. The students who supported us by collecting money can feel good that we not only provided a special treat to folks who seldom get one but we are supporting a local women operated business.
After the residents ate dinner and while some of the hamburgeusas were being cooked, the students began doing chair massages, pedicures and manicures for all the girls living at Poppy’s plus most of the staff. The girls had never had pedicures or massages and they loved every minute of this unexpected pleasure. The staff was also in seventh heaven. (see photos). A few students worked with Sue to do developmental testing which seemed to provide a source of laughter as well as of fun.
Afterwards we served ice cream which was a tremendous treat for the girls and the staff. We had four kinds – strawberry, chocolate, chocolate chip, and chocolate brownie. Everyone got big dishes and they savored every bite. I know everyone at Poppy’s house went to bed happy. And we the students and faculty were grateful to the WSU Peer advisors who raised the money so we could do this.
Ah a morning off to recover from yesterday’s marathon clinic day. I didn’t get up until 7:00 and was looking forward to a rest and walk across the street to the Artisan Market which is only open during the daylight hours. Just a few students went to church and two walked to church twice but found no one there and bagged the whole thing. We worked a bit on checking supplies and planning for the week. I ordered the ice cream for the event we planned at Poppy’s house in the afternoon and was amazed at the cost. Four gallons to feed about 40 people cost $140 Soles ($50) plus about $15 for cones. Just as I finished sending Moises to buy the ice cream the family who lives at the jungle camp arrived with their children. The youngest child had several large abcesses on her scalp and other parts of her body. We see these here a lot in little children but the one on her scalp was very large. Sue examined it and decided it really needed to be drained so while she was looking at the rest of the family several students and myself located the supplies so she could drain it. We borrowed Lidocaine and scalpels from the dental box and the rest from the medical supplies. We were working in a storeroom with terrible light and no airconditioning or ventilation. The best light was in the room where we store meds (the pharmacy) but that morning it bore more resemblance to a sauna.. We gathered some headlamps so Sue could see to work, put the mom in a plastic chair holding the child who was 15 months. The baby was pretty quiet until Sue started injecting the Lidocaine and she got more agitated and screaming from there on. The abcess was difficult to drain and seemed to have several pockets, getting it open on a screaming squirming child added to the difficulties. In addition we were all sweating so much we could hardly see what we were doing. After about 20 minutes Sue finally felt she had gotten all the pus out she could. She ordered antibiotics and we taught the mother how to care for the wound. After the rest of the family was treated for minor problems they were off in the motor car for downtown and the ride back up river. The morning was gone, lunch was nearly ready and we had planned to debrief the clinic from the day before, preview the activities at Poppy’s house for the afternoon, and go to the zoo. So much for our rest day.
The debrief was very helpful. The students had some excellent suggestions and we were also able to determine an approximate number of groups of people we could see. The translators give out numbers to the people waiting but each “family” group gets a number so when we give out 50 tickets that probably means 200 people, most have minor problems but we do an enormous amount of health teaching which is not done by the medical groups. The translators are more accustomed to the medical groups so they want to try to make us hurry up and see more people.
After lunch we loaded up the buses to go to the zoo. I planned to take my book and sit on the beach and read but that’s not what I did. By the time I visited all the animals I really like – that would be all the cats, the alligators, monkeys, and the birds. I also had to watch the students handling the anaconda – it’s so much fun because they expect it to be slimy and it’s smooth and dry and heavier than they expect. The beach was packed – I don’t know when I’ve seen so many people in the water here. Very soon it was time to go off to Poppy’s house.
Poppy’s house the living center for young girls who have been living on the streets or whose home situations are abusive. Currently there are 9 girls and three children. The girls range in age from 8-22. The moms have single rooms and the girls without children are paired up in rooms. They all go to school, have study hall in the afternoons, and are required to assist with running the facility by helping to cook, wash up, maintain the grounds and etc. Once they finish their schooling they are transitioned to work or university. The compound is quite large with a pond, fruit trees, a play yard with a large play fort with a slide and climbing ladder and platforms with hammocks. There is also a kitchen, dining room, parlor area that is used for group activities including study hall. An interesting innovation is that one of the staff goes to school with the children and the consequence is that education for all the children at the school has improved because the teachers and the children are held accountable. We planned to do pedicures, manicures, and massage for the girls and developmental testing for the small children. In addition a woman who lives in the community had a stand selling “hamburgeusas” and chifa (chifa is a rice and chicken dish that is so popular with Peruvians there seems to be a Chifa store on every corner). She was initially supported by a microloan from People of Peru so we decided to support her business and we paid for chifa or burgers for all of the residents and staff of Poppy’s house. She was setting up to cook when we arrived so one of the staff took us on a tour of the community of Santo Tomas which is where Poppy’s house is located. This is an interesting community. The main street contains many small tiendas selling produce, dry goods and other “corner store” items. On the road behind the main street to the east is a tributary of the Nanay river and there are some rather large and very beautiful homes that are owned by people who come for weekends and holidays. According to our guide the owners are mostly military folks. On this road we saw more cars than anywhere else in the Iquitos area including one restored 65 Mustang and Willy’s jeep both owned by the same family who also had a several large boats. One of the side streets contains the homes of a number of artists some carve wood others paint. One of the houses has a large workshop where the artist makes large numbers of carvings that are sold to tourists. He carves them and another person in the village paints them. Right now he is working on butterflies.
When we returned to Poppy’s house the hamburger lady had her grills and oil hot and she was cooking. The chifa that most of the Peruvians ordered was quick. The “burgers” took more time. The burgers which really tasted wonderful were more like French fry burgers than hamburgers. She cooked a paper thin slice of meat (who knows what kind someone said it was lunch meat) with a layer of excellent French fries topped with watered down ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise with cabbage and tomatoes on a hamburger bun all for 2 soles or $0.60 each. They were surprisingly tasty – so much so that we are ordering them for the mental hospital. The students who supported us by collecting money can feel good that we not only provided a special treat to folks who seldom get one but we are supporting a local women operated business.
After the residents ate dinner and while some of the hamburgeusas were being cooked, the students began doing chair massages, pedicures and manicures for all the girls living at Poppy’s plus most of the staff. The girls had never had pedicures or massages and they loved every minute of this unexpected pleasure. The staff was also in seventh heaven. (see photos). A few students worked with Sue to do developmental testing which seemed to provide a source of laughter as well as of fun.
Afterwards we served ice cream which was a tremendous treat for the girls and the staff. We had four kinds – strawberry, chocolate, chocolate chip, and chocolate brownie. Everyone got big dishes and they savored every bite. I know everyone at Poppy’s house went to bed happy. And we the students and faculty were grateful to the WSU Peer advisors who raised the money so we could do this.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
May 14, 2010
This morning at 0530 my roommates Brenda and Sue were up and ready to run along with about ½ the students. I on the other hand lay groggily in bed wondering why anyone needed to get up so darned early. Of course they were in bed soon after 9 and I turned out my light at 11:30. Clearly it was going to be really warm. Someone checked the weather and said the forecast was for 94 and already the air was heavy warm and humid. Breakfast was a gruel that looked too much like Cream of Wheat for me to try it, tiny sweet bananas, bread, fried yucca (it’s a starchy root without much flavor of its own but really good when fried and dipped in hot sauce or strawberry jam), and a mixed fruit juice. After breakfast we are off to Belen, the largest market in the city located in the biggest slum. The slum essentially is the market which goes off in several directions down miles of streets. We always start here because it allows the students to see where most people buy their goods and also to get a sense of the heart of the community. It is always a shock to them with its open sewers, huge variety of goods, and exotic offerings. Belen in the morning when most people shop is noisy crowded full of strange smells and endlessly interesting. There are tables of fruits from the jungle most of which won’t be seen anywhere else in the world, vegetables like tomatoes, eggplants, sweet peppers and cucumbers as well as the tiny hot peppers whose local name (pene rojo) means little red penis. There is an entire street of herbalists selling all manner of potions most made from products of the jungle combined with 100% alcohol. Many of these are like rompe calzones (panty droppers) for women also known as is panty breakers when used by men. There are also concoctions designed to cure anything from cancer to arthritis – once again most contain significant quantities of alcohol. Since the Amazon jungle is the source of thousands of useful biologicals there is no discounting that some of these work. There is an entire street full of used shoes, some so well shined and repaired that they almost look new, another street of used clothes, one street they were calling Walmart because they have electronics – radios, phones, hardware, plastic goods, and etc. Down close to the water is the street of peluqueros (hairdressers and barbers) cutting hair in the open air. Belen is on the edge of the Amazon and right now the water is high so some parts are only accessible by canoe – high water also means you find people walking barefoot through thigh deep water full of sewage. One place we passed there was a packed dirt schoolyard right next to an open sewer (see photo). The streets are narrow and crowded and our team is protected from thieves by our translators and a group of uniformed security guards many of whom are former pickpockets. I carried my big SLR camera and kept hearing “cara, cara” which means dear or expensive so I was glad for our protectors. During the tour students taste some of the wares including the barbequed grubs they look and sound worse than they taste – sort of crispy on the outside and soft on the inside with a slight bit of pungency. Some brave souls try jungle ice cream which is really just whipped egg whites with sugar and flavoring. They are introduced to largarto (alligator) and turtle as well as part of pigs, sheep and cows seldom seen in US markets.
When we came back from Belen we divided the students into groups with a translators and went out to assess the community of Santa Clara, a neighborhood behind the People of Peru compound. The houses my team visited were much more prosperous than places we have visited in the past. The first house was the home of a herbal/massage healer, his wife and sons and grandchildren. The home was large, concrete with electricity and a drilled well. He learned his art from his mother and from his dreams. He has a daughter who works as a healer in Argentina. His family seems to do well and they grow some of their own food and much of the medicine he uses. The next house had a large well kept yard with orange and other fruit trees, a large garden, pots containing several varieties of aloe vera, and a lot of chickens. In the back of the yard she had very fancy cages holding fighting cocks and hens used as breeding stock. She cared for the cocks and hens but her sons fought them on Sunday afternoons. Several appeared to be very expensive birds. Her house also was large and concrete with electricity, a drilled well, a pump and a large refrigerator. She also ran a sewing business from her living room so she had three sewing machines one of which was rather new. Her children had gone to university except the two youngest one of whom was still in primary school and one in a vocational school. Her husband owned and drove a motorcar. Both homes had indoor toilets but none had sewage – the waste drains into a pipe that goes out to the river. For me these families were a stark contrast to the families I have visited in other neighborhoods in Iquitos most of which were poor, lacked electricity, lived in wooden homes, and usually did not own a vehicle. Both these families owned motorcars (for business) and motorcycles for transport. Other students in our group visited less well to do homes in the neighborhood but overall the entire area seemed more prosperous than many. We will be doing our clinic in the neighborhood tomorrow in a new building that POPP has erected for use as a combination dental and medical facility.
Once we returned from the assessment and debriefed we packed vitamins and OTC medications for distribution in the clinic tomorrow.
More in the saga of the lost bag – After failing several attempts to convey to Continental in Peru our problem with the lost bag and inform them of the location of the bag that was not ours failed. We called the US 1-800 number with much better results. Within minutes they had located our student’s bag in Lima. We had located the owner of the bag in Left luggage and arranged for us to pay the bill so the owner could retrieve it. The student had to go to a notary to get a statement that the bag was hers and that she had the baggage receipt so it could be sent to Lima before the bag would be released to our student. Last we heard it was going to be flown to Iquitos on Saturday night so we should get it Sunday. Tomorrow is a clinic day so probably no posting until until Sunday night.
This morning at 0530 my roommates Brenda and Sue were up and ready to run along with about ½ the students. I on the other hand lay groggily in bed wondering why anyone needed to get up so darned early. Of course they were in bed soon after 9 and I turned out my light at 11:30. Clearly it was going to be really warm. Someone checked the weather and said the forecast was for 94 and already the air was heavy warm and humid. Breakfast was a gruel that looked too much like Cream of Wheat for me to try it, tiny sweet bananas, bread, fried yucca (it’s a starchy root without much flavor of its own but really good when fried and dipped in hot sauce or strawberry jam), and a mixed fruit juice. After breakfast we are off to Belen, the largest market in the city located in the biggest slum. The slum essentially is the market which goes off in several directions down miles of streets. We always start here because it allows the students to see where most people buy their goods and also to get a sense of the heart of the community. It is always a shock to them with its open sewers, huge variety of goods, and exotic offerings. Belen in the morning when most people shop is noisy crowded full of strange smells and endlessly interesting. There are tables of fruits from the jungle most of which won’t be seen anywhere else in the world, vegetables like tomatoes, eggplants, sweet peppers and cucumbers as well as the tiny hot peppers whose local name (pene rojo) means little red penis. There is an entire street of herbalists selling all manner of potions most made from products of the jungle combined with 100% alcohol. Many of these are like rompe calzones (panty droppers) for women also known as is panty breakers when used by men. There are also concoctions designed to cure anything from cancer to arthritis – once again most contain significant quantities of alcohol. Since the Amazon jungle is the source of thousands of useful biologicals there is no discounting that some of these work. There is an entire street full of used shoes, some so well shined and repaired that they almost look new, another street of used clothes, one street they were calling Walmart because they have electronics – radios, phones, hardware, plastic goods, and etc. Down close to the water is the street of peluqueros (hairdressers and barbers) cutting hair in the open air. Belen is on the edge of the Amazon and right now the water is high so some parts are only accessible by canoe – high water also means you find people walking barefoot through thigh deep water full of sewage. One place we passed there was a packed dirt schoolyard right next to an open sewer (see photo). The streets are narrow and crowded and our team is protected from thieves by our translators and a group of uniformed security guards many of whom are former pickpockets. I carried my big SLR camera and kept hearing “cara, cara” which means dear or expensive so I was glad for our protectors. During the tour students taste some of the wares including the barbequed grubs they look and sound worse than they taste – sort of crispy on the outside and soft on the inside with a slight bit of pungency. Some brave souls try jungle ice cream which is really just whipped egg whites with sugar and flavoring. They are introduced to largarto (alligator) and turtle as well as part of pigs, sheep and cows seldom seen in US markets.
When we came back from Belen we divided the students into groups with a translators and went out to assess the community of Santa Clara, a neighborhood behind the People of Peru compound. The houses my team visited were much more prosperous than places we have visited in the past. The first house was the home of a herbal/massage healer, his wife and sons and grandchildren. The home was large, concrete with electricity and a drilled well. He learned his art from his mother and from his dreams. He has a daughter who works as a healer in Argentina. His family seems to do well and they grow some of their own food and much of the medicine he uses. The next house had a large well kept yard with orange and other fruit trees, a large garden, pots containing several varieties of aloe vera, and a lot of chickens. In the back of the yard she had very fancy cages holding fighting cocks and hens used as breeding stock. She cared for the cocks and hens but her sons fought them on Sunday afternoons. Several appeared to be very expensive birds. Her house also was large and concrete with electricity, a drilled well, a pump and a large refrigerator. She also ran a sewing business from her living room so she had three sewing machines one of which was rather new. Her children had gone to university except the two youngest one of whom was still in primary school and one in a vocational school. Her husband owned and drove a motorcar. Both homes had indoor toilets but none had sewage – the waste drains into a pipe that goes out to the river. For me these families were a stark contrast to the families I have visited in other neighborhoods in Iquitos most of which were poor, lacked electricity, lived in wooden homes, and usually did not own a vehicle. Both these families owned motorcars (for business) and motorcycles for transport. Other students in our group visited less well to do homes in the neighborhood but overall the entire area seemed more prosperous than many. We will be doing our clinic in the neighborhood tomorrow in a new building that POPP has erected for use as a combination dental and medical facility.
Once we returned from the assessment and debriefed we packed vitamins and OTC medications for distribution in the clinic tomorrow.
More in the saga of the lost bag – After failing several attempts to convey to Continental in Peru our problem with the lost bag and inform them of the location of the bag that was not ours failed. We called the US 1-800 number with much better results. Within minutes they had located our student’s bag in Lima. We had located the owner of the bag in Left luggage and arranged for us to pay the bill so the owner could retrieve it. The student had to go to a notary to get a statement that the bag was hers and that she had the baggage receipt so it could be sent to Lima before the bag would be released to our student. Last we heard it was going to be flown to Iquitos on Saturday night so we should get it Sunday. Tomorrow is a clinic day so probably no posting until until Sunday night.
May 14, 2010
This morning at 0530 my roommates Brenda and Sue were up and ready to run along with about ½ the students. I on the other hand lay groggily in bed wondering why anyone needed to get up so darned early. Of course they were in bed soon after 9 and I turned out my light at 11:30. Clearly it was going to be really warm. Someone checked the weather and said the forecast was for 94 and already the air was heavy warm and humid. Breakfast was a gruel that looked too much like Cream of Wheat for me to try it, tiny sweet bananas, bread, fried yucca (it’s a starchy root without much flavor of its own but really good when fried and dipped in hot sauce or strawberry jam), and a mixed fruit juice. After breakfast we are off to Belen, the largest market in the city located in the biggest slum. The slum essentially is the market which goes off in several directions down miles of streets. We always start here because it allows the students to see where most people buy their goods and also to get a sense of the heart of the community. It is always a shock to them with its open sewers, huge variety of goods, and exotic offerings. Belen in the morning when most people shop is noisy crowded full of strange smells and endlessly interesting. There are tables of fruits from the jungle most of which won’t be seen anywhere else in the world, vegetables like tomatoes, eggplants, sweet peppers and cucumbers as well as the tiny hot peppers whose local name (pene rojo) means little red penis. There is an entire street of herbalists selling all manner of potions most made from products of the jungle combined with 100% alcohol. Many of these are like rompe calzones (panty droppers) for women also known as is panty breakers when used by men. There are also concoctions designed to cure anything from cancer to arthritis – once again most contain significant quantities of alcohol. Since the Amazon jungle is the source of thousands of useful biologicals there is no discounting that some of these work. There is an entire street full of used shoes, some so well shined and repaired that they almost look new, another street of used clothes, one street they were calling Walmart because they have electronics – radios, phones, hardware, plastic goods, and etc. Down close to the water is the street of peluqueros (hairdressers and barbers) cutting hair in the open air. Belen is on the edge of the Amazon and right now the water is high so some parts are only accessible by canoe – high water also means you find people walking barefoot through thigh deep water full of sewage. One place we passed there was a packed dirt schoolyard right next to an open sewer (see photo). The streets are narrow and crowded and our team is protected from thieves by our translators and a group of uniformed security guards many of whom are former pickpockets. I carried my big SLR camera and kept hearing “cara, cara” which means dear or expensive so I was glad for our protectors. During the tour students taste some of the wares including the barbequed grubs they look and sound worse than they taste – sort of crispy on the outside and soft on the inside with a slight bit of pungency. Some brave souls try jungle ice cream which is really just whipped egg whites with sugar and flavoring. They are introduced to largarto (alligator) and turtle as well as part of pigs, sheep and cows seldom seen in US markets.
When we came back from Belen we divided the students into groups with a translators and went out to assess the community of Santa Clara, a neighborhood behind the People of Peru compound. The houses my team visited were much more prosperous than places we have visited in the past. The first house was the home of a herbal/massage healer, his wife and sons and grandchildren. The home was large, concrete with electricity and a drilled well. He learned his art from his mother and from his dreams. He has a daughter who works as a healer in Argentina. His family seems to do well and they grow some of their own food and much of the medicine he uses. The next house had a large well kept yard with orange and other fruit trees, a large garden, pots containing several varieties of aloe vera, and a lot of chickens. In the back of the yard she had very fancy cages holding fighting cocks and hens used as breeding stock. She cared for the cocks and hens but her sons fought them on Sunday afternoons. Several appeared to be very expensive birds. Her house also was large and concrete with electricity, a drilled well, a pump and a large refrigerator. She also ran a sewing business from her living room so she had three sewing machines one of which was rather new. Her children had gone to university except the two youngest one of whom was still in primary school and one in a vocational school. Her husband owned and drove a motorcar. Both homes had indoor toilets but none had sewage – the waste drains into a pipe that goes out to the river. For me these families were a stark contrast to the families I have visited in other neighborhoods in Iquitos most of which were poor, lacked electricity, lived in wooden homes, and usually did not own a vehicle. Both these families owned motorcars (for business) and motorcycles for transport. Other students in our group visited less well to do homes in the neighborhood but overall the entire area seemed more prosperous than many. We will be doing our clinic in the neighborhood tomorrow in a new building that POPP has erected for use as a combination dental and medical facility.
Once we returned from the assessment and debriefed we packed vitamins and OTC medications for distribution in the clinic tomorrow.
More in the saga of the lost bag – After failing several attempts to convey to Continental in Peru our problem with the lost bag and inform them of the location of the bag that was not ours failed. We called the US 1-800 number with much better results. Within minutes they had located our student’s bag in Lima. We had located the owner of the bag in Left luggage and arranged for us to pay the bill so the owner could retrieve it. The student had to go to a notary to get a statement that the bag was hers and that she had the baggage receipt so it could be sent to Lima before the bag would be released to our student. Last we heard it was going to be flown to Iquitos on Saturday night so we should get it Sunday. Tomorrow is a clinic day so probably no posting until until Sunday night.
This morning at 0530 my roommates Brenda and Sue were up and ready to run along with about ½ the students. I on the other hand lay groggily in bed wondering why anyone needed to get up so darned early. Of course they were in bed soon after 9 and I turned out my light at 11:30. Clearly it was going to be really warm. Someone checked the weather and said the forecast was for 94 and already the air was heavy warm and humid. Breakfast was a gruel that looked too much like Cream of Wheat for me to try it, tiny sweet bananas, bread, fried yucca (it’s a starchy root without much flavor of its own but really good when fried and dipped in hot sauce or strawberry jam), and a mixed fruit juice. After breakfast we are off to Belen, the largest market in the city located in the biggest slum. The slum essentially is the market which goes off in several directions down miles of streets. We always start here because it allows the students to see where most people buy their goods and also to get a sense of the heart of the community. It is always a shock to them with its open sewers, huge variety of goods, and exotic offerings. Belen in the morning when most people shop is noisy crowded full of strange smells and endlessly interesting. There are tables of fruits from the jungle most of which won’t be seen anywhere else in the world, vegetables like tomatoes, eggplants, sweet peppers and cucumbers as well as the tiny hot peppers whose local name (pene rojo) means little red penis. There is an entire street of herbalists selling all manner of potions most made from products of the jungle combined with 100% alcohol. Many of these are like rompe calzones (panty droppers) for women also known as is panty breakers when used by men. There are also concoctions designed to cure anything from cancer to arthritis – once again most contain significant quantities of alcohol. Since the Amazon jungle is the source of thousands of useful biologicals there is no discounting that some of these work. There is an entire street full of used shoes, some so well shined and repaired that they almost look new, another street of used clothes, one street they were calling Walmart because they have electronics – radios, phones, hardware, plastic goods, and etc. Down close to the water is the street of peluqueros (hairdressers and barbers) cutting hair in the open air. Belen is on the edge of the Amazon and right now the water is high so some parts are only accessible by canoe – high water also means you find people walking barefoot through thigh deep water full of sewage. One place we passed there was a packed dirt schoolyard right next to an open sewer (see photo). The streets are narrow and crowded and our team is protected from thieves by our translators and a group of uniformed security guards many of whom are former pickpockets. I carried my big SLR camera and kept hearing “cara, cara” which means dear or expensive so I was glad for our protectors. During the tour students taste some of the wares including the barbequed grubs they look and sound worse than they taste – sort of crispy on the outside and soft on the inside with a slight bit of pungency. Some brave souls try jungle ice cream which is really just whipped egg whites with sugar and flavoring. They are introduced to largarto (alligator) and turtle as well as part of pigs, sheep and cows seldom seen in US markets.
When we came back from Belen we divided the students into groups with a translators and went out to assess the community of Santa Clara, a neighborhood behind the People of Peru compound. The houses my team visited were much more prosperous than places we have visited in the past. The first house was the home of a herbal/massage healer, his wife and sons and grandchildren. The home was large, concrete with electricity and a drilled well. He learned his art from his mother and from his dreams. He has a daughter who works as a healer in Argentina. His family seems to do well and they grow some of their own food and much of the medicine he uses. The next house had a large well kept yard with orange and other fruit trees, a large garden, pots containing several varieties of aloe vera, and a lot of chickens. In the back of the yard she had very fancy cages holding fighting cocks and hens used as breeding stock. She cared for the cocks and hens but her sons fought them on Sunday afternoons. Several appeared to be very expensive birds. Her house also was large and concrete with electricity, a drilled well, a pump and a large refrigerator. She also ran a sewing business from her living room so she had three sewing machines one of which was rather new. Her children had gone to university except the two youngest one of whom was still in primary school and one in a vocational school. Her husband owned and drove a motorcar. Both homes had indoor toilets but none had sewage – the waste drains into a pipe that goes out to the river. For me these families were a stark contrast to the families I have visited in other neighborhoods in Iquitos most of which were poor, lacked electricity, lived in wooden homes, and usually did not own a vehicle. Both these families owned motorcars (for business) and motorcycles for transport. Other students in our group visited less well to do homes in the neighborhood but overall the entire area seemed more prosperous than many. We will be doing our clinic in the neighborhood tomorrow in a new building that POPP has erected for use as a combination dental and medical facility.
Once we returned from the assessment and debriefed we packed vitamins and OTC medications for distribution in the clinic tomorrow.
More in the saga of the lost bag – After failing several attempts to convey to Continental in Peru our problem with the lost bag and inform them of the location of the bag that was not ours failed. We called the US 1-800 number with much better results. Within minutes they had located our student’s bag in Lima. We had located the owner of the bag in Left luggage and arranged for us to pay the bill so the owner could retrieve it. The student had to go to a notary to get a statement that the bag was hers and that she had the baggage receipt so it could be sent to Lima before the bag would be released to our student. Last we heard it was going to be flown to Iquitos on Saturday night so we should get it Sunday. Tomorrow is a clinic day so probably no posting until until Sunday night.
May 14, 2010
This morning at 0530 my roommates Brenda and Sue were up and ready to run along with about ½ the students. I on the other hand lay groggily in bed wondering why anyone needed to get up so darned early. Of course they were in bed soon after 9 and I turned out my light at 11:30. Clearly it was going to be really warm. Someone checked the weather and said the forecast was for 94 and already the air was heavy warm and humid. Breakfast was a gruel that looked too much like Cream of Wheat for me to try it, tiny sweet bananas, bread, fried yucca (it’s a starchy root without much flavor of its own but really good when fried and dipped in hot sauce or strawberry jam), and a mixed fruit juice. After breakfast we are off to Belen, the largest market in the city located in the biggest slum. The slum essentially is the market which goes off in several directions down miles of streets. We always start here because it allows the students to see where most people buy their goods and also to get a sense of the heart of the community. It is always a shock to them with its open sewers, huge variety of goods, and exotic offerings. Belen in the morning when most people shop is noisy crowded full of strange smells and endlessly interesting. There are tables of fruits from the jungle most of which won’t be seen anywhere else in the world, vegetables like tomatoes, eggplants, sweet peppers and cucumbers as well as the tiny hot peppers whose local name (pene rojo) means little red penis. There is an entire street of herbalists selling all manner of potions most made from products of the jungle combined with 100% alcohol. Many of these are like rompe calzones (panty droppers) for women also known as is panty breakers when used by men. There are also concoctions designed to cure anything from cancer to arthritis – once again most contain significant quantities of alcohol. Since the Amazon jungle is the source of thousands of useful biologicals there is no discounting that some of these work. There is an entire street full of used shoes, some so well shined and repaired that they almost look new, another street of used clothes, one street they were calling Walmart because they have electronics – radios, phones, hardware, plastic goods, and etc. Down close to the water is the street of peluqueros (hairdressers and barbers) cutting hair in the open air. Belen is on the edge of the Amazon and right now the water is high so some parts are only accessible by canoe – high water also means you find people walking barefoot through thigh deep water full of sewage. One place we passed there was a packed dirt schoolyard right next to an open sewer (see photo). The streets are narrow and crowded and our team is protected from thieves by our translators and a group of uniformed security guards many of whom are former pickpockets. I carried my big SLR camera and kept hearing “cara, cara” which means dear or expensive so I was glad for our protectors. During the tour students taste some of the wares including the barbequed grubs they look and sound worse than they taste – sort of crispy on the outside and soft on the inside with a slight bit of pungency. Some brave souls try jungle ice cream which is really just whipped egg whites with sugar and flavoring. They are introduced to largarto (alligator) and turtle as well as part of pigs, sheep and cows seldom seen in US markets.
When we came back from Belen we divided the students into groups with a translators and went out to assess the community of Santa Clara, a neighborhood behind the People of Peru compound. The houses my team visited were much more prosperous than places we have visited in the past. The first house was the home of a herbal/massage healer, his wife and sons and grandchildren. The home was large, concrete with electricity and a drilled well. He learned his art from his mother and from his dreams. He has a daughter who works as a healer in Argentina. His family seems to do well and they grow some of their own food and much of the medicine he uses. The next house had a large well kept yard with orange and other fruit trees, a large garden, pots containing several varieties of aloe vera, and a lot of chickens. In the back of the yard she had very fancy cages holding fighting cocks and hens used as breeding stock. She cared for the cocks and hens but her sons fought them on Sunday afternoons. Several appeared to be very expensive birds. Her house also was large and concrete with electricity, a drilled well, a pump and a large refrigerator. She also ran a sewing business from her living room so she had three sewing machines one of which was rather new. Her children had gone to university except the two youngest one of whom was still in primary school and one in a vocational school. Her husband owned and drove a motorcar. Both homes had indoor toilets but none had sewage – the waste drains into a pipe that goes out to the river. For me these families were a stark contrast to the families I have visited in other neighborhoods in Iquitos most of which were poor, lacked electricity, lived in wooden homes, and usually did not own a vehicle. Both these families owned motorcars (for business) and motorcycles for transport. Other students in our group visited less well to do homes in the neighborhood but overall the entire area seemed more prosperous than many. We will be doing our clinic in the neighborhood tomorrow in a new building that POPP has erected for use as a combination dental and medical facility.
Once we returned from the assessment and debriefed we packed vitamins and OTC medications for distribution in the clinic tomorrow.
More in the saga of the lost bag – After failing several attempts to convey to Continental in Peru our problem with the lost bag and inform them of the location of the bag that was not ours failed. We called the US 1-800 number with much better results. Within minutes they had located our student’s bag in Lima. We had located the owner of the bag in Left luggage and arranged for us to pay the bill so the owner could retrieve it. The student had to go to a notary to get a statement that the bag was hers and that she had the baggage receipt so it could be sent to Lima before the bag would be released to our student. Last we heard it was going to be flown to Iquitos on Saturday night so we should get it Sunday. Tomorrow is a clinic day so probably no posting until until Sunday night.
This morning at 0530 my roommates Brenda and Sue were up and ready to run along with about ½ the students. I on the other hand lay groggily in bed wondering why anyone needed to get up so darned early. Of course they were in bed soon after 9 and I turned out my light at 11:30. Clearly it was going to be really warm. Someone checked the weather and said the forecast was for 94 and already the air was heavy warm and humid. Breakfast was a gruel that looked too much like Cream of Wheat for me to try it, tiny sweet bananas, bread, fried yucca (it’s a starchy root without much flavor of its own but really good when fried and dipped in hot sauce or strawberry jam), and a mixed fruit juice. After breakfast we are off to Belen, the largest market in the city located in the biggest slum. The slum essentially is the market which goes off in several directions down miles of streets. We always start here because it allows the students to see where most people buy their goods and also to get a sense of the heart of the community. It is always a shock to them with its open sewers, huge variety of goods, and exotic offerings. Belen in the morning when most people shop is noisy crowded full of strange smells and endlessly interesting. There are tables of fruits from the jungle most of which won’t be seen anywhere else in the world, vegetables like tomatoes, eggplants, sweet peppers and cucumbers as well as the tiny hot peppers whose local name (pene rojo) means little red penis. There is an entire street of herbalists selling all manner of potions most made from products of the jungle combined with 100% alcohol. Many of these are like rompe calzones (panty droppers) for women also known as is panty breakers when used by men. There are also concoctions designed to cure anything from cancer to arthritis – once again most contain significant quantities of alcohol. Since the Amazon jungle is the source of thousands of useful biologicals there is no discounting that some of these work. There is an entire street full of used shoes, some so well shined and repaired that they almost look new, another street of used clothes, one street they were calling Walmart because they have electronics – radios, phones, hardware, plastic goods, and etc. Down close to the water is the street of peluqueros (hairdressers and barbers) cutting hair in the open air. Belen is on the edge of the Amazon and right now the water is high so some parts are only accessible by canoe – high water also means you find people walking barefoot through thigh deep water full of sewage. One place we passed there was a packed dirt schoolyard right next to an open sewer (see photo). The streets are narrow and crowded and our team is protected from thieves by our translators and a group of uniformed security guards many of whom are former pickpockets. I carried my big SLR camera and kept hearing “cara, cara” which means dear or expensive so I was glad for our protectors. During the tour students taste some of the wares including the barbequed grubs they look and sound worse than they taste – sort of crispy on the outside and soft on the inside with a slight bit of pungency. Some brave souls try jungle ice cream which is really just whipped egg whites with sugar and flavoring. They are introduced to largarto (alligator) and turtle as well as part of pigs, sheep and cows seldom seen in US markets.
When we came back from Belen we divided the students into groups with a translators and went out to assess the community of Santa Clara, a neighborhood behind the People of Peru compound. The houses my team visited were much more prosperous than places we have visited in the past. The first house was the home of a herbal/massage healer, his wife and sons and grandchildren. The home was large, concrete with electricity and a drilled well. He learned his art from his mother and from his dreams. He has a daughter who works as a healer in Argentina. His family seems to do well and they grow some of their own food and much of the medicine he uses. The next house had a large well kept yard with orange and other fruit trees, a large garden, pots containing several varieties of aloe vera, and a lot of chickens. In the back of the yard she had very fancy cages holding fighting cocks and hens used as breeding stock. She cared for the cocks and hens but her sons fought them on Sunday afternoons. Several appeared to be very expensive birds. Her house also was large and concrete with electricity, a drilled well, a pump and a large refrigerator. She also ran a sewing business from her living room so she had three sewing machines one of which was rather new. Her children had gone to university except the two youngest one of whom was still in primary school and one in a vocational school. Her husband owned and drove a motorcar. Both homes had indoor toilets but none had sewage – the waste drains into a pipe that goes out to the river. For me these families were a stark contrast to the families I have visited in other neighborhoods in Iquitos most of which were poor, lacked electricity, lived in wooden homes, and usually did not own a vehicle. Both these families owned motorcars (for business) and motorcycles for transport. Other students in our group visited less well to do homes in the neighborhood but overall the entire area seemed more prosperous than many. We will be doing our clinic in the neighborhood tomorrow in a new building that POPP has erected for use as a combination dental and medical facility.
Once we returned from the assessment and debriefed we packed vitamins and OTC medications for distribution in the clinic tomorrow.
More in the saga of the lost bag – After failing several attempts to convey to Continental in Peru our problem with the lost bag and inform them of the location of the bag that was not ours failed. We called the US 1-800 number with much better results. Within minutes they had located our student’s bag in Lima. We had located the owner of the bag in Left luggage and arranged for us to pay the bill so the owner could retrieve it. The student had to go to a notary to get a statement that the bag was hers and that she had the baggage receipt so it could be sent to Lima before the bag would be released to our student. Last we heard it was going to be flown to Iquitos on Saturday night so we should get it Sunday. Tomorrow is a clinic day so probably no posting until until Sunday night.
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