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Hello Everyone!

It is really hard to believe that we will be home so soon. We finished up our last day at the clinic in Yanahuara today. We will be spending Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday next week in another rural health clinic. We leave for Cusco on Thursday and fly out on Friday. I think we are both looking forward to getting home. We have had an unforgettable time here, but I am ready to get back to the American way of life.

It has been a pretty slow week in the clinic this past week, but I think it would have been pretty hard to top last week! We really enjoyed working with the nurses in Yanahuara. Since it was typically pretty slow, it allowed a lot of time to talk and learn more about life and medicine in Peru. They were great women!

We had biscacha for lunch yesterday, which is like a wild rabbit here. She made chicken for Megan and I just in case we didnt like it. It really wasnt bad, but it did not compare to the chicken. Our mom still hasnt been feeling well so we have been eating in the house. It has been a little more relaxed and meals have been less formal. She has been letting me cook with her, which has been a lot of fun. I am really excited to try out some of the new recipes when I get home.

Tomorrow we are going horseback riding in the morning and then to Maras to see the salt mines nearby in the afternoon. Since it is our last weekend we are staying in Ollanta. Our host family here has not let us forget that we are leaving on Thursday. They are getting very sad and talk about how life is going to be so different for them when we leave. We really have spent a lot of time and grown really close to them. They keep asking when we are going to come back and it has been hard to explain that we dont have plans to return. They have been absolutely wonderful! It will be hard to say goodbye, but I think it will be much harder for them. Let´s just say there lives will be much quieter when we leave. I think our parents have really enjoyed talking with us, because they have a 14 year old son who doesnt talk much and a very difficult 8 year old daughter. We are planning on having a big lunch on Sunday and watching the World Cup Finals together on Sunday. Another local family of a volunteer is having a going away dinner and bonfire for us on Monday night. We are looking forward to that.

We just finished the menu for their restaurant today. We created a completely new layout with correct Spanish to English translations. We havent gotten it printed yet, but Alicia looked over it with us on the computer today and she is really excited about it. My hope is that it will bring more business into the restaurant because tourists will now be able to tell what things are. I wrote down the ingredients to some of the more traditional plates so more people will be more likely to try new things.

Thanks for keeping up with our trip. We have really enjoyed sharing our experiences with you. This is the last time that we will blog until we get home. We will return home on Saturday July 17th. Please keep us in your prayers until then and please continue to pray for our family and the other volunteers in Ollanta.

Thank you and God Bless,
Kelly and Megan

Update from Peru

Hello Everyone,

Sorry that we have not written in so long. We have been really busy and it is not always easy to find time to go to an internet cafe. Anyways, last time that we wrote was when we returned from Machu Picchu and a lot has happened since then. We started working at the rural clinic and Yanahuara and got to experience a lot. On Thursday a baby was born and we had the opportunity to see the whole thing. Megan helped dress the baby! It was the first birth that she had seen and loved it. On Thursday night we packed our bags for the weekend, because we were planning on leaving for Lake Titicaca Friday afternoon after work. On Friday we went to the clinic and at about 9:30 a young father walked in with a crying baby. To make a long story short, the baby was born on Wednesday at home in a small town about 10 hours away from the clinic. The man left his house at 1 in the morning on Thursday without the mother because she was too weak to walk after giving birth. He arrived at the clinic and needless to say, the baby had not been fed since leaving her mother. One of the nurses in the clinic has a three month old so she nursed the very hungry, day old baby girl. We cleaned her up a little bit, weighed her, and reswaddled her. The nurses were planning on sending him and the baby to walk ten ours back to the house, but Megan and I were not going to let that happen. The baby was only 2.4 kg and we were worried that she may not make it. He walked downhill the entire way to get to the clinic, meaning it would be uphil the whole way back. He had no money, so walking was his only option. I carried the baby and Megan, the father, the baby (still nameless), and I took a taxi back to Ollantaytambo. She slept the whole way back (15 minutes) along the bumpy road. We went straight to our parents restaurant and Megan fed that father. I ran back to the house to get some money so we could pay for him to get a taxi as close to his house as possible. I bought a baby bottle along the way. Our mom heated up some milk to send with the man so he could feed the baby if she started crying again. I brought some food for him as well. I went into the plaza to find someone to take him to Palca which is about a five hour walk from Ollanta, but only an hour and half car ride. When I got back, Megan informed me that he decided to name the baby Megan. She had held the baby the whole time that I was gone and was already attached when I got back. The driver came to pick him and the baby up and we sent them on our way. Supposedly he would only have about a two hour walk to his house from the furthest point that the car could take him. We felt much better knowing that Megan (the baby) would be back with her mother in about 3 and half hours as opposed to over ten. When they left we kind of looked at eahc other and questioned whether or not that had really happened. It was a crazy experience, but we were both very thankful that we were at the clinic that day and could help.

We left for Cusco in the afternoon and bought overnight bus tickets to Puno. We spent the weekend on Lake Titicaca. It was absolutely beautiful. For those of you who dont know, Lake Titicaca is the largest navigable lake in the world. If I remember correctly it is 3,812 m above sea level. We stayed with a host family on one of the islands last night and it was an awesome experience. We had a fiesta with the local familes and dressed up in their traditional clothing. It was hysterical! We hiked up to the top of the mountain and watched the sunset. It was gorgeous! We got back to Puno today and are taking the night bus back to Cusco at nine. We will be back at the clinic again in the morning. We are looking forward to getting home, but are still enjoying our time here. We are hoping that this week in the clinic will allow for more opportunities to help out. Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

God Bless,
Kelly

Machu Picchu!

Hello everyone!

Kelly and I survived a very adventurous and fun weekend! We went to Machu Picchu and had a blast! We left Friday at around 10:30 in the morning and walked for 6 hours and 38 minutes to Aguas Calientes, which is the town outside of Machu Picchu. The walk was long and tiring but what a fun experience. We stayed in a very nice hotel Friday and Saturday night and woke up Sunday morning and hiked up to Machu Picchu which was an hour hike straight up the whole time….great workout! The ruins were something neither of us had ever seen before the Incas were some amazing people! We spent about 4 hours in the park and decided to take the bus down because we decided we had done enough physical activity for a few days. Our train to go back to Ollanta didn’t leave until 9:45 so we went to get some food and hung out at the train station till we left. We also found chocolate milk which was very exciting for both of us! It was my first train ride ever…it was fun we were just tired from the busy weekend. Our train arrived at kilometer 82 around 11:30 than we had to take a bus to Ollanta. We got home around 12:15 am. We both showered when we got home and the showers were very hot which is very rare here! Than we headed to bed because we had to work yesterday. La posta yesterday was very busy with a lot of pregnant women and new babies. We helped a lot in triage which is not very exciting but we got a lot patients to be seen which was good! After work we headed home to do our laundry which is always an experience especially since we had a lot of sweaty clothes from our journey! We had alpaca for dinner tonight for the first time! It was good tasted like most meat just slightly tougher. We are supposed to be trying guinea pig soon I am not so sure how I feel about this! We are going to the school again this week to give fluoride! I really enjoy this because the kids are so adorable and make me smile! We are also teaching our first health education class to the community…the topic is illness prevention and what to do when you get sick. Kel and I are both excited about this because the people here just need education on a lot of info! Well I think that is about all that is happening with us! We are still both loving it here!

Love and miss you all!

Megan

And megan hits the deck...

not really, but it was close. This morning a six year old boy came in with the biggest cut we have ever seen on his forehead. He fell off a horse at about 4pm and didnt come into the clinic until today. His father put some sort of leaf on his head to stop the bleeding so by the time he came and the leaf has started to heal into his cut. When we first saw the cut we didnt think they were going to be able to stitch it becuase it was so wide. I spent about 15 minutes trying to convince a nurse that this kid needed to be seen, while Megan continued giving a penicillin injection. I finally got a woman working in the insurance room to come help. I have no idea if she was certified, but she was the only one who would help. She was shocked when she first saw the wound and couldnt believe that they had waited so long to bring him in. She numbed his head but then needed help, so Megan put on some sterilized gloves and stepped right in. They spent about ten minutes trying to clean the wound and pull out all the leaf particles. The woman scraped away the edges of the skin so she could suture him up without a lesser risk of infection. Megan was doing great and I asked her how she was doing and she looked at me and started to bend her knees. I initially thought her knee was bothering her, but I took a closer look and she was extremely white. I immediately grabbed the chair that the father was sitting in and made her sit down. She wanted to continue to work but I made her walk outside with me. As soon as we got outside she said she needed food. I gave her water and made her sit down. I ran back inside to find money but couldnt find any in my backpack. Another volunteer gave me some money and I ran to the store near the hospital to find some food. I quickly bought crackers, left my change, and ran back to Megan. She was passed out by the time I got back. I was able to wake her up and force her to eat some crackers. I was not thinking and didnt get sugar so when I knew she was stable I ran back to get a chocolate bar. It took her a while to realize what happened. As soon as she did she wanted to go back in and help. She still wasnt back to normal so I walked her back to the restaurant and explained what happened to her. I ran back to the hospital to make sure everything was ok. The boy was alsmost done getting stitched up and he was doing great. I was really impressed with the woman who did the stitches. She did a great job of cleaning it. I just hope and pray that he can avoid infection. It ended up being a good experience for both of us. Megan realized that she needs to stop sooner when she starts to feel faint and I learned that when someone faints sugar is the best thing.

We are still learning a lot and having a great time together. There are gas strikes tommorow and Friday so we may have to change our Macchu Picchu plans for the weekend, but it should work out. Please continue to keep us and the people here in Ollanta in your prayers. Thank you to all of you have written us. We probably wont update till next week.

Much love from Peru,
Kelly and Megan

Day 8 in Ollantaytambo!

Hola Todos!!

Today was another great day for us. We woke up early this morning because we served breakfast at the hospital. Every Friday morning Awamaki hosts a "chocolatada." The people here drink their oatmeal, so basically it is very watered down oatmeal with chocolate and cinnamon in it. Our mom has made it for us for breakfast before and I actually really like it. On Fridays people hike down from the higher altitudes to the hospital for treatment, which is why we serve breakfast. It was great! Most of the people speak Quechua, so we were not able to converse, but it was a good experience. After we served breakfast we worked in triage. We saw lots of babies today which was a lot of fun.

Our host mom currently has pneumonia, so she was prescribed penicillin. Interestingly enough, they gave here the three doses of medicine that she needs along with three syringes, so she could do it herself at home. It costs extra to have the nurses do it for you, so most people opt to do it themselves. She asked Megan to give it to her, so Megan gave her her second injection today. She did a great job and she said it didn't hurt at all.

In other news...There is a volunteer here that doesn't speak ANY Spanish, so he really struggles. He is a photographer, so he doesn't think it is necessary to converse with others. To make a long story short, our host moms are friends and his mom wanted Megan and I to come over for lunch so she could actually talk to someone. She is hysterical! We said we would love to go so we made arrangements for today. We were both a little suspect because we haven't had anyones food beside our host mom's. Our mom made us each a pancake before we left just in case the food wasn't good. Lunch was going just fine until Megan tapped my shoulder and pointed to her plate with a horrified look on her face. An entire chicken foot was sitting on her plate amongst her other food. Needless to say she immediately stopped eating. I could no longer eat the chicken, but I finished the rest of my food. It was fun to eat with another family, but it made us love our host family even more.

We are both doing great! Really enjoying the experience together. Looking forward to the weekend.

-Kelly

Conversation in Spanish is getting soooo much better. It is really nice to be able to have a conversation with someone and understand exactly what is going on. Megan is gettin much better as well.

Wow already a week!

It is hard to believe we have already been here for a week. We are having an amazing time sorry we have not posted in a few days we have been very busy and been going to bed very early because it gets dark here around 6 so bed last night was 9. Kelly got up this morning at 6:30 and bought our family pan (bread) for the day. The food really has been amazing our mom (Alicia) is an AMAZING cook. Our most exciting adventure thus far has been sneaking into the Incan ruins (Fortelsa) with our host family. We told them we wanted to walk up the ruins that were free and they insisted we would sneak into the ruins that millions of tourist a year pay for during the day. So we went on about a 3 and half hour adventure and made it to the top of the ruins after jumping over the river (very scary with my knee), walking through several fields of goats, donkeys, llamas, sheep and many other animals. The view from the top was absolutely amazing we took a ton of pictures! We did not have a problem getting into the ruins it was on our way out that got slightly scary...because the policia soon realized we had not paid because our house dog came with us so that gave it away...but our mom and sister just told us not to look and walk rapido rapido (fast,fast) so we made it out safely without being deported. My favorite food here this far has been Alicia's panqueques (pancakes) WOW amazing...she promised me the recipe before we left. We have been doing a lot of observing in the clinic today but they have started to let us take blood pressure, weight, pulse and temperature. Spanish classes have started and they are going really well...easy for Kelly but definitely a great review for me! Our teacher (Ernesto) is from Spain so he has a very strong accent but he is very helpful and leaving the classes up to us. I need to study but there really is not much time. Kelly and I went on a great hour or so walk after our class today and found more amazing views to see. We have to be at dinner in about 15 so we have to go we also have movie night tonight we are watching Invictus to get ready for the world cup which is big here! Love and miss you all!!! We are going to Patacancha on Saturday for a day hike! We are also starting to plan our trips for the weekend! Dad do NOT worry we found guys to go with us so we will be safe!!

LOVE

Megan

Day 1 in La Posta!

Today was our first day in La Posta and it was great :) This week will be strictly observing. We saw 18 patients this morning, so we were really busy. We worked with an intern today, but she was pretty much in charge. Megan commented that she did the equivalent of the nurse, the doctor, and the pharmacist in the United States. It was a hard to understand her at times, but we both understood the gist of what was going on. The three biggest things that we will see are respiratory infections, intestinal problems, and skin diseases, so relatively speaking nothing too serious. We will continue to keep you updated about the different things we see.

In other news...I saw my breath in the shower this morning. Our family has electricity, but it does not make the water warm and it is FREEZING!! It is amazing how much we take warm showers for granted. I told Megan that I am planning on paying to take one warm shower a week at a nearby hostal.

Our host family is absolutely wonderful. Our host parents are the sweetest most caring people. It has been really fun to see how they have totally taken us in as their own.

We went to the finals of the local bull fight yesterday and it was incredible. It was very cool, but extremely scary. Our family wanted us to get a good view of the bulls so we basically walked into the the area where they were fighting and got a little too close for comfort a few too many times. Our family was very protective, especially of Megan because she was freaking out.

We are heading off to dinner. We are both doing great and loving life in Ollanta. Please continue to keep us and all the people we encounter every day in your prayers.

Much love,

Kelly