Peru Has Soooo Many Holidays

Yesterday was an international holiday that is celebrated any many countries throughout the world. It was the feast of St Peter and St Paul which is a huge feast in honor of their martyrdom. Because of this alot of city took off work and celebrated. In the morning we were woken up by 4 cannon fires that reoccurred throughout the day. We had the option to take the day off but were also given the option to go do checkups at a hospital with 200 beds which sounded like an incredible opportunity. unfortionately not enough volunteers showed up so we were unable to work, so instead, we went and visited the boy that we thought had hep b or leukemia. The hospital we went to was Public and was very old. The paint was chipping off the exterior of the buildings and cracks ran up and down the walls. It was really sad to see that the government isn't putting any money into healthcare. When we walked into the pediatric ward, the building didnt even have heating so they had small heaters that the patients had to share. The boy we were visiting in was in intensive care along with two other children, one with arthritis and one with a syndrome that causes temporary full body paralysis. After looking at his history, we found that he was in fact anemic, but he had been given a blood transfusion so he was looking a lot better. unfortionately they found cancerous cells in his body that were potentially causing his anemic state. We brought him a little teddy bear and I think it really meant the world to his mother that we visited. After our visit, The doctor we work with took us around to see all the patients and had us try and guess a diagnosis for the patients. We failed. The only one that our group diagnosed correctly was pneumonia, but we had the xray so we kind of cheated. After our visit to the hospital we went and sat in the plaza de armas for a while. The weather was incredible and it was nice to just sit down and enjoy the day. That night we went out to dinner with the doctor we have been working with ince it was our last day with her. She took us to a very nice restaurant that was extremely cheap!  afterwards we went out and played darts which was fun as always. Today we plan on playing a game of soccer with our host family and their church. Only problem is the field is at 12,000 feet. WE ARE GOING TO DIE. Im scared but itll be fun!

Futbol or Football?

The kids LOVED Mike

Syta and I (She was my favorite)

Our group at one of the community centers

June 28, 2012: The past few days have been really exciting! We are still working on the campaign where we provide free examinations to children and their mothers throughout Cusco. On Wednesday, we had a very sick little boy come in whom we expect probably has Hepatitis B or Leukemia. It is always hard to see a child in so much pain but trying to diagnose a case with the symptoms we have made us want to be doctors even more, and we helped that child a lot by directing him to the hospital. We plan to go see him there on Friday.  On Thursday, we worked at another clinic way up in the mountains. Michael and I spent the morning checking pulses, temperature, and blood pressure, which is hectic at first but we really got the hang of it by the end of the day. The kids were really friendly, and they all loved to play with Michael! At one point, I think he was holding at least eight of them and they tackled him to the ground. At that clinic, we encountered a young boy with a potential case of pneumonia and another girl with bronchitis. We helped both get the help they need, and it was really interesting to hear the difference in their lungs. On the way to the clinics, we usually take a bus or a taxi but on the way home, we walk. It is usually a couple of miles back to the volunteering office but we have gotten to see a lot of different parts of Cusco which is really cool!

Michael and I have also been able to watch both the Spain vs. Portugal and Italy vs. Germany game with some of the people we met through the campaign. We get a little confused when everyone calls it futbol but we are getting used to it. We found a little pub near the plaza with really good food and the place gets packed when the games come on. Some of our Irish friends taught us how to play darts and now Michael is completely obsessed. Go Espana!

Watching the soccer game with
our Irish friends

Found a New Mexico flag in Peru!

This weekend we are planning to explore Cusco a little bit more and hopefully hike up to Saksayhuaman. Then, next weekend we are going to Machu Picchu! So far our journey has been absolutely amazing and we can’t wait to see what is going to happen next!

Llamas and Stairs

SO MANY STAIRS!

The culture he is so much different than America. The city is very dense so everybody walks everywhere and if you want to take a taxi it is only 1 dollar! there is an odd "protest" going on in which people dress up with masks and stand in the middle of the streets to get people to use the crosswalks. If you dont use the cross walk then they chase you down and whip you! I´m not really sure how its a protest but its definitely interesting. I havent seen anyone try to J walk yet so Im thinking about trying to run across to see If I can make it without getting whipped. Ashlee keeps telling me i´m not allowed to though.

Mike at the clinic yesterday

Today we counted and found out that in order to get home from the volunteer headquarters we have to walk up 350 stairs! On the way home today we stopped at a small art museum full of beautiful paintings of the lanscape and Incan Sculptures. While there was saw that Peru´s signature drink was only 5 soles (1 dollar is 3 soles) so we ordered it. The drink is called a Pisco Sour and when we ordered it the first thing the bartender did was reach in the fridge, pull out a raw egg, crack it, and pour the egg white in a glass. Thats when we new we were in for a treat. The bartender told us all about the history of the drink (because we were the only ones there). Pisco is made from a plant that grows on the coast of Peru and tastes very similar to tequila but isnt as strong and is a drink that the Inca culture has been making for centuries. Pisco sour, the drink, was actually invented by an American tourist a long time ago and has stuck as a popular drink in Peru ever sense. Once we finally drank it, it was definitely very weird. It is made in a blender with ice similar to a margarita but once again, it has a raw egg in it. I was a little worried about salmanella but we had already ordered it. The look on Ashlee´s face when we were drinking it was priceless.

Yep. There was a llama next
to our house

Last night we walked around the city and went to a small plaza full of merchants called San Blas. In it was a water fall like fountain that gave the air in the plaza a crisp, moist smell. Art was lined up all around the waterfall which made for an amazing backdrop to the plaza. We walked around for a little bit, but didnt find anything worth buying so we made the long trek home. On the way up the steps a man walked out of a door... followed buy his llama! We immediately pulled out the camera and snapped a shot of this wildcard sight. Who would ever expect to see a llama walking up a staircase in the middle of a rural area!? only in peru...

Checking for pulses

Mike and Abran playing with tops

The Community Center where we
worked yesterday

Today we travelled to a small school for families that cant even afford to feed their children. When we walked in the door we were greeted with a room full of young children with huge smiles yelling ¨Buenas Dias. Buenas Dias. Buenas Dias!¨ They were so happy even though some of them probably didnt even have homes. We set up shop and got to work immediately. Ashlee and I started off by taking their temperatures and checking their pulses while the rest of our crew ran the other stations. Every single child that went through us had a strong heart and wasnt sick which was very heart warming. After all the children had their health checkups, their mothers lined up. For them, Ashlee and I checked for abdominal pain and for normal bowel flow. In order to do this, we applied pressure on their abdomin in 9 quadrents that each signified a vital organ. A few of the girls that we live with are in medical school in Ireland and utilized techniques that are very rare in the states. According to them, diagnosing a patient is 80% medical history and only 20% examination. Scans and tests are only used to confirm a diagnosis and not to determine the medical issue.

After we finished doing checkups on 50 patients, we made the long trek home. The rest of our day we spent relaxing and doing some reading on the balcony of our house up on the mountain that overlooks the city. The Cathedrals and Incan Temples stand tall above the rest of the rural structures in the city. It is a view that I hope to never forget.

Apparently we are doctors now?

We have just gotten back from our first day of volunteering. We participated in a campaign called ¨Medicine for the Andes" and it was an incredible experience. We administered health checkups to families at a small community center in the mountains surrounding cusco. Ashlee and I spent part of the day checking peoples vision, nasal function, tonsils, teeth, lymph node inflammation, and cranial damage. It was a huge responsibility to be the person that is supposed to discover if something is medically wrong with another person. Luckily we did not observe many infections or problems, however Ashlee did observe infected tonsils on a young boy.

For the second part of the day, ashlee and I examined patients hearts and lungs for any disfunction. This part was extremely hard because not only were we in a room full of screaming children but it is also dificult to recognize any irregular noises, especially for the lungs. Alot of our patients were small children under the age of 8 which was fun because they were very friendly and liked to play. Ashlee taught a few of the kids how to play patty cake and they had a ball. After all our checkups were complete we walked back to Maximo HQ which was about 30 minutes down hill, and now I am here, writing in the blog!

Since we only have wifi in the afternoons, we will post about the mornings and the nights prior.

The festival yesterday was a ton of fun! we followed the parade up the road to a plaza where an incan king was hoisted on his thrown and carried through the streets. as he passed, all of the locals cheered and clapped and the streets were so packed that everyone was shoulder to shoulder. During the festival we went to a resturaunt that looked out over the plaza and we sat on the balcony. We had an incedrible view of the plaza along with some delicious food! Ashlee had rocota rellena which are spicy chili peppers stuffed with beef an vedgies (a peruvian classic) and I had an Alpaca Burger which was interesting. Alpaca has the consistency of Tofu and tastes very salty with a tiny bit of sweet flavor. It was honestly, almost better than a beef burger! We also noticed on the menu that the most expensive dish was fried Guinea Pig! Apparently it is a delicasy here in Peru so Ill have to try it at some point. Ive heard its delicious! After lunch we went to our orientation where we met our work crew and learned some basic techniques for doing health check ups. Our group is really cool even though there is only one other guy and its all just a bunch of girls. 3 girls are from Ireland and are currently in medical school, one girl is from Brazil, and then two girls are from Arizona. between Ashlee, me and the 2 other girls we have ever Arizona University covered. After orientation we found out that the three irish girls will be living at the same house as us which ashlee was pretty excited about. We began walking home around 7:30 and it was already dark. Turns out we didnt really know where we were going and what should have been a 15 minute walk took more than an hour. We found ourselves at the top of a mountain at one point with no idea where we were! Luckily we found our house before anything bad happened and after that we will never get lost again!

We ended our day talking to the head of our host family Jorge. He wanted us to explain our faith, which is hard enough in English let alone in Spanish! It was so awesome to get to hear his testimony and to share ours in a way we never had before. Even with a language barrier, we can see what amazing things God is doing in his life and in ours as well. It was an incredible day in Peru and everything has been amazing. We are both loving every minute of this trip and cant wait to see what else Peru is going to throw at us. Pictures will be posted soon. We love and miss all of our family and friends and cant wait to see you all in august!

Arrival, Some Dancing, and Questionably Named Ruins

Holy elevation!

So how about that trip in? 31 hours of travel from Albuquerque to Cuzco, Peru. No big deal. It all went very smoothly... until our last flight. It was 4 am and we were fighting to keep our eyes open as we boarded our plane from Lima to Cuzco. The flight was incredible. Snowcapped mountains peaked through the clouds as we flew over and a blanket of clouds that covered everything else. the only problem with this was once we arrived at Cuzco our pilot was unable to land the plane because of visibility, so he he flew around for an hour... and then took us back to Lima. We were so close! We then had to wait in lima for another two hours until we finally boarded the plane that took us to Cuzco. When we arrived the air had a chill to it and with low oxygen density it wasnt very easy to breathe, but the city was incredible (maybe even breathless). Cuzco is surrounded by mountains on all sides and as the city has grown people have built house up the mountainside on a very steep incline. This is where we found ourselves living. after walking up and down about 700 winding stairs we finally met our host family and the house we will be living in for the next 6 weeks. Its a perfect fit for Ashlee. the doorways go up to my neck and the bedroom ceilings are only about 6 foot 5 inches.

The balcony that overlooks the city

Outside of our new home

Once nighttime rolled around we could see the city light up all along the mountains and in the valley. it looked like a freeze frame of inception when the girl flips the city up on itself. The host family we are staying with has two sons. one, Luis who is 14, and another, Abran who is 7. Abran and Ashlee have already started getting close. He showed almost every single one of his toys to her. He also loves to dance (hes got some moves) which led to us all learning salsa dancing while Abran danced like michael jackson all night. It was hilarious.Turns out Luis has a nice epiphone acoustic guitar so I didnt need to bring my guitar after all. The family we are staying with is very religious and was thrilled to hear that we are Christians. Jorge, the man of the house, told us all about how his life was poisoned with alcoholism but when he found God he became a hard working man and a strong father figure.

Festival at the Sun Temple

Today is the Inti Raymi Winter Solstice which honors the god of the son, and was the most important festival of the Inca empire. It is THE BIGGEST festival in peru and thousands of people gather in the street to celebrate (I thought everyone was just stoked that ashlee and I finally made it). It is just now starting so I am about to go check it out, but apparently it starts at the son temple (right across the street from where I am now) and the parade travels up the mountain to sacsyhauman which really just sounds like sexy woman where apparently they sacrifice a llama? Im not quite sure but im going to go check it out and ill let you all know how it goes!

T-minus 12 hours and counting!

Hey family and friends! We are both extremely excited for our trip to Peru and want to keep you all up to date with our day to day experiences, so we decided to create this blog! We are counting down the hours to take off and absolutely can't wait! We will be leaving ABQ at 7am on June 22nd and will arrive in Cuzco, Peru on the 23rd (25 hours of traveling). Cuzco is in the south eastern segment of the country near the border of Bolivia. Cuzco sits at an elevation of 11,200ft which is roughly 600ft higher than the highest point of the Sandia Mountains! It will also be winter time so the environment will be a drastic change from New Mexico. We are extremely excited to start this chapter of our lives and will be sharing as much of it as possible with our loved ones through this blog. Wish us luck!