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.