All About the Meat

Its been a busy third week in Cusco! Mike and I switched places in the clinic so he is working in admissions and I work in Triage and Topico. While it isn't the most exciting job, Mike is already joking around with all of the nurses and giving them nicknames. The more we work with a paper filing system, the more we learn to appreciate computers at home. I spend most of my time taking height, weight, and blood pressure, which definitely gives me a chance to interact with a lot of patients. We see about 60 to 70 people a day, so we are  getting pretty comfortable in our departments. I also got to give about 5 penicillin injections so far (probably not qualified for that, but it was really cool) and help the doctor drain a baseball sized abscess on someones neck. You know you want to be a doctor when both Mike and I dropped everything to see it.
It takes us about a twenty minute bus ride or an hour walk to get to work every day but we have really enjoyed it because we get to see all the different aspects of Cusco. When we walk through the main plaza, we are bombarded with tourists and street vendors and the prices are much more expensive, but as we move farther away, it is like entering a third world country. Houses stop having any sort of infrastructure, and they only speak Spanish or Quechua, but that is where Mike has found his new favorite food stop. We get hamburgers for 1 sole and 50 centimos (which is about 50 cents in the US), and she has started calling us by name we go there so often.
We have met some amazing people from all over the world on this trip! Unfortunately a lot of them are only in Cusco for two weeks so a lot of them are leaving this weekend. We all went out for a going away dinner, and yes we tried both Guinea Pig and Alpaca. Two months ago I didn't eat meat and now I'm eating pet rodents.
This weekend, we are going to Arequipa, Peru for a few days to see Colca Canyon, the deepest canyon in the world! Its actually twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and it is going to be a great experience! Still loving every minute we spend here and cannot believe our adventure is already half way over. Thank you to all of our friends and family for the love and support!