The Cusco Cough

Turns out after doing a Tough Mudder, Austin City Limits weekend, moving cross country, and traveling to Peru, my immune system was done for. I have caught what my fellow volunteers have dubbed, the ¨Cusco Cough¨. No worries, this cough has not stopped me from doing anything other than running, but the altitude here killed that hobby anyways. Last week, Shelby and I went from being nurses to patients at our own clinic. I was sent home with some free meds. I felt guilty about that, but the doctor insisted.

Working with babies and mamas at our clinic in Santa Rosa has taught me, not only Spanish, but also some interesting things about the culture and society in Peru. For example, one of the nurses I work with asked me, ¨Tienes ijos?¨= Do you have children? I was clearly surprised and confused by the question, so our nurses aid proceeded to explain with gestures: are you married? I ended up surprising THEM when I told them I have no children and am single. Apparently it is very uncommon for a woman my age to not have children (notice the emphasis on having children and not on being necessarily married). At 24, I am the equivalent of a spinster here. My nurse then proceeded, to my understanding, to describe her sons who are apparently  my age and single lol.

Vaccination differences: I´m not going to go into the details of pediatric vaccinations, but I´ve noted the following differences in obligatory vaccinations, which my clinic gives for free. No Hep A or Pertusssis vaccines. I had a little boy come in today with Hepatitis A, jaundiced and enlarged liver and all, AND pertussis. Poor kid. Treatment for both illnesses: plenty of fluids and just ride out viral infections. No chicken pox vaccine. According to the doctor I work with, chicken pox and Hep A are not deadly here, so these vaccinations are not obligatory, but patients can buy them if they want.

Mixing it up in the clinic: After 2 weeks of getting our baby fix and getting the hang of la infermeria, we switched to working with the doctors at the medical side/urgent care of the clinic. The doctors are very nice and love explaining things to us in Spanish. They also like to ask us about health/disease trends in the USA. It´s funny, one of the videos they show in the waiting room includes photos of Norte Americanos eating McDonalds or being fat and sedentary as examples of poor health choices! Yep, Americans are perfect examples to help prevent poor health in Peru. I think my Spanish lessons are going pretty well because I can understand most of what the doctor I´m partnered with says to me.

Adventure in the Sacred Valley:
Last weekend, we went to check out one of the many Incan ruins in the Sacred Valley. Near the village of Moras, we visisted the Moray. The Moray was an ancient Incan agricultural experiment. They are terraces carved out of the valley in a spiral shape. Each terrace was used to grow a different crop with its own micro-ecosystem as determined by the level of the terrace, water, and shade.

Then we visited Las Salineras (salt pools) nearby. Also carved out of the valley, these salt pool terraces take the salt water from the river (yes, saltwater river/lake/water source. same idea as the Great Salt Lake and the Dead Sea) and evaporate the water, leaving behind the salt. Hence, its name ¨Salineras¨.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving this Thursday! Shout out to my family and loved ones! We´re doing ¨Friendsgiving¨at our volunteer house. This is my 3rd Friendsgiving in a row. This time it will be an international potluck. Until next time...Ciao!

Day 1: Babies

After nine hours of flying, a night in Lima, and a 21 hour bus ride, Mallory and I made it to Cusco! (´´Cuscoooo!``). We met up with the rest of our traveling buddies, and my fellow volunteer nurses and I started orientation at the Maximo Nivel office and moved into the San Pedro Family House. There are 16 volunteers living in the house together, along with our wonderful house staff. I feel pretty spoiled having meals cooked for us and being cleaned up after. Hopefully I won´t get too used to this.

The four of us nurses are split up into two different clinics. Whitney and Helena are at a clinic in central Cusco. Shelby and I are at a clinic in Santa Rosa, just outside of Cusco. We commute via combi, which is a public transporation van in which we can cram about 25 passengers, for about 30 minutes for 60 centimos (a quarter in US currency) each way. Not too shabby.

Day 1 at the clinic (as the title says): BABIES! Lots and lots of infants and toddlers. Our clinic, el Centro de Salud Santa Rosa, provides urgent medical care, well-baby and well-child check ups, vaccinations, lab tests, and primary care education for impoverished and uninsured local Peruvians. For those who have worked with us, y´all know we have been working for two years in the hospital, caring for cardiac patients who are mostly older adults. No babies or children. In the past I have freaked out when once in a blue moon I receive a random patient who is a teenager. Obviously this is a big change for me. I´m pretty excited about it, though because it will be a new nursing experience. Plus, babies are really cute.

The clinic is small and government-funded, run completely by volunteer doctors, nurses, pharmacists and aids. It is also completely Spanish-speaking. Nobody speaks a lick of English. Another new experience for me. In the past I have been able to get through a 12 hour shift with my broken spanish and a couple key sentences, ´´Soy tu infirmera por la noche´´, ´´Tienes dolore?``, ``Quieres medicina para dolore?``. Needless to say, I have a lot of Spanish to learn. Working at the clinic and taking Spanish courses monday through friday, hopefully I´ll be at an intermediate speaking level after my six month volunteer commitment is finished.

After 4 days in Cusco, I am loving it. Plus, I´m average height here! What a first! It is a beautifully historic city and it´s small enough for us to walk everywhere we want to go. Our fellow volunteers/housemates are pretty awesome and the locals are friendly.

Stay tuned. I promise not to blog only about boring nursing stuff. I intend to have plenty of traveling adventures.

Ciao