I started this journal entry while I was still in Peru, but unfortunately have not been able to publish until now. Please Excuse the delay and enjoythe stories from one of my favorite side trips I took while in Peru. I must first apologize because I am a little behind on journal entries. We went to the jungle Friday June 26- Saturday June 27. We traveled from Huancayo three hours to La Merced, a jungle town. To get there we had to travel up and over the mountains and then descend down into the jungle. The road to the jungle is [View Full Entry]

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I just wanted to take so time to write about the amazing animals in Peru. I will write in my next blog about the animals I saw while in the jungle, totally fascinating, but I want to write now about the animals of my everyday life in Huancayo, Peru. I mentioned in my last blog that much of the Junin Region or state has an agriculture economy. Huancayo as a district has many smaller towns that are completely Ag based. even within the city of Huancayo there are small farmers. This leads to an awful lot of animal interactions or viewings [View Full Entry]

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This week has been full of exciting opportunities. I was in OB/GYN for rounds which was really my first exposure to the world of OB/GYN, and I have found it very interesting here. I really do not have anything other than my medical anthropology articles to compare it to. I would say that at least 50% of the women in the postpartum area have had c-sections. Probably at least 35% are under the age of twenty.Both of these numbers seem incredibly high!!! Prenatal care is available but most women, especially teen moms do not take advantage of the free care. The [View Full Entry]

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This weekend was beautiful! We spent Saturday touring all of the smaller towns within and around Huancayo. Our first stop was the textile village of Hualhuas. Here a textile worker showed us how the llama and alpaca and sheep wool was all made into the yarn that they make everything from. He also showed us several plants that grow in the valley that he uses for dyes. The products were beautiful. The big wall hangings and blankets were very soft and very expensive because they are woven either from alpaca or llama fur and they took ten 10-11hour days to complete. [View Full Entry]

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First of all, here is a link to Derek's photo album: http://picasaweb.google.com/daugz14/PeruPhotos?authkey=Gv1sRgCOKK7MWz9I-4zwE&feat=email# He is the only one to have successfully loaded photos. They include pictures from our two hours in Lima, the bus ride to Huancayo, the outside of the hospital, the fluoride treatment day, playing with the kids at Rosario orphanage, the concert and the hike, please enjoy! Now on to this week. This week I have been doing rounds in the Pediatrics unit. What I should tell you is that pediatrics here is not like pediatrics in the US. In the US the sur [View Full Entry]

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Saturday marked the end of my first week in Peru, and what better way to end that first week than by attending a big concert in Huancayo Saturday night and then hiking Huaytapallana. Saturday morning we woke up and went to Es Salude (the insurance hospital) to hand out fliers about donating blood. It was a very beautiful morning and people were actually very receptive to our message. A couple of people actually came up to us and said that they were going to go and donate blood now. Sunday was Global Blood Donors Day. The rest of Saturday we hung [View Full Entry]

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Wow! The last few days have been crazy and so much fun! When I left off I was about to attend an anatomy lab at the public university here in Huancayo. Each of us split up to join a group of medical students. Currently they are studying the muscles, arteries and veins and nerves of the face, eye and neck. My group spent time teaching me each nerve, muscle, artery and vein in these areas in Spanish and then quizzed me. I am not sure when the last time was that my brain worked so hard. It was an amazing experience. [View Full Entry]

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This morning was awesome. In the hospital I was in the surgery unit for rounds and then watched some procedures such as getting a history, cleaning an open surgical wound, re-stitching up a surgical wound, and the cleaning of lots of intestinal incisions due to blocked bowels and in one case a stabbing wound. The knife had punctured his intestines and so he had to go into surgery on Saturday to clean and repair the holes. Another man had just been admitted at 4am, completely drunk and combative with contusions all over him including one on his head which they were [View Full Entry]

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Hola, So I know I already wrote today but I thought I should tell you all about the amazing bus ride that I took from Lima to Huancayo yesterday. It was seven hours long, which I know probably brings up horrible memories of cramped roadtrips or school trips for many of you, but the bus was very comfortable. We were on the second level and at the very front so I could see everything. Leaving Lima was the first time I really felt like I was out of the United States. On the outskirts of Lima are hillsides of homes that [View Full Entry]

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Hello everyone. I am here in Huancayo, Peru!!! I made it, my suitcase still has not but it should come tomorrow. This morning I sat in on some consultations with a rheumatologist, how amazing. The people of Huancayo are very kind and sharing. This afternoon we will be planning english lessons for the coming up month that we will tech to students agaes 8-11. Lots of love and write soon! Caitlin [View Full Entry]

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