Heather Danysh
I'm a graduate student in International Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. For the next 10 months I will be in Cusco, Lima, and mostly Tumbes, Peru, working on a project studying malnutrition in children (and taking some adventures on the side!).hdanysh
Travel Blog Posts
‘I drink good coffee every morning...it comes from a place that’s far away...’
Published: April 24th 2009South America » Peru » San Martín » Tarapoto
April 24th 2009
I know I haven’t blogged since Christmas (Sorry!!). A lot has happened since I’ve been back...I won’t bore you with all the details, but in nutshell I’ve been completing the last stage of my project, writing my master’s ‘thesis’, traveling a little, and trying to enjoy the time I have left. It’s really strange to me that my time here is coming to an end…although I’m extremely excited to go back home, Peru has sort of become a part of me, and it will be hard to leave knowing I may not be coming back (although I do hope to stay involved with the work here). It’s also exciting knowing that I’m graduating a month from now…my master’s essay has been approved and I’m officially done! Now I can stop paying Hopkins the big bucks, and ... read more
November 16th 2008
Hello, All! I am finally catching up on my blog, and am posting the last part of Brian’s trip in Peru (sorry for the long delay). Brian was here to visit for about a month from mid-Sept. to mid-Oct. and the last week he was here we took a vacation to Cusco and Machu Picchu (a must-see when visiting Peru). For my fellow Facebookees, Brian has already posted a lot of pictures from our trip on his Facebook, but I assure you there are at least a few different ones in this entry. Also, sorry but this entry is a bit picture-intensive (THERE ARE 3 PAGES OF PICS...SO BE SURE TO SCROLL THROUGH). Those of you who don’t remember and are having a hard time keeping up with all the places that I’ve traveled to in ... read more
October 15th 2008
Hola everyone!! Brian has been in Peru now for 3 weeks! Although I’ve been super busy with work since he’s been here, he’s been keeping himself busy as he’s beginning to write his 3rd paper for publication (he just recently published two papers about his research…Go, Brian!) But on Sundays we’ve been able to explore the Tumbes area a bit. Because I’ve been in Peru now for over 3 months, and my 90 day Tourist Visa is expiring, I needed to cross the Peru-Ecuador border to ‘renew’ my visa and get another 90 days here as a ‘tourist’. Right after Brian arrived in Peru we ventured to the border which is 20 km from Tumbes. Interestingly, this border is the least controlled border I’ve ever seen and we had to literally search for the Peru immigration ... read more
September 14th 2008
Hello, Everyone! Sorry it's been awhile since I last posted, life has been busy here. It has occurred to me that my entries are all full of the trips that I've taken. Just to make sure you know, I am actually here in Peru (not just playing), but I post the things that I think are interesting. To give you an update on my project, over the last two months I have spent all of my time writing (and re-writing) and planning (and re-planning) and meeting with numerous people about my project, as well as setting everything up to actually start my project. Although this process is taking so much longer than I anticipated, I am learning a lot, and beginning to realize that this is how it always is when starting a new project. There ... read more
August 13th 2008
Monday, July 28th, is el Día de Independencia in Peru which basically means that the world stops and no one works for four whole days (kinda like 4th of July in the States). Some friends and I decided to spend our 4 days of liberation in a small beach town called Huanchaco (about a 10 hour bus ride north of Lima). The first two days we spent just hanging out at the beach (which is one of my favorite things to do at the fault of my mother ). The first day we really wanted to go swimming in the ocean despite the frigid temperature (of the water and the air), but we went for it anyways. I also went surfing for the very first time in my life, which is hard to believe considering that ... read more
July 21st 2008
I apologize in advance for the lengthiness and influx of pictures in this entry, but I've done a lot since last time. These pictures are from my last week in Cusco and my first week in Lima. I spent my last week of Cusco trying to make the most of every moment and seeing everything I could see and doing everything that I could do. I went on a tour via horseback which was really fun (although my butt was sore for two days after). I didn't realize you used so many muscles when horseback riding. The horses took us to some of the more remote ruins in Cusco (the ones that aren't quite as touristy as the ones I saw in the Sacred Valley -- last entry). There were some awesome views of the mountains ... read more
July 8th 2008
I spent the past weekend taking advantage of how close I am to so many Incan ruins and playing the tourist role. My roommate, Alex, and I traveled around Cusco and the Sacred Valley. Saturday we went to the market here in Cusco which was quite an experience. The market is enormous and there are hundreds of people from the 'campesino' (the sorrounding rural areas--farmers and such) selling fruits, vegetables, maize, beans, and fresh meat, amongst other things. We definitely turned a lot of heads as we were probably the only non-Peruvians there! On Saturday afternoon we took the City Tour with a guide around Cusco...we went to Incan museums and ruins, and Catholic Cathedrals. The Cathedral here in Cusco (you can see a picture in my last entry) is pretty incredible. There are a dozen ... read more
July 1st 2008
I arrived in Cusco a few days ago, and so far have been having a great time! I am here for two weeks to learn Spanish. Another American student, Alex, and I are staying with a host family here, the Fernandez Baca family. They are an older couple, Monica and Jorge, with three grown children, and the nicest people. They have been very welcoming and very willing to accustom us to the culture. They speak no english, so living with them will definitely help me to improve my spanish (which is desperately needed). It is also nice having another American students also living with the same host family. On Sunday, the family had a family reunion, unlike any family reunion that I've ever been to. There were about 150 people there!! There were so many people ... read more
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