The last day in Ayacucho :(

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Let me first start by telling you what a fabulous night we had last night. We had invited everyone in the house, including CCS staff and their spouses (this meant the drivers, coodinators, maids, and cooks). We wanted to properly say thanks for taking care of us for the past two weeks. They are so wonderful. It will really be difficult to say goodbye to them all tonight (we leave early tomorrow)

So our pub crawl began with 8 or 9 people to start. We all had a cerveza at the restaurant that is connected to our building. Some had guitar lessons or spanish classes so they we meeting up with us later. From there we walked a block to this little outside (tiki bar) looking place. We had another cerveza and some others joined us there. We had an 8 o´clock reservation at a wonderful restaurant. One of the girls from the house, Lynn had made a reservation for 35, but we had preordered our meals, so when we got there at 8 we hardly had to wait. They had set us up outside under a tent with a loooooong table to accommodate our group. Mostly all of the staff was there. It was so wonderful to see them outside of their work. The food was delicious. Everyone was happy. What a great night! But it doesn´t end there. After diiner some of us decided to go to a local discoteque. I was thrilled that many of the CCS staff and their spouses we up for a little dancing. When we entered the discoteque it was relatively empty...still early for Peruvian standards(9:30). After a beer, some of us were ready to dance. Up until this point the dance floor was empty, but one we got out there, more and more joined us. It was such a fabulous time. We danced until 12ish and headed home.

Today, I went to the health clinic with my friend Rebecca. I was going to go to the nursing home, but several others decided to go there. Rebecca and I observed the patient visits. I wish I knew more spanish, but from what I could gather there were a few colds, a few urinary tract infections, and one man with a deteriorated disk in his back, due to trackor work. We got called into a few emergencies. One young woman we thought was going blind because her eyes wouldn´t follow the flashlight, but it turns out that we think she was drunk. Another was a very old Quechua woman. She had fallen a scraped her nose and chin. She was so frail it almost brought me to tears. I was also very touched by the doctor´s bed side manner. He was wonderful with each patient and took a lot of time to explain things to them. He was great!

This afternoon a few of us are going to walk the town for some last pictures! Of course, I´ve been packed since yesterday. I´m happy to be going home, but sad to leave as well!! Chao from Ayacucho!!! See you all soon.

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