Blogs from Huancayo, Junin, Peru, South America - page 3

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 a series of switchbacks and is barely wide enough for two cars to travel on it. The trip is absolutely breathtaking- it starts with the drier brown mountains characteristic of the higher altitudes. They are ... read more

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 during my day to day activities. the first time I saw a herd of sheep coming up my street I was in shock, what on earth was a heard of sheep doing on my mostly ... read more

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 survival rate of children brought into the Pediatric unit is high, it is known as a happy specialty. Pediatrics here is the unit that is usually the most depressing. The kids are still troopers, but their illnesses are more severe and ... read more

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. I was surprised by how clean the lab smelled. It may have something to do with the open windows at the top of the walls in the anatomy lab. Everything here is open air: the ... read more

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 able to stitch up. He had refused all tests and care due to his drunken state. The medical students were more than helpful with translating and explaining the diagnosis and treatment plan for the patients ... read more