Georgia to Cusco

Georgia to Cusco

            After a solid twelve hours of travelling I’m laying in my bed at CerviCusco in Cusco, Peru. I will consider this my first real night of sleeping outside the U.S. in the almost 26 years of my time on earth. Of course, if you take into account the two hours of sleep spent on the cold floor of the Lima airport last night, then this is my second night abroad.

I was somewhat worried that I might not be in this position in the first place when taking into consideration the gamble I took with a buddy pass in order to save money on a flight. Luckily, I found myself on a 5:20 p.m. flight to Lima from Atlanta yesterday. After trying to get as much sleep as possible on the flight we landed in Lima almost right on time and luckily I had my friend Mariah to show me the ins and outs of international airports. Having taken Spanish For Freshmen my senior year of high school (props to Mr. Burke), of course I was adequately prepared to take on a busy South American airport with my depth of Spanish knowledge. I easily spoke with airline officials and waitresses by saying” Hola, buenas dias” and then replying to their conversational Spanish with a blank stare and a desperate need for Mariah to step in and save my, “ Hey I’m American and I know one Spanish phrase” ass.

I realized that the cushion of time I gave myself to get to Lima with the buddy pass was not needed and that I would need to try and change my flight to Cusco for an earlier one. Mariah was on the red eye flight out of Lima so I figured it a good idea to try and hop on the flight with the person who could be my personal translator. I changed my flight for a much cheaper than expected fare and was on cloud nine until I realized they had given me a receipt for my flight with no boarding pass. Luckily I figured this out at the security checkpoint, at the time we were supposed to start boarding the plane. I quickly did my best Home-Alone (Lost in Peru) impression by sprinting to the ticket desk and back to get the matter resolved. I wasn’t even at altitude yet and I was huffing like a fat kid up Hogpen gap. As we were boarding the plane one of the flight attendants told me I had to pay more money (which I didn’t) but also led me to believe that my bag may get left in Lima. After the quick flight to Cusco we waited to see if my bag would show up and what do you know, it was the last to come off the plane, boom!

In Cusco, we (really only Mariah) hustled for a cab and we were taken to CerviCusco, our home for the summer. On the way to the clinic we stopped, started and sped through the streets of Cusco that welcomed me to the developing country. At the clinic, we were met by Juan, Carla and Erica who were very helpful in getting us in our place, and before I knew it I was asleep, only get awoken by hunger and the headache of 11,000 feet above sea level. We left the three, clade-iron gates of the clinic to search for food, stopping to get a fresh pastry for 0.20 soles along the way. We decided upon a small café that looked to have a decent choice of pescado or pollo. We were the only white people in the small café of five tables and as we sit down and wait to order the waitress brings us soup. The irony was great as me and Mariah examined the soup, one of the main dishes, which we were told to initially avoid. We couldn’t disrespect this place so we ate the soup and hoped to keep our good health. The soup was followed by chicken and rice which were amazing. We left paying 3.50 soles each for the two-course meal.

Venturing through a market and hopping a bus for 0.20 soles we made our way back to the clinic where we decided to go help with the remaining patients of the day. The first patient we saw with Dr. Ferris was nine months pregnant. We gave her a breast exam, the first I had ever performed and three cysts were felt, although they were more than likely benign. The next patient was in for a loop excision procedure where basically part of her cervix was removed in order to prevent further damage. This was the first time I had ever seen this procedure done and also the first time I’ve seen the speculum get used on a live person. The next two patients needed Pap tests and as it goes Mariah and I would be the ones to perform the test that we learned three days ago and just now had seen for performed for the first time. No better way to learn than to jump right in and do…

Peru so far has lived up to my expectations and I haven’t been here for more than 48 hours. I can’t wait for what is to come for the next 11 weeks. Buenas Noches!