It´s never just a blister

It was late and I was tired. So I bathed and went to bed. I was all snug in my bed when my foot began to itch. I went to scratch it and felt a bump. So I go and grab my flashlight to examine my foot, thinking I had a clump of mud stuck to it. I look and all I see is a blister. So I lay back down and go to sleep.

The next day I am hanging in a hammock worry free with my feet all up and relaxed when I see a string dangling from my blister. I lean forward to remove it. As soon as I touch it the string retracts back into my foot. It is at that point that I got grossed out. I had a worm of some sorts living in the bottom of my foot. So I go show some people and Kaitlyn volunteers to remove it.

We go outside where the light it nice and bright. Everyone gathers to see this freak show. They even bring along their cameras. It´s even more funny because the families of two of the other SM´s were visiting and just grossed out by what happened to my foot. Anyways, as soon as Kaitlyn cracks open the house of my worm, eggs start pouring out of my foot. Every time we squeezed the thing more eggs would leave. It got to the point where there were not anymore eggs leaving my foot. So we called it quits.

Well, the doctor comes by later that night and I decide to show him my foot for good measure. He says that the egg sac ruptured in my foot and there is still stuff in there. So he goes and takes some sort of clamp things and starts tearing into my foot. It felt like he was pulling out my flesh. And again, everyone gathers to watch. After what seemed like forever, the doctor gets done. He says it´s all gone. I ask him again just to make sure, cause the thought of a worm traveling around random places in my body and laying eggs concerns me. He reassures me he got ¨todito todito¨.

Lesson learned: Always wear tennis shoes in muddly places.

some pics

Well, here are a few pics. One is me in a chacra, the other I am with one of my families and her daughter's birthday party, and the other is the whole group at clinic. ENJOY!!!

La Rosita

I retreated outside the church, running away from the mass of people inside waiting to pass consult with the doctor. I just needed a moment to myself, one little moment. As I escape to a nice quiet place I sit down. However, two minutes later a slightly big shadow comes and towers over me. I turn around expecting to see a tall person, but only see a 4'9" little Peruvian woman. With a big smile on her face she calls sits down next to me and talks. I don't quite remember about what, but that was my first encounter with Rosa.

At the end of clinic Jenni and the Doc were trying to find a pension where Emily and I could eat while we were staying in Ciudad Constitucion. After all was said and done, it turned out that we were going to be eating with little Rosa. She was very gracious and welcomed us into her home.

We were all very polite and the beginning. She would feed us and even wash our clothes. It was great. This woman took her job as our caregivers very seriously. She was very loving.

Throughout those weeks I was reminded that everyone has a little freak in them waiting to burst out, especially Rosa. She had two little parakeet birds that she would treat very strangely. She painted them with nail polish on their beaks and feathers, saying that she could better see them this way. Also, she would hack at their wing with a knife and laugh while doing it. One day she got carried away and hacked off one of the little birds toes. However, on one tragic day, one of her parakeets were eaten and not to long afterwards, Rosa ate the second one. Just kidding. They were eaten by a cat, but there is no evidence that discredits suicide being an option with those birds.

Rosa would also get so excited when she would see us that she would start skipping/running to greet us. It was really funny. She was almost like a big kid. She was always introducing us to these weird men. We weren't really sure why, but we got some fruit out it.

All in all though, Rosa was a sweet eccentric woman who took good care of us.

In a Nutshell

Well, I survived! Six weeks later we arrived safe and sound back in Pucallpa. Before, Emily and I were in Ciudad Constitucion, or one of the biggest hangouts of the crack drug lords. haha. Cocaine just happens to be the cash crop of that part of the country. This campaign was quite the little adventure. We went down there expecting to stay in a nice hostel that was to have our own bathroom and shower. We were planning on staying in the luxury side of things. But like most things, PLANS CHANGE. Where we were staying was up in the air until the very last night and then it was decided that we were going to be camping out for the remainder of our stay. I was a little wary about that, but all was well. Ended up that we got to pitch our tents up inside the church, so that offered some protection against the rain.

We had a plastic tarp where we could take bucket baths from the well. That was actually nice. We had to use Emily's poncho as a door or else we would have put on a little show for the locals. One night while I was bathing I saw three monkeys walk across the power line. Also, the stars were amazing to see from the place where we bathed. It turns out I like bucket bathes, except when it came to washing my hair.

Our bathrooms were a little less than desireable. I would have preferred an outhouse I think. We had a wooden shack that had a tube in the middle of the floor, and that was were we had to do our business. It was really gross and there were a lot of flies and roaches and spiders. But like everything else, it becomes part of your routine and you forget that you are supposed to be disgusted with it.

Our very fist week was the most frusterating. We had to go and find all the people that we made lists of from clinic. This turned out to be a failure. Nobody knew where they lived. The directions we got were not good for anything. We took 2 hours looking for a house that was out in the middle of the jungle. We eventually just decided to go door to door and get people, cause we were pushing our time limits.

We started out with 20 families in the program. At the end, however, we only had 10. According to our director we are expected to only keep 1/3 of the families we start out with, so I guess in a manner of speaking, we went above and beyond what was expected. The families were very precious. We developed some good relationships. I am going to miss them.

We also had a children's program. The kids here were really cute, but little brats. They really tried my patience most of the time. I had to take a moment and say a little pray so that I wouldn't be so frusterated. There were two little girls who were especially adorable but mischievious. They were both 7 and loved to hug us every chance they got. I'm sure I will eventually miss them ;)

It´s Been Awhile

It has been a long time since I have written a blog, I know. But I have been living in a little Peruvian village with internet that would make dial-up seem fast. I promise I will update this blog with more info once I return to Pucallpla in a couple of weeks. So check back in a couple of weeks!

God is my strength...

Well, our first mini public health campaign came to an end today. I would have to say that this campaign was one of the hardest things I have done. It is not in my nature to go door to door and talk with people. Maybe I had one too many bad Jehovah´s Witnesses experiences (j/k). It´s just not my personality. This made the beginning of the campaign really difficult for me. I almost dreaded every day having to go door to door. I was wondering how in the world I was going to do this for 9 more months. It was even harder that my Spanish isn´t perfect and that my side-kick didn´t even know the simple things. I was at a loss. I then realized that I couldn´t do this by myself in a thousand years. But let me tell you, God is awesome. I don´t know why I didn´t go to him right away. I have the problem of trying to do everything myself. I am too independent at times. However, I was at my breaking point one day and just laid it all out before Him. I prayed for God to give me the strength and the know how to get His work done. I also told Him that I realize that I can´t do any of this alone. After that, I felt peaceful. I made it a daily habit to lay it all before God every morning, cause I need Him every day. The rest of the campaign went a lot better. Granted, it still had its problems, but I was in a better position to deal with them. I don´t know why the easiest solution is always the hardest to realize. But now I know.

Attack of the Animals

Emily and I were at 38 on a nice afternoon awaiting the arrival of the rest of our crew who were out at another clinic. They came back and one of the first things said to us is as follows, "Guess what? We got a monkey". All I could think was, "Oh great. It´s going to poop over everything." I can´t quite remember the name of the monkey, but I like to call him loving words like : the terror, the rat, fur-ball, or whatever pops into my head. I will admit that he does look cute, but he´s so dirty. He poops and pees everywhere. They put a diaper made out of a sock on him, which does help, but doesn´t completely get rid of the problem...especially when it gets full. Our Rotweiler, Cheva, almost ate him a couple of times. So we´ll see how long this monkey lives. Poor thing.

Another animal story...

I was sitting on my bed packing up my belongings to move to a different house during this public health campaign. The beds where we sleep at Km38 are bunk beds and I am on the bottom bunk. Well, out of the corner of my eye I see a dark blob. I don´t think much of it at first, but then I begin to wonder what it could be. I get a little closer only to realize that there is a bat sleeping in the corner of my bed. I run out to the main room and tell someone. At the same time, I tell Emily and she begins to scream cause she´s up in the top bunk. Well, we all pile out of the room while our other brave SM, David, puts on some gloves and removes the creature. Turns our it was a vampire bat. I´m starting to wonder if maybe I should have gotten that rabies vacination....

The other animals you see in the picture are our doggies. The big scary one´s name is Cheva. She likes to eat sheep, and aspires to one day get the cat and monkey. The other cute dog is Lola. She is just a silly little things that likes to jump and play with the sheep. I need to put a picture up of the cat, Joey. He likes to jump on peoples heads and just chill there for a bit.