Peru

Saturday morning I woke up early, packed up the rest of my stuff and headed to the streetcar in New Orleans. I arrived at Dr. Seeliger´s house a little bit early and ended up waking him and Tim up. After they had quickly shoved their stuff into bags we got a taxi and headed to the airport. We met up with some of the group in Dallas and more in Lima. We got in around midnight and spent the next few hours at the airport before boarding a regional flight to Cuzco.

Cuzco´s city center was beautiful with cobblestone roads, old cathedrals and stone buildings. I spent the first morning sleeping but ventured out that afternoon with some other group members to explore. We found a nice café, had some empanadas and got a tour of the cathedral. That night we had a really nice dinner before going out to an Irish Pub for a drink or two. The next morning I exchanged some money before we headed to Andahuaylillas, where we would spend the next ten days.

We are staying at a Jesuit-run community center that also functions as a school and playground for the children in the community. We have taken over three buildings located in the back of the compound. The first functions as our pharmacy. The second is being used by the optometrists and the third is our waiting room and clinic. Above the clinic are our romos. Each room has two bunk beds, lots of blankets and a shower. Down the hall are three shared toilets.

Most of our clinic days follow a similar pattern. We wake up between 7 and 8 and have breakfast, which consists of bread, jelly, ham and cheese. Half of the group stays here and sees patients, while the other half goes out to a near-by community to run a clinic there. Clinic runs from 8:30 until 3 or 4 with a break for dinner. In the evenings we have dinner and then sit around the bonfire drinking cervezas and listening to music.

I have mostly been working with a first year medical student named Eric. He translates and we work through the cases together before running it by one of the attendings or residents. He is great to work with and we have been some really interesting cases. Yesterday we saw a little girl with a burn on her foot, a man with otitis externa, and a woman in heart failure with pitting edema, pulmonary edema and a 3rd heart sound. Today we saw a woman with a bleeding stomach ulcer, a victim of child abuse and a man with possible Lamber-Eaton síndrome.

We have three more clinic days left and I hope to keep learning as much as I can. More to come.

Northern India

The last 10 days of my trip to India were interesting to say the least and I would like to take this time to share some of the more curious stories. It took me a while to write this post but I think that the time has allowed me to look back on India with fonder memories and to look at the humorous side of things.

Before I left Manipal I had the chance to play in a volleyball tournament with Sara, a friend of mine from the Netherlands. Volleyball for this tournament took some getting used to. The basic idea was the same but the rules and the way they approached the game was different. We were only allowed to underhand serve and we played on a clay court that was ten feet shorter on either side than normal. In the early rounds smashing (hitting) the ball was not allowed. One-hand tipping was also not allowed. And finally they just had different strategies than we did. We made it to the third round and had a great time playing.

That weekend I said my goodbyes and boarded an overnight bus to the airport in Bangalore. The seats on this bus lean all the way back into the person behind you. Which works great when the person behind you does not have super long legs. I am certain the man in front of me did not understand why I would yell out anytime he leaned back and why I kept kicking his seat every time I moved. The road was windy and I did not get much sleep. Around 3:30 in the morning our bus broke down by the side of the road. After an hour on the side of the road, I boarded another bus that took me to a local bus station. From there, the bus company provided a taxi to take us to the airport.


I had booked a round-trip flight to Delhi with plans on taking a bus to Jaipur to meet up with my friend Crystal and her friend Paulette. The flight went well and upon arrival in Delhi I went to the pre-paid taxi stand (cause they are supposed to take you where you want to go) and got a cab for the bus station. I had a particular bus that I wanted to get on that was recommended by some friends. Instead, the taxi driver waved down a bus in the middle of the highway, put my bag on the bus and said "here's your bus" and demanded 50 rupees. I protested but it was clear he was not going to take me to the bus station. So I climbed through the window into the front of the bus with an Indian girl and the bus driver and prepared myself for the 5 hour ride.

The ride was fairly uneventful besides the bad roads and multiple stops where the fare guy in the back would lean out the door and shout "Jaipur, Jaipur, Jaipur" as we slowly drove past the bus stops. There was one bathroom break. The driver took this opportunity to roll a joint and proceeded to smoke it as we continued down the now dark highway towards Jaipur. When I arrived I headed to the Lemon Tree Inn.

Crystal and Paulette arrived the next day. We spent the next few days exploring the city of Jaipur and taking a day trip to Pushkar to see the temple and ride the camels. Our final day in Jaipur was spent on a day trip out to the village of Rusirani with a quick stop at the Abernathy step-wells. It was arguably the best day of my trip. We spent time talking to the family about topics like farming, the distribution of work, education, marriage and smartphones. Crystal and I took a turn helping in the kitchen while Paulette doted on a cute baby. We had a tour of the area and several cups of tea. At the end they gave us gifts. It was a long day but a good look in life in rural India.

We went to Delhi next. I stayed at a place called Amaxx Inn, while Crystal and Paulette stayed farther from the city center. The first night I went to the sound and light show at the Red Fort that chronicled the history of the Fort and city. The next two days I met up with Crystal and Paulette and toured Delhi and then took a day trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. 

The next day I went to the airport and got on a flight back to Bangalore. I stayed at a nice home stay in the heart of the city before heading back to the airport the next morning to fly home. Unfortunately there was a problem with my visa and after being told to sit in the corner for a while, I was told that I could not leave India today. They took my boarding pass, stamped cancel all over it and retrieved my luggage from the airline. Luckily I still had a lot of credit on my phone and began making phone calls and sending text message to the people at Manipal and my boyfriend Warren back in the states.

I ended up spending a lot of money to fly back to Manipal to spend three hours gathering documents and filling out paperwork and another three hours waiting for the gentleman at the police station to sign it. I did get to see some of my friends again and shower (hello Sara, Thjis and Inge) before flying back to Bangalore. I spent the night sleeping at the airport and was thankfully able to return to the United States. Never has it felt so good to be home.

Looking back I am glad that I went to India. I learned a lot about myself and the things that I need to work on. I made some good friends and had some really great days and nights. Thanks again to everyone for the support.