Day Ten our tour begins

Day Ten,

We didn't have a scheduled tour until 2:30. After breakfast we decided to venture out on our own. We just started walking with no particular destination in mind. We just walked looking at the sites and occasionally changing directions. We ran into a hearing aid office that I saw on our drive in from the airport. We stopped in and introduced ourselves to the owner (branch office?). She was very busy with clients, so we said our goodbyes.

 When we decided it was time to head back, we realized that we didn't have a clue where we were. We started walking in what we thought was the general direction of our hotel. We finally asked a gentleman in a business suit for directions. I asked him in my best (shaky) Spanish. To our surprise and relief he spoke English. He said we were not that far away about ten blocks and gave us directions. We thanked him and headed out. By this time we had walked over six miles and we still had the afternoon tour to do. We hailed a cab. As it turned out we were only about four blocks from the hotel. Oh well.

We went inside for lunch before our guide showed up. At the appointed time our guide picked us up. There was another couple on our tour. This was an English speaking tour and apparently not in high demand. The couple were from Israel. The had already been on a morning tour with this guide.

Our guide told us that Cuzco is a city of 400,000 people. The main industry is tourism. The only manufacturing was the Cusquena beer company. The city was the site of the capitol of the Incan empire. Our guide was Inca. He took us to many churches including the main cathedral. He explained that when the Spanish conquered the Inca, they destroyed all the sacred temples. They built churches on top of all the destroyed temples. They used some of the stone to build houses. All that is left is remnants of the temples. What a shame. He also explained that during the inquisition, the Spaniards killed thousands of Inca. They melted down there gold and silver icons, formed them into bars and shipped them off to Spain. Pirates had the last laugh as the ships were raided at sea.

The Spanish basically buried the Inca city and built a classic Spanish city in it's place. It's the same architecture  that exists today. Later he took us to the part of the city where the artists,craftsman, poets and writers live and work.
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It was a very interesting day

This is a replica one of 7 shields of solid gold dedicated to the 7 Inca Gods 

Tour guide with fellow tourists inside remnants of temple to the sun

This was an Inca water fountain and grounds

This is the main Basilica built on top of the Incas most important temple

This is my future satellite office in Cuzco 

This is a water fountain at the end of the Avenue de Sol. In Inca time there was a river where this street is now.

This is the workshop of the famous Peruvian artist Hilario Mendivl 

Day Nine Off to Cuzco

Day Nine

It was hard leaving the team and heading off on our own. It would have been interesting to see the Amazon. But we're heading to a place that's also very interesting Cuzco and Machu Picchu.

Our van picked us up at 9:30 am. The airport is less than 10 miles away. Depending on traffic, it could take between 1 and 3 hours. We were lucky traffic wasn't too bad. We made it through the airport with no problems, boarded our plane for the hour and twenty minute flight.

Coming into the airport, you could really tell you were in the Andes. The cloud level was not that much higher than ground level. It seemed that you could reach up and touch the clouds!

We arrived at Hotel San Jose. It's a very nice place. We settled in and rested for awhile. You could feel the difference in the altitude.  We were now at 12,000 feet. Maureen and I had brought medication for the altitude. We each decided to take a pill as a preventive  measure. We were both hungry, so we ate lunch at the hotel.

We were going to a dinner and folklorico later that night. We ventured out to a local bazaar across from our hotel. It had almost any kind of souvenir that you could imagine. We decided to wait before we bought anything.

Our guide picked us up at 6:30 pm for the drive to the restaurant. It was located in the main square. He dropped us off and told us that he would return at 9:10. We thanked him and went up for dinner. Dinner was buffet style. It had many local delicacies including alpaca and guinea pig. We decided to pass and eat safe stuff like chicken and beef. Meals have always been tough because we can't eat any salads. No raw vegetables. I have been craving a salad for nine days! Anyway the food was very good. During dinner there was a quartet that played traditional Peruvian music. The lead musician and singer played various wooden flutes including the pan flute. He was very good. They also mixed in such songs as John Lennon's Imagine. We bought two of their CD's. Later the folklorico dancers came out. The performed various local dances. It was a quite nice. Our driver picked us up as scheduled and dropped us off at our hotel. We were tired and ready to crash.

Another one of those damn headaches struck me again. This one was probably due to the altitude. At 11:30, I took another altitude pill. It didn't really help, I tossed and turned all night.The night seemed to last forever. When morning finally arrived, I took another altitude pill and some Tylenol.

Hopefully the my headache will go away so that we can enjoy the day.

Day 8

Day 8

Today was the last day of the mission for team one. We travelled one and half hours to the town of Ancon. It's the childhood hometown of Milly Estrada, our logistics coordinator in Peru. Once again this was a modern clinic that was well suited for our clinic. I set up in a nice quiet room. The only problem was that I had no power in the plug outlets. Mike Hayes found a tripped circuit and I was in business.

I actual had a waiting room of sorts in an outside lobby. From the beginning the lobby was full. I worked throughout the day testing and fitting people. I made the decision early on to  test and fit everyone first and then teach them all how to use the aids at the end. This meant that everyone had to wait all day, but it was the only way that I could see everyone.

It became pretty frenetic and I didn't think I would be able to see everyone. I worked through lunch for the third day in a row.  At one point Millie came up and asked how long it would take me to finish. I told her two hours. It was 3 o'clock. She told me that the were closing down at 4. I told her I would do the best I could.

At 4 I looked out into the waiting room. It was still full. I texted Millie, I told her that we needed to talk. She came upstairs and asked me what was up. I told her that there was no way I could see all those people in the time left. She would have to tell some of them that they would have to go home.

She asked if there was someone that could help me. I told her that Brother Lupe knew how to teach the people how to use the aids. She told me she would get him on it. At 5, Millie popped her head in and asked if I could see 4 more people? I told that  I willing was stay as long as it takes but what about the rest of the team? The had the bus all packed and ready to go.

In true team fashion, they all decided to give me the time I needed. They went down to the beach to chill and drink a few beers. They're the best. I worked as fast as I could and fit everyone. It worked out perfect. At the beginning of the mission I started with 40 aids. By the end of the day, I had fit 40 aids.

I packed up quickly got on the bus and off we went. I've never fit that many aids in a day before. But it gave me great satisfaction that I was able to help as many as I could.

Having completed my leg of the mission, I'm looking forward to going with Maureen to Cuzco and Matsu Piccu for five days of rest before we head for home. I'll continue to post and send pictures of Cuzco and Matsu Piccu. My thoughts and prayers will be with team two as they head to Esperanza. At the edge of the Amazon jungle.

For team one it's Mission Accomplished!!!

Day Seven

I'm a little behind posting because I haven't had internet access for a couple of days.

Day Seven

I got up early and went across the street to Starbucks to get a decaf and croissant with egg and ham. It’s great to be able to drink good decaf coffee again! I returned to the apartment to get ready to go to the clinic. The rest of the team was taking a well deserved day off. Maureen and I were going back to the clinic that I went to on Thursday. They had several people lined up for me to see. We had a cab scheduled for 9:30 to pick us up.

While waiting at the curb for our cab, Maureen heard a voice call out her name. It was Jazmin, a parent of two of her students! Maureen knew she was in Lima visiting family. She had hoped to meet up with her and see the kids. Here she was on a bicycle riding down our street. What a coincidence!! We talked briefly and arranged to meet later. Our cab arrived and we headed off to the clinic.

At the clinic I saw the last lady that I tested on Thursday. It was too late to fit her with aids and I told her that I would return. She works there and smiled when

she saw me. I fit her with two aids. She was very appreciative. The next lady also worked at the clinic. She told me that she hadn’t heard from her right ear since childhood. Her left ear was having difficulties also. I tested her hearing confirming no usable hearing in her right ear and a moderate to severe loss in her left. I programmed a hearing aid for the left ear. I took her out to the lobby to see how traffic noise sounded to her. She started to tear up. She said that this was the first time that she was able to hear sounds so clearly in a long time. I told her that it must have been hard working in the office and not being able to hear well. She told me that she tried to read lips the best she could. I told her that she wouldn’t have to worry about that any longer. She gave me a hug. It moments like this that makes me glad I went on this mission.

The next person I saw was a Sister that works there. She had sat outside the exam room the previous day I worked here. She took notes on everyone I saw and made arrangements to have people seen that I had wanted referred to doctors. Now it was her turn! After testing her I fit her with a pair of hearing aids. She said that she was very grateful and gave me scaplets for Maureen and I.The last person was an old man who had been sitting there with his granddaughter since I had arrived. It had been several hours. I thanked them both for their patience. I tested him and fit him with an aid for his left ear. The right ear was okay. The clinic was already closed.  They were waiting for me to finish so that they could leave. I showed the granddaughter how to use the aid so that she could teach him. Maureen and I hurriedly packed up. They called us a cab and we headed back to the apartment.

Maureen called the Jazmin on the phone and arranged to meet when we got back to the apartment. She took us a few blocks from our apartment to a small mall on the beach. Maureen and I were very hungry. We hadn’t stopped for lunch at the clinic. Maureen hadn’t eaten anything yet today and I had the croissant. We were going out to dinner tonight with the team, so we decided to eat something light to hold us over until dinner.

We met back up with the team and went out for an end of team ones mission dinner. We met some of the people from team two that were joining Mike, Aileen and some of the team one members. They are going to travel down the Amazon to a remote site. First they're taking a plane and then a 90 mile boat ride. They'll be sleeping on elevated  beds to avoid snakes. Boy I'm sorry I'm not going on this leg of the trip. We all said good night. We have one more day of our mission left.
I don't have any pictures to share of today's clinic so I thought that I would share pictures of the church I talked about in one of my first blogs. I had been requested.

We just keep on truckin'

Day Six A tale of two cities (worlds)

Before I start my post today I want to take time out to mention my wife Maureen. Although this is my blog, I want to comment on the work she's been doing in the pharmacy. All week she's been working in the pharmacy helping to count and sort pills for the prescriptions that the doctors are writing. It's probably the busiest place in our clinic. And the last to finish at the end of the day. She never stops. When we get back and others are relaxing, she helps to sort the drugs for the nexts days work.

Yesterday four of us, Mike, Milly, Brother Lupe and I split off from the rest of the group to head into downtown Lima. We got up at 4:30 to leave early to make the 7:30 meeting of the Rotary Club of Lima Sunrise. With traffic, it takes about an hour and a half to get there.

When we got to downtown Lima I was a little shocked by what I saw. I had been use to seeing rural areas and a lot of poverty. Downtown Lima is a typical large city with tall office buildings, clean sidewalks and many cafes and restaurants. It seems like a very nice city, but worlds away from the conditions we've been experiencing all week. I commented to Mike that even the buses are different. In the area we've been, people are crammed like sardines with people trying to get somewhere to work. Perhaps in a restaurant or on a construction site. In Lima, buses were half empty, people sitting down sipping a cup of coffee listening to music on their I phones.

We got a little lost finding our way to the Phoenix club where the Rotary club meets. We made it on time though. The Phoenix club founded in 1876, looks to be very exclusive. We rang the doorbell and a man in uniform greeted us. He directed us to a set of couches to wait. Shortly Hans, president of the Rotary club came out to greet us. He showed us to a back dining room. What a difference between where we've been use to eating! They had a nice buffet with eggs, sausage, melon toast and great coffee (I'd been missing that all week). This Rotary club is the only English speaking club in Lima ( thank God I didn't have to test my shaky Spanish). Their club is only 10 members, smaller than mine. There were only two of the members present as most of the others were travelling.

We had a nice breakfast and talked about common challenges in trying to get our respective projects funded. I told them that we are trying to partner with a local club to help coordinate our missions to Lima better. They seemed receptive. After thanking them for breakfast, we headed off to our days work at the Casa de Hogar senior center. Here again another contrast. Unlike the dirt and cement sites we've been working in, this was a large clean building with a professional staff. We hurried to setup and get started. I was located in a nice private quiet office. They lined the people outside in chairs and gave them each a number to wait their turn. A manager had to continually keep people from cutting the line. Finally, I was able to do the work I came down here to do! The people were great. They had to wait a long time to see me. I'm use to my automated audiometer in my office. I was tedious manually inputing data into the computer to program the aids. I tested nineteen people and fit twelve hearing aids. Everyone was grateful to be able to hear again. It was a long day. We closed the place down at seven. I couldn't get to everyone. I'm  hoping to go back on Saturday. It's our day off but I still have people to see and hearing aids to fit. We arrived back at our house at 9:00 tired but satisfied with what we accomplished.

Today we break camp here and head into Lima after working at the clinic that the sisters have built in Chosica.

And so it

goes

Day Five

Our location for day five changed at the last minute. I'm not sure where we were suppose to go, but it didn't matter. There is need everywhere. I can't overstate how poor the people are in this area. The location we went to today was similar to our first day. Up a steep hill. Although today's hill was so steep that we had to get out of the van about a half a mile from the top. The van couldn't make it.

We setup at a rec center that consisted of a large basketball court. It was better because it was all cement. Although today there was no power in the entire community. So I couldn't do any hearing tests once again. Very frustrating. Although I did keep busy helping Mike with the eyeglasses. We saw a lot of kids today. I was even able to help some of them with distance glasses.

I did my Donald Duck for the kids. What a mistake! All day it was Pato Donald Pato Donald. We had fun. It's better to view the environment through a child's eyes. They find joy and fun anywhere.

As I said before the hills are very steep. They cut terraces into the side of the hills for the houses. They pour cement stairs in different sections for people to get to their houses. The picture below doesn't really show how steep they are. It's amazing to see kids as young as three traverse these stairs.

Our lunch was provided by two nice ladies. They cooked us chicken, lima beans, potatoes and sweet potatoes. In the picture below you can see that they cooked the food in large pots on the side of the trail. It was delicious.

They recently had a presidential election here. There are very few political posters on buildings or billboards. What you see are painted walls. Like graffiti. Most homes, schools and apartment buildings are surrounded by high brick walls. It's these walls that the political ads are painted on.   They're everywhere. I have included one below.

Tomorrow four of us are going into Lima. It's about an hour and a half away. We are leaving at 5:30 am to make the Rotary Club of Lima Sunrise meeting at 7:30 am. We are hoping to partner with them on future missions. Afterward we are going to the Casa Hogar de San Martin de Porres. It is a senior center in Lima. This a regular clinic with a full staff. I'm hoping to test a lot of people and give them the aids I brought. Mike is coming with the glasses and low vision devices. We are spending the entire  day in Lima while the rest of the team visits another site.

til next time

Day 4

The second full day of the mission started a lot better. Our transportation arrived on time and we travelled an hour to our next location. Distance wise the sites are not that far away, it just takes time to negotiate all the traffic.

Our second site was a little rec center with an adjacent soccer field. It was a lot easier to setup and work because everything was paved and standard buildings. We saw less people today, more mothers and kids. One women was very sick and our paramedic Tom gave her several doses of IV fluids and medications. She had recently had an operation that her family paid cashed for. She is diabetic and the surgery site was infected. She will need to return to the hospital.

I had several people that needed hearing tests, but I couldn't perform them because the only place with power that I could setup was an open air balcony next to the soccer field. Too noisy! We arranged for them to be tested on Friday when we will be in a real clinic. I spent the day helping Mike with the glasses and trying to teach him Spanish. Talk about the blind leading the blind!

It was a more relaxed pace and during the slow times some of our team played soccer with the litle kids. It was a lot of fun.

We will see what tomorrow brings.