Welcome: Doctor Carl

Less than a month and a half to go. I just spent the last week on medical missions in a town called Ayaviri. Ayaviri is a small mountain town located at just under 13,000 feet. Although the town itself is somewhat unattractive looking, the surrounding area is beautiful.

I wish this picture did justice to the beauty of Ayaviri.

I took a 20 hour bus trip to meet up with around forty-five volunteers to help provide medical care to the citizens. The majority of volunteers were medical professionals in various fields such as OB/GYN, family medicine, and dentistry. Although I had no experience, I became a dental assistant for a day, helping clean tools and watching the dentist pull teeth. Witnessing the doctor pull teeth and put gaping holes in peoples mouths made me not want to be a dentist. Either way, I wish I had taken a picture of doctor Carl. All I can say is, I looked legit. The rest of the days I either escorted people to doctors or guarded the entrance so we didn't become overcrowded with people.

We also didn't want the alpacas getting inside.

The trip itself was very tiring to me but was also extremely rewarding. Over the course of four days we helped 1,300 patients with various illnesses and problems. We also gave out rice, beans, and vitamins to the citizens. The volunteers were extremely generous and giving. Everyone worked hard and did a great job. I had a wonderful time getting to know many of them and am looking forward to seeing them when I get back to the States.

One of the sadder situations that the doctors dealt with is the physical abuse that goes on in the town. Many men treat their wives like property rather than giving them the love that a wife deserves. In towns like Ayaviri, most women are dependent on the men for things like food, shelter, and money. I wish I could see an easy way out of their situations but they often have nowhere else to go.

We went to Mass one of the days and a drunk guy followed us in. He kept talking to two members of our group which was kind of awkward, both because they didn't speak Spanish and because the church was having a funeral. He kept talking really loudly and since he was in the middle of our group everyone kept looking at us. As luck would have it he passed out pretty quickly and didn't wake up until we were leaving.

This church is a great place to party.

After the missions ended some of the volunteers and I had lunch at the Sodalite community and visited the Sodalite farm. They own a number of cows and have a cheese making operation that apparently just became profitable this year. I had some cheese and lunch before taking a six hour bus trip to a town called Arequipa.

Arequipa: A view from my bedroom

Arequipa is also beautiful, located at the bottom of three huge mountains, at least one of which is an active volcano. It made me miss Colorado whose beauty I took for granted. The people of Lima are great, but the weather is ugly and I will be glad to live somewhere else. I spent the night at the apartment of two Sodalite brothers and toured Arequipa in a double-decker bus. That night I went to the theater. When we got home I fell asleep early because I was exhausted from the missions. The next morning one of the brothers and I visited his university as well as a church in the center of town. We had lunch and I got on a bus to come home.