Day 15

I have been awake for 13 hours which, considering that it's 5pm, is WAY too long. I woke up at 4am to take a 3 hour bus ride to the middle of nowhere. I mean, really the middle of nowhere. I went on a "salidas" with the health education woman to a town called Molle Molle. Besides the fact that I was up before dawn and couldn't understand (much less speak) Spanish and didn't feel like kissing anyone on the cheek at that hour, I ended up having a great time!

So we arrive in MM at 9:00am and I had breakfast with Elizabeth (the nurse/educator) in the promoter's house. I would like to state now that there were 20 guinea pigs running around. Not outside, but around my feet as I ate. Guinea pig is a delicacy here so...Anyway, there were a ton of them. AND there was one guinea pig that was at least as big (if not bigger) than the cat. I took a picture of it. :) So besides the guinea pigs and other farm animals, I was a little worried about my food which I insisted I didn't want (but they gave to me anyway). I'm usually not paranoid about the cleanliness of food but a lot of the volunteers have been getting sick lately so I'm a little freaked...

After breakfast I got to watch Elizabeth teach the group of women in the town about early stimulacion (WHOA! Just spelt that in SPANISH!) and different health concerns. She re-iterated the dangers of drugs and alcohol, as well as the importance of vegetables and milk. They actually turned the milk into whipped cream because apparently the women don't like to drink milk but they were all about the whipped cream! Good idea, right? I videotaped a lot of it and was especially interested by the little tests that they give the kids (who are aged 0-4). It's so weird to think about how delayed these kids are because their mothers just carry them around and obviously don't have much time to play with them or teach them to talk. It was a little sad. I think the disparity between infant/toddlers in the US and in Peru has been one of the most subtle, but forceful, reminders of how different life in these two countries are.

After the group session (which was held outside and so nice!) we had "private house visits" where women brought their kids into the guinea pig room and put them on a blanket on the floor and Elizabeth tested them. The kids didn't do very well (for example couldn't find toys hidden under the corner of the blanket when they were looking, didn't take toys from the parents hands, couldn't walk at an acceptable level, etc.) so Elizabeth assigned homework to work on it. It's the promoter's job to check up on the families in between weeks when Elizabeth can't get out to the community. I have NO clue how many communities she has to go to.

Finally it was time to go home. So in true Peruvian fashion, we all piled into a van (it was probably like a 12 person van but there were no less than 22 people in it) and headed back up the treacherous, winding dirt mountain road. We almost had a head on collision with the Zorro bus (yes, the buses here are named) but just barely scraped by. I wasn't really worried because I was jammed in, unable to move among several people. At least an hour was devoted to speaking to me rapidly in Quechua, then laughing when I clearly didn't understand them. However, the word for "little Chinese girl" sounds the same. Although I shouldn't jump to conclusions because it's possible that they were talking about a DIFFERENT little Chinese girl that they know. Anyway, after 3 more hours of hanging out uncomfortably close to others, dying for a bathroom break, and sweating profusely, we finally got back to Cusco. It was a very productive day and definitely well worth the 4am wake up call.