Paseo!!

This week seems to be flying by as Friday (the day I leave for Baltimore) is right around the corner.  Yesterday I got to spend some time with some of my favorite peeps here. It was so good to spend time with all the kiddos at the Josephine before I’m away for a while.  After the 40 min walk there, I can’t help but smile when I’m greeted by all the kids.

Yesterday we went on a little paseo (“field-trip”).  It was just down the road to a little store to get some Gatorade as a special treat for all the kids to share, but I was amazed at how excited the kids were about it and how much they enjoyed it.  It was fun to see them so interested in different things on the way, like trees they haven’t seen, flowers, and of course, the chanchos(pigs). I did end up carrying one of then kids on the way back, but it was well worth it.    

I’m glad to have had the chance to spend some time with all the kids(and 4 infants) before leaving Cusco for a bit.  It will be good to see them when I get back.

the long road back....

Snack time after the long walk

one of the newest additions to the JH, cute little Samuel at 3wks

nail polish is an amazing thing...

painting rocks with the boys!

sweet Adriano!

Rain!

I think rainy season has finally arrived. A couple of weeks I got a new raincoat in preparation for rainy season.  Sadly, I haven't worn it all that much, but have managed to get caught in the rain unprepared a few times.  Typically here, the day starts out beautiful and sunny with almost no clouds in the sky and then by 2-5ish anything goes as far as rain  is concerned.  It can last anywhere from 10 minutes of light to hours of heavy rain(sometimes hail) with flood like conditions.  I guess I still haven't learned my lesson yet, but it just feels silly to be wearing a heavy rain coat when I leave the house in the morning with the sun shining brightly.


The foto below is a shot from beautiful rain shower the other day.  It was one of the coolest rain storms I've ever seen.  My apartment is on the 4th floor, so I got a sweet view of it all.

Home for Christmas

I’ve never been a huge fan of decorating the tree and playing Christmas music right after Thanksgiving, but it seems like this year I don’t have much choice in the matter since I’ll be in Cusco only til the 16^th of this month.  I’m super excited to go to the States for Christmas, see family and friends ,but also a bit sad to miss all the Christmas fun here.  I guess you can’t have everything….  At least for now my house is all decorated, the tree is up, the Christmas is on, and I have plenty of Christmas cookies in my house.

I’m hoping for a white Christmas or at least snow at some point during my visit (and hopefully my body won’t go into shock from the cold). 

the tree is up!! hopefully the cat won't bring it down...

the makeshift tree topper

Christmas is coming!!

I’m so excited that the Christmas season has officially arrived for me.  Christmas in Cusco always seems a bit strange for me, mainly because it doesn’t feel like Christmas at all.  Since our weather is opposite the weather in the States (we’re in the middle of spring and coming up on summer, which the kids here are getting excited about) it doesn’t feel like the right time of year to be having Christmas.

This past week I was tasked with making a few dozen cookies for a Christmas cookie exchange. AAACK!!  I’m a huge fan of baking, but I’ve had a bit of bakers anxiety since moving to Cusco at an altitude of 11,000 feet.  Over the past year I’ve been able to get a handle on breads and cakes, but for some reason, cookies haven’t ever worked out for me.  But, I went ahead and attempted one of my favorite Christmas cookies.  To my surprise, they turned out great!  I was so excited, especially since some valuable imports from the States were used to make the cookies.

It’s a really good thing they turned out well since they ended up making more than 5 dozen.  Otherwise, I would have had a lot of cookies to get rid of…..  yay!! Christmas is coming!!

yay for peanut blossems!!

Raining

Well, it looks like rainy season has finally arrived.  The past couple of months, I've been enjoying some lovely sunsets from my apartment, so I just wanted to share with you all.
Enjoy!

and.......this was the first good rain for the start of rainy season, which has put an end to the beautiful sunsets

change up

This past week we had a huge team from all over the world to do a medical campaign in Cusco for a few days and then in outlying areas for another couple of days,.  It has been a bit of a change from normal daily life here.

Pretty much every day was super busy with lots and lots of patients.  I helped out with triage most of the days. One of the days I was curious about how long patients were waiting to be seen, so I asked one of the patients how long they had been waiting and she told me that she had arrived at 530 a.m. and she ended up coming through triage at 10 a.m. as the 30^th patient in line. Yikes!  We were able to see lots of patients, but it just wasn’t possible to see everyone.

It’s been a long couple of days for my brain.  I’ve forgotten how much of a challenge it can be to continually switch between Spanish and English all day long as I was talking with the patients when they came and was then writing it all down in English since most of the doctors were from the States.  I had to laugh at myself when I wrote uterectomy on a patient’s history and couldn’t figure out why it just didn’t look right.  Glad I came up with hysterectomy a minute later.  But…….I did survive.

It was a bit of a crazy week, but I’m glad I could be involved in the fun.

one of the little villages where we had clinic for a day

patients waiting.....

triage

one of the many cute kids we saw at the mobile clinic

Explosion!!

There seems to have been an explosion of activity at the Josephine house over the past few weeks. In the past 6 months or so, there have been quite a few kids who have been adopted or have gone back home to their parents, which is great, but has left us empty at the Josephine House.  A number of people have been praying for more kids to come and a few weeks ago, God opened that door wide open....

Luke…….

A few weeks ago, one of the ladies who works at the JH was walking along the street, taking her normal route to her destination. She always walks on one particular side of that street, but on this particular day, there were a bunch of dogs who seemed a bit crazy, so she decided to walk on the other side.  As she was walking down the street, she heard crying.  As she looked around, she found a baby, wrapped in a blanket and a diaper bag next to him.  Shortly after, the process to get Luke into the JH was started.  Luke was just three days old when he was found.  He is a beautiful, healthy, content baby, is growing like crazy and enjoying his sleep.

Little Luke, just a couple of weeks old

Marleni came to the JH just days old as well.  Her mom brought her because she has a cleft palate that will require numerous surgeries.  Mom would like to take her back after the surgeries are completed, but for now, she can’t care for Marlene.  As with most babies with cleft palates, feeding and getting an adequate intake of calories can be a challenge, but the mamás at the JH are working diligently with this little one to help her get enough calories so she can grow and develop well.  Other than difficulties with feeding, she’s a happy baby.

The "battle" with Marlene to get her to eat.  I lost and ended up handing her over to one of the mamás to work their magic with feeding her.

Carlitos……

This little one came one day after Marlene’s arrival.  I would imagine life has been difficult for him from day one.  This little one was brought to the JH by his mother who is an alcoholic and willingly gave him up. According to his mother, he is five months old, but he’s about the same size as the other two new babies.  After taking him to La Fuente the pediatrician said, it looks like Carlitos is probably closer to 3 months old, but he is still severely under weight.  Eating has been a challenge and sleeping as well, but he is in good hands. Since some of the feeding issues have improved, he’s a calm little baby at times.

Marlene and Carlitos

Marlene(3 weeks), Carlitos(3 months), and Luke(3 weeks)

One more…Adrean

Last Friday, I found myself at the Josephine house playing with the kids and holding one of the babies.  All of a sudden, one of the mamas came in with a naked kid(wrapped with a  towel).  They went straight to the bathroom, immediately started applying lice shampoo into the kids head and then proceeded to wash him from head to toe(he wasn’t happy about all of it, but he was good and clean…).  Adrean is about a year and a half.  He was found sitting next to his mom who was passed out from alcohol intoxication.  He’s a VERY active child who just jumped right on in playing with the other kids. Photos on this little one to come soon!

So...as you can see, the Josephine House is plenty busy these days with all kinds of fun and activity for now.  Stay tuned for more soon!!

The lion sleeps tonight....

One thing I've wanted to do before leaving Peru is visit the Amazon.  During my parents visit, I had the opportunity to visit Puerto Maldonado, a southern portion of the Amazon in Peru.  It was just beautiful.  Besides getting to enjoy a few days of summer (temps from 70’s-90’s and 70-100% humidity), it was just so cool to visit the jungle.  The few days I was able to spend there were just so much fun, even though the days started pretty early(one day we left for a hike a 0500). 

The lodge where we stayed was pretty simple.  It didn’t have electricity, so we used candles at night. Also, there wasn’t hot water, but it didn’t really matter since it was so stinkin hot outside.  During rainy season, mosquitoes and malaria are a big issue, so we had mosquito nets around the beds to protect from the mosquitoes at night.

One of my favorite adventures was the night walks in the jungle.  Our guide saw and was able to point out some pretty cool animals “hidden” in the jungle.  There were plenty of spiders and bugs to be seen, but thankfully no snakes.  I was really hoping to see a puma, but sadly they were shy and or hidden too well for us to see them.

One night we ended up going out in a boat looking for Caymans (an animal in the crocodile family). We got to see a few and some bats as well.  Another morning we went out at 6 to go bird watching and saw plenty of macaws at a feeding sight where they licked minerals off rocks. It was pretty cool! 

Overall, the whole thing was a blast and a sweet time away to enjoy other regions of Peru.

La Selva

la selva

a truly wild monkey

sunrise on the river

caymen

banana boat

a wild "pet" at the lodge

cool beetle on night hike

time to eat!!

my bed

cute little spider we saw on a night hike

cool frog

still here

Once again, it’s been way too long since I’ve written.  It’s been a busy past month with settling in with my recent move and then a visit from my parents.

Since it’s been more than a year that I’ve seen them, it was great to see my parents for a bit(they were here for about two weeks).  We did some traveling in Peru, but they also had the opportunity to see what life is like for me here.  They were also generous with their time and helped me with fixing and improving some things in my new place to make it feel more like home.  It was great to see them for so long and I’m thankful they had the time to come to Peru

So, after some fun and games, it’s back to normal life for me.

Sweet Gift

Over the past few months, I have been considering moving to another part of town, but about a month or so ago, I started searching for a new place.  I had been living in a townhouse and knew I would be looking for an apartment for the area of town I wanted to live in, so I had been preparing myself for apartment life (noises from neighbors above, no yard, etc….)

After looking at a few apartments, I found one I really liked (of coarse not perfect, but what is?), so after a few weeks of going back and forth with the owner about various things, I’m finally moved in and trying to get settled asap.

It’s a great new place for me and I’m enjoying so many things about it.  I’m so excited to live closer to other families on my team here and to be living closer to suburbia.  In my old neighborhood, I could hear cows and guinea pigs when I walked down the streets and now at the new place I see trees and grass, and plenty of cars.  It’s been quite a change and has taken some getting used to as it’s been a long time since I’ve lived in an apartment with another floor above(actually this is the first time ever for me).  My neighbors upstairs are pretty quiet, except their dog is quite lively. I can pretty much hear his nails clicking on the floors whenever he’s walking around up there. Every time the dog’s walking around, my cat just goes crazy and appears to be a bit confused, pretty funny.

All of these small adjustments are worth it though.  I’m not sure if I’m a huge fan of the orange and yellow walls, but I’m loving the wide open spaces in the living area. I now have a view of the mountains from my balcony that’s just gorgeous, lots of windows in the apartment to let the warm sunlight in, and a nice sunny space on the sofa for reading(or maybe napping....).  I’m so thankful I no longer live in a cave(my old place)  I’m also super pumped about my new kitchen and all the counter space, which means now I can cook and bake for fun! 

Relatively speaking, the whole process of finding my new place to moving in has been pretty smooth and settling in has been really nice.  All and all, this new place has been a pretty sweet gift to me! 

Any and all visitors are welcome!

Just say no.....

Since I’ve been living in Cusco I just don’t go to the center of town all that often.  Mostly because it’s a bit far from where I live and also because it’s always swarming with tourists, which means there are always people trying to sell stuff and don’t want to take no as an answer. 

When being harassed to buy something (anywhere from a painting to a foto of me with a baby llama, or a massage), I try to politely say no or not today(maybe another day...). Well, I guess I made an impression on one of the dudes selling paintings from a previous time I was in the center.  The other day, I told one of the venders no and they he proceeded to tell me, that I had said no the last time he saw me in the  center and that this time I should actually buy something.  I think I actually had spoken with him a while back.  I couldn’t help but laugh to myself….

Another day as I was walking along a side of the plaza with lots of restaurants, trying to ignore everyone trying to sell me something, there was one girl outside a restaurant who started to approach me, but before she really said much of anything, I bluntly told her I didn’t want to eat at her restaurant. All of a sudden I realized I actually knew her and she wasn’t trying to sell me anything, but was just saying hi.  Oops!!  It was nice to talk with her and hear about how she’s doing, but when we parted ways, I was glad to have seen her, but was a bit embarrassed.  I guess I should take another look at my “say no to everyone” policy…..

Home sweet home

Well, this past weekend I moved to a new place and I'm just lovin it.  It's just around the corner from other families on my team and other positive things too. This is a view at sunset from my balcony. Today was filled with the challenge of unpacking and settling.  Little by little I'm sure it will get done. For now, I'm just trying to get it out of the way.
More later!!

Building

As you can see, there's been lots going on these past couple of months with the building of the eye clinic.  We have had  teams here to help with construction this summer and they have a tremendous amount of work.  It's been great to see things progress as we get closer and closer to the eye clinic opening in the next couple of months!!

We're all looking forward to the finished product!!

Really?!?

So, I've been in Cusco for a while now and I think I've gotten to the point where not many weird things really phase me.  Today I was attempting to get on the bus before it left without me.  I got on in the bus in a mad rush and was just glad that  I wouldn't have to wait for another bus. A couple of stops down the road I was able to get a seat and at this point I was settling in for the long ride home and all of a sudden I hear a cat crying.  What?  I am on the bus, right?  I look over to my left and there's a girl across the isle holding a cute little kitten.  He was so tiny and super cute!!!  He didn't look super happy to be on the bus, but was doing alright.  Anther few stops and the kitten his owner got off the bus.

It just made me laugh to myself as I thought about my cat Sam and if he were ever coerced or forced onto a bus...  Everyone on the bus would be deaf from all his screaming and complainig, I'd have scratches all over my entire body, and the bus would probably have crashed as a result of Sam's disruptive behavior.

It was cute little kitty, but I'm just glad it wasn't Sam on the bus....

Visiting

My brother and sister-in-law were in town last week for a visit and after not seeing them for more than a year, it was great to see them.  Even though they were here for just a short time, it was a sweet 5 days. 

From the start, the visit started with a bang.  On our way home from the airport, our cab got into a small “altercation” with a bus and a few other cars when he decided to start to cross the train tracks while the bus had already started to drive over the tracks.  When our cab driver decided he’d drive on to the tracks and not back up out of the way of the bus since we both couldn’t fit, the battle started.  With all the cars honking, other cabs trying to cut in front of us, our cab driver refusing to move, and the dude on the bus who collects fares getting off the bus to yell at our cab driver, it was pretty lively.  After another minute or two, a police officer just happened to be in the area had a bit of a chat with the taxi driver and shortly after, we were backing up to let the bus cross the tracks and then amazingly, there was space for us to pass by.  I was just laughing to myself about the incident because it’s just typical.  Welcome to Cusco!!

Beyond seeing the sights and getting a glimpse of my world here, it was great to spend time with them and catch up in ways you just can’t do over the phone.  They really enjoyed the mountains, good Peruvian food and of course meeting and taunting/playing with my cat, Sam.

I found it interesting how some things have become at least somewhat normal to me here, but might not have been for them….. 

The massive mountains around me

Cows and other random animals walking down the street every now and then

Lots of dogs on the streets that are usually someone’s “pet”

Really cheap fresh bread being widely available

Super pasteurized milk in a bag that doesn’t have to be refrigerated until opened

Walking in the  middle of the street (at least in my neighborhood)

Lots and lots of rice

The lovely widow maker in my shower

Cusco drivers and traffic

And I sure there’s much more….

Thankfully, the weather behaved while they were here and every day was just beautiful with nice warm weather, which ended up being a nice cool break from summer for them, which I’m sure was much appreciated.  We ended up doing a few random things here and there, so here’s a small sample of our adventures…

Jared lovin on Sam

on our way to Machu Picchu....