So Wednesday I went to the doctor to get round 2 of antibiotics because my sinus infection was not clearing up...I'm assuming this is where everything fell apart.

June 28th is OLYMPIC DAY! So in honor of olympic day I headed over to the sports complex for a 6km race! The course was dreadfully painful for a sea-level runner like me who had just (kinda) recovered from a sinus infection...the first 1.5 miles were uphill (gaining almost 500 feet in elevation! OUCH!) so my legs felt like lead even once we reached the flat part. That coupled with the course being long (3.9 miles instead of 6k) made for a dreadfully slow time that will not be mentioned...ever. I still managed to get second, so I got a medal and t-shirt! Totally awesome! I'm actually kind of glad that I didn't get first place, as they got a trophy and I have no clue what I would have done with it since I have that nasty little weight limit for my domestic flights here. The funniest part of the day was all the runner guys wanting to get their picture taken with the "gringa runner" which was really awkward because these people were total strangers, but I humored them nonetheless. haha!

In addition to Olympic Day, Sunday was also Pope Day, so there was a huge fireworks display in the plaza, which was amazing. These people build giant structures out of bamboo with fireworks that go off in sequences making wheels turn, levels light up, etc. It is so COOL! They also make bamboo cows that people carry over their heads, chasing after people while fireworks shoot out of the head! (Real safe eh???) Needless to say, the gringos were targeted every time by the crazy guy running around with the firework-shooting cow on his head...and we all ran away screaming! You would have too if you had fireworks sparks flying at your face! It was a ton of fun (even if it was mildly dangerous)! I was going to film part of it but unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries, so I only got a few pictures, which do not do justice to the whole scene, but I'll post them soon, promise! :-)

The past few days I've been fighting a nasty sinus infection. My head has felt like it got hit by a semi, but its finally feeling better. Totally not cool getting sick though, but I'll take it over what my poor roommate has. She has some sort of food-borne illness for the SECOND time in just over 2 weeks. Yuck! I'll take my sinus infection any day over that!

Tomorrow there is a carrera/road race in Ayacucho: 6km, so hopefully I can win...I'll let you know how it goes! :-)

My new volunteer placement is great! I'm at an elementary school in the poorest neighborhood of Ayacucho. I help the teachers with random tasks, teach songs in English (think the colors and head and shoulders, knees and toes) and play with the kids during their HOUR (yes, you read that right) recess. Its a blast and I actually feel like I'm doing something of worth/kind of making a difference.

However...The hour long recess kind of bothers me, because the kids only attend school from 8:30 (if it starts on time, which is a very rare occasion) to 12:00. Thus recess makes up 1/3 of their total time in school. Apparently this is in contrast to the private schools that have very short or no recesses and are in school until 2:30 or later. Not that quantity is everything, but I feel like the families who have to depend on the government for education here are not receiving as good of an education as those who can afford to buy their kids a top-notch Catholic school education. Perhaps this is why there is a very small upper-class, basically no middle class and a huge lower class in Peru (and pretty much all of the other Latin American countries). I mean seriously, how are these kids supposed to even dream about going to college when they don't even receive a basic education??? That part really frustrates me...sigh.

In terms of randomness going on, I woke up this morning with a slight sinus infection, so this afternoon I headed to the pharmacy and purchased an antibiotic and Rx strength expectorant without ever seeing a doctor and for under $20 (without insurance). I'm sure I'll be back to normal in no time. :-)

Today at school I had to control my laughter as one of the teachers lead the class in a song about the middle finger complete with hand motions. Just imagine a bunch of kindergartners screaming the lyrics at the top of their lungs and holding up their middle finger! haha! Apparently giving someone the middle finger means absolutely nothing in Peru, just like it meant nothing in Spain...

Weekend Trip to the Coast! :-)


Day One (June 20th): We arrived late last night to our hotel in Huacachina so I had no clue what to expect when I got up in the morning for my run. Much to my delight and surprise, we were surrounded by massive sand dunes! It was absolutely beautiful and I enjoyed every last minute of my run! After a quick breakfast, we headed out for a few hours of Dune Buggying and Sand Boarding, which was by far the highlight of the trip! I had a blast trying to actually sand board standing up, and was pretty dang successful by the last dune! Afterwards, we spent some time at the nearby Oasis before heading to the winery for lunch and a tour. The highlight of the winery trip was by far the chocolate samples (not the Pisco samples), as they were absolutely delicious. The fig preserves were also fantastic! Then we headed over to see the "witch village" which was actually kind of lame...a weird shapped palm tree in the middle of a dusty village. We listened to some kid tell a legend about the tree and then point out all the weird shapes to us. Afterwards we went to a "witch"/medicine man, who was also midly disappointing, as he wore a polo shirt and nikes...we were hoping for at least a witch's hat. haha!



Day Two (June 21st): Nazca! I woke up around midnight last night with horrible stomach pains and ended up losing my dinner an hour later. Finally I fell asleep around 2 am...completely exhausted and frustrated at Peruvian standards (or lack there of) for cleanliness. It was cloudy in the morning so we went to a pottery shop where a guy gave us a demonstration on how the Nazca culture made pottery: no pottery wheel...just straight up by hand and only one firing, not two like the Western/Eastern methods, pretty dang cool, eh? Finally the clouds parted and we got to go up in the plane to see the lines. They were totally breath-taking...either that or it was the flying in tight circles at a 80 degree angle to the ground- Yikes! My favorite was by far the Baleen Whale, because he's so cute and happy! After the flight, we headed over to the Nazca cemetery where we saw a bunch of mummies, which were all dry and crusty. haha! That night we drove back through Ica to Paracas, being sure to stop at the Plaza Vea (think Peruvian Walmart) to stock up on fruit, batteries, etc.



Day Three (June 22nd): MY 22nd BIRTHDAY! I woke up in the morning to do my long run...along the beach!!! That in and of itself would have been enough to make me happy, as it combines two of my favorite things: running and the ocean. :-) I got back to our very swanky hostel/hotel and packed everything up real quick before heading to breakfast, where our tour guide surprised me with a birthday cake! Lucky for me it was covered in carmel, so I just scrapped off some carmel and enjoyed a carmel apple along with my eggs for breakfast. Then we headed over to Ballestas Islands where we saw Penguins, Seals, Pelicans and a ton of other birds. It was a pretty sweet birthday trip! Then we hung out in Paracas for a bit...I soaked up some beach time and then we had delicious Ceviche for lunch before the long ride back to Ayacucho. This was definitely a weekend trip to remember!



Photos (in the process of uploading):
http://s182.photobucket.com/albums/x29/deearthur_photos/Peru/Ica%20Nazca%20and%20Paracas%20Oh%20My/

So...After spending a few days in the health clinic, I decided that I wanted to do something different. Don't get me wrong, I liked the health clinic, but I came here to volunteer and make a difference, not to shadow a doctor. I talked to Rudy (the program director) yesterday about changing positions, and he agreed with me that in the healthcare placements, you don't really make a difference, you're just there to observe. I wanted to go work at the school for children with disabilities, but the girl that volunteers there already made it very clear that I was not welcome at "her" placement. Sigh...Whatever, I'm not going to argue with people about volunteering. So this morning I asked Rudy if I could be placed at an orphanage, and in about 30 minutes I will be heading over to my new placement: an all-girls orphanage run by nuns. Apparently the girls are all pretty young (aka cute) so I'm super excited about it! I'll be sure to let you know how it goes! :-)

So...considering that I only got to go to my volunteer placement twice last week thanks to the strike, there wasn´t much worth blogging about. But now there defintely is...

Monday- I spent the first part of my morning working with the doctor and offered to help him fill out paperwork for a bit. However, he did not have a pen so I had to go around the clinic and ask for one. Apparently no one had one that they would let me use, so I was instructed to go across the street and buy a pen to use in the clinic. I´m not going to lie...this is the first doctor´s office/hospital I´ve been in where there is a shortage of pens. In the midst of my search for a pen I get asked to help in the kids clinic (which sounds 1000x more fun that paperwork). So once I found, I mean bought a pen, I headed back there. My job involved weighing, measuring and immunizing kids. Random side note- in Peru they like to weigh their kids butt-naked...they even remove the pony tail holders from their hair! Go figure... So anyways this mom came in with her little boy and as she was undressing him, he decides its a good time to go pee. A massive urine puddle on the floor is the result...the nurse finishes up with this patient and I wrongly assume that it will get cleaned up after he leaves. Granted urine is sterile, but it is a waste product nonetheless. My type A personality went insane for the next 2 hours, as I watched people step in the pee, drop toys in the pee, and yes...play in the pee. I miss my sterile healthcare environment...haha!

Tuesday- Again I am helping the doctor upstairs, but this time my heart gets ripped out when two girls come in ALONE. Both parents were at work (entre comillas...in quotes). The "big" sister was 9...the younger one was 3. Both were underweight and had intestinal parasites. The doctor said that the "older" sister always comes in alone...and apparently this is a typical scenario in all of Peru. I sat there and tried to imagine Chass´s little sister going to the doctor by herself AND taking care of a 3 year old. The forced maturity and the physical state of this girl was so tragic...I sat in silence for a bit, holding back the tears. Sometimes the reality of poverty is hard to swallow...you hear about it on the radio, read about it on the internet, see it on tv, but when you see it in real life it is a totally different thing. The whole situation made me sad at first, but then angry. I can take it when I see adults in poverty, as tragic as it may be, but when you see kids in this situation, it really breaks your heart. They haven´t done a single thing wrong! They were born into this situation and even more sad is the fact that they probably will never escape this situation. The problem is that poverty is such a big issue in Peru that I don´t think anyone knows where to start... Fixing a problem this big is going to take more than my 5 weeks here, which really, really makes me sad.