2005 was the first year I visited Peru (or South America, ever!). As a Mayo medical student, I joined the organization Amazon Promise to provide health care to the upper Amazon basin, which was the first of several medical mission-type trips I took as a student and resident which really opened up my eyes to how difficult health care is across the world and in rural communities! I had learned Spanish in middle school and found it to be of great use in Peru with pacientes!
I flew into Lima and visit La Valle Sagrada and Machu Picchu for the first time which was spectacular.
Amazon Promise has its headquarters in the town of Iquitos in northeastern Peru, and is led by the indominable Patty Webster, who founded AP (an organization still worth donating to if you're looking for a cause!) in 1993.
En la oficina, sorting medicamentos donated from Italy (me, Shego, Juan Carlos y Javier).
with Shego and Taz (el perro), one of AP's many mascotas
Javier
Yolanda y Juan Carlos
Suzy la perra
mariposa
Traveling around town en motocarro
One of the poorest areas of the city was Belén, but its citizens all wore smiles.
We saw and evaluated patients in wooden shacks/makeshift "oficinas" without much privacy. I learned to take manual blood pressures and even give injections. We saw many mysterious rashes, as well as tumors and goiters which were untreated for far too long.
Triage
Unfortunate man
congenital deformity
leishmaniasis
Very malnourished child
We also ventured into
la selva (the jungle) up the Ucayali and Yarapa rivers, to Masusa, Nauta, Nuevo Loreto, and Puerto Miguel to even more remote riverside villages.
I recall being extremely frightened of a large tarantula in our dining room at Yacumama lodge and was fearful of scorpions hiding out in my shoes.
la torre
Rubber tree
Jaguar print that Shego spotted in la selva!
Lake Hubo
triage
med desk
assessing after a snakebite
primitive IV to gravity
inyección
wound care
Exploring a la noche
Does anyone remember when cameras looked like this?
descansando
I recall seeing the magical pink Amazonian river dolphins in the water, but alas, don't have any photos of them. I was so enchanted by my first trip to Peru (returning next in
2009 with global health students from the University of Richmond and then traveling with Kelvin and Mindy) and can't wait to return with kiddos some day!
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