Update from Lima

I've been keeping pretty busy lately, working at three different hospitals here in Lima. I have been shadowing an orthopedic surgeon, where I get to see him perform operations and make rounds with the patients. He is trying to get me set up with being able to perform an amputation sometime soon too! As some of my relatives can attest to, I've always been interested in amputations ever since I was really young and always tried to sneak a peek at my grandpa's fake leg. I'm really excited to get a chance to actually perform one!

I've also been shadowing different people in a lab at another hospital, where they are working with tuberculosis, Chagas disease, HIV/AIDS, as well as other diseases which are more prevalent down here. More than anything, this is a great chance for me to practice my Spanish, as very few workers in the lab speak English. My Spanish still needs plenty of work, but I got excited when a taxi driver recently asked if I was from Canada, because he didn't believe that an American would be able to speak Spanish as well as I did!

The third hospital that I've been working at is where I will be spending a majority of my time during the next two months. I am taking over a project of someone who is heading back to the states to continue medical school. The project that I will be doing involves using a device that measures the concentration of nitric oxide in a patient's breath. This device is currently being used for asthma treatment to determine the amount of inflamation in the lungs, and our goal is to determine if it can be used to monitor treatment of tuberculosis as well. My job will be to travel around Lima with a nurse to make house-calls to these patients to get their data.

I am also trying to contact a company from Japan that has developed a new drug to treat Chagas disease. If we can get our hands on this drug, it would be likely that I would be working with monitoring the cardiac pathology of guinea pigs being treated with this drug. We still haven't gotten a hold of the company, so I'm not totally sure if I'm going to be working on that.

Many of the people that I have met down here are leaving/already left. I came down at a time when most people are finishing up their projects and returning to the US, which means there have been lots of despedidas to go to lately! For Leora's despedida we went to the 4D (which for those of you who have been to Lima know as the best place to get ice cream down here) and got one scoop of every flavor. Below are a couple of pictures of the plates of ice cream and a few of the people from the despedida.

Plate #1 - 11 scoops of ice cream

Leora (in the white) and some other friends at her despedida

The other plate with more ice cream!

Miranda, the girl I've been living with for the past month, is also leaving for the US this Tuesday, so we had her despedida this weekend. We somehow managed to rack up a bill of over 1000 soles (~$350) between all of us, which is by far the largest bill I have seen down here. 

The largest bill ever

After dinner, we went out to a discoteca to watch a couple of bands and have a few beers. The first band was possibly the worst band I've ever heard in my life, and that's not only because they were singing in a different language. It was an all-girl rock band that started doing those weird screaming noises that my friend Grant always listens to. Grant - I don't even think you would like this... it was just weird. The second band was pretty good. It was a rock band that kept a party-like atmosphere going the whole time so that was pretty fun. Unfortunately as Miranda was leaving, her purse was stolen right from her arm. Kind of a sour note on an otherwise great despedida

The second band of the night

Meredith and Rachel (who have been living with me for the past week and will stay until they leave for the states on Friday) and Dan Smith at Sargento's. Dan is the one who started the tuberculosis project that I will be taking over.

In other news - I found a new apartment to move into starting July 1. It is on the 13th floor overlooking the Pacific Ocean right in Miraflores, which is the area of Lima with a lot going on and should be a great time! It's going to be nice to finally live in an apartment with internet... for the past two weeks I've had to come the 4D to use their internet (and hang out with the cute waitresses, eat really good ice cream, etc...). Here is a map of where my new apartment is... it's actually two blocks to the west at the intersection with Colon, but I couldn't get Google Maps to point there.

My friend Rob Pletscher is the first person to finally book a flight to come visit me! He is going to be coming from July 21 until August 18 and we are going to Arequipa to hike in the world's largest canyon as well as to Iquitos to check out the rain forest and hunt for anacondas. My dad (feliz día del padre!) is going to be coming sometime in August or September and we are going to hike the Inca Trail together. If  you want to come visit at any time, let me know and I can help you plan it out!

Life in Lima

I am very lucky that I arrived when I did, because Katie introduced me to A LOT of great people before she left. Down here, it is customary to have a despedida (going-away party) with all of your friends before you leave, and Katie's happened to be the second night that I was here. We went to get cebiche at a fancy restaurant with many of her friends and ordered a bunch of food that I would have NEVER eaten back home, including ceviche (fish marinated in lemon juice, causing the proteins to denature and "cook" the fish without heat), cuy (guinea pig), pulpo (octopus), and much much more! Back home, I would have probably gotten sick of just the thought of eating these things, but I tried them and they were all great! If you get a chance to come visit me, these will definitely be on the menu.

Me trying octopus for the first time

Earlier in the day, I had gone to a fiesta with some of the orthopedic surgeons that I had just met. They were having a party for the guy who has done their casting for the past 35 years and is now retiring. I got to eat a TON of delicious food (potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, beef, chicken, pork, and more) and drink all of the cerveza and pisco that I wanted! It was a blast! They had singers and dancers there to entertain us, and one of the singers even called me out to welcome me to Peru! She said something along the lines of "Para nuestro amigo de Minnesota, nuestro país es su país. Le damos la bienvenida con los brazos abiertos" which means "To our friend from Minnesota, our country is your country. We welcome you with open arms."

Me with the orthopedic residents at Hospital Almanara

The next day (Sunday), Katie showed me around the area of Lima called Miraflores. There is a great park there and a ton of shops and restaurants. There is always a ton of construction going on in Lima, supposedly because the current mayor is running for president and he wants to leave a good impression on the people by fixing up the city. Because they don't have nearly as many televisions as we do back in the US, they rely on other forms of campaigning, including writing their name into mountains, posting fliers everywhere, and construction projects to fix up the city.

A typical street under construction in Lima

After getting some lunch with Katie, we went over to a house of a family that she got really close to while she was here, the Arámbulos. The oldest son, Beto, has taken me in as his little brother and calls me several times per week to check up on me and takes me out on the weekends. I will be teaching English lessons to Beto's father, Luis, starting tonight!

The Arámbulos with Katie

I also got a chance to see my first professional soccer game! I got dragged along to some of the Minnesota Thunder games back when I was younger, but that is NOTHING compared to what soccer is like down here. The game I went to was supposedly a meaningless game but several thousand fans still showed up to support their team. There was plenty of scoring, yellow cards, and even a red card. The first half of the game was possibly the longest half of soccer ever played (65 minutes) due to the visiting goalie punching one of the players on the home team. This led to fights on the field as well as in the stands. The fans were absolutely insane the entire game... any time an opposing player was anywhere near the side of the field for a throw-in or to talk to the referee, police with riot shields would have to stand in front of them to protect them from the things that people threw at them. 

I thought that I was going to be in trouble when I went to Lambeau Field with my friend Rob Pletscher last year for the Vikings-Packers game. I wore my brand new Vikings Favre jersey and wore it with pride. I got heckled a bit here and there, but I am glad that I am not an opposing fan at a game like the one that I witnessed here. After the away team scored the first goal to go up 1-0, a fan behind me started to cheer. I considered this normal, but the entire section I was sitting in thought otherwise. That fan started getting punched and spit on and had to be escorted out by the riot police for his own safety. After seeing that, the Packers fans actually seem quite tame!

My first professional soccer game

Supporting the local team (Alianza) with my new friend Gator

For the past two weeks, I have been working at two separate hospitals. I have been shadowing Miguel, one of the orthopedic docs that I went to the fiesta with, at Hospital Almanara. I have gotten to do rounds with him as he checks on patients as well as observe him in the operating room. I have now watched him fix three fractures and do two total joint replacements. After seeing surgeries in the US, it is a great experience to see how other hospitals run things in other parts of the world!

I have also been working in the laboratory at Hospital Cayatano. It is essentially a cellular biology lab where they analyze samples of patients and animals to check for the presence of certain parasites. Most of the people working in both hospitals only speak Spanish, so I have been getting a lot of practice trying to speak with them.

Today, as I was getting ready to go to work, the cleaning lady rang the doorbell. I wasn't sure if I could just leave the house while she was here or not, so I just decided to stay in, upload some pictures and update the blog, since I haven't done it in almost two weeks now. This is what I have been up to... please be sure to email/facebook/skype me with updates on what you are up to back home!

Chau