March 2017 Peru Maternal-Fetal Health

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“I was in Peru for 4-days today” was a frequent comment after our work in hospitals, villages, schools, traveling and at historical/cultural training activities.

Our group included,

Day 1, Thursday, March 23, 2017

Today began our work, adventure, and fun-filled, whirlwind-time in Peru, from the Pacific Ocean to the Altiplano, we had a marvelous time!! We started with a very late night, followed by an early Friday flight, that was delayed for an hour, and finally departed on our “domestic” flight on Peruvian Air, at 6:00 AM (Friday morning) to Cusco.

Day 2, Friday, March 24, 2017

Recovering from traveling, today was mostly “on own” though we had an “organized” tour of Coricancha, with its amazingly large and precision fit stone walls.



Richard worked on his Eagle project today, researching what items are available and prices. We visited some pharmacies on the Avenida del Sol. He bought a “botiquín” (first aid kit) to use as an example of what may be needed.



Day 3, Saturday, March 24, 2017

This morning, we left for Abancay, at 4 AM (or was it earlier?). Anyway, it was some unreasonable hour. This began one of a number of bus rides for our group.



On the way to Abancay, we stopped and got snacks at a small roadside shop. Wade helped a local hombre that was “herding” his cow and calf.



Once in Abancay, we went to the hospital where our medical team trained Obstetras (40 of them) at a meeting room near the hospital. We all got to witness the delivery of a child, or was that Chad who participated in a demonstration attended by Ty, Kevin and Mark?




Everyone was anxious to take photos (I can’t miss this one!!)

The rest of us walked “nearby” (is six to 9 blocks really nearby?) to an orphanage where William (a District President of the LDS Church) asked the Director of the orphanage if our group could do activities with the children (99 of them) for a few hours. We started with juggling (John), violin songs (Ty), Singing (led by Nay Nay) with all of us participating, American football, marbles (led by by Wade who also organized and managed the children), bracelets (Lynn and Ali), hair bows for the girls and, please add more activities that I can’t remember right now.




Bracelets for the ninas at the Abancay orphanage


Hair bows for the ninas at the Abancay orphanage


This is a photo taken at the end of the training in Abancay

Day 4, Sunday, March 24, 2017

After a late morning (we slept in today) many began the day by attending Church at the building with a sport court that is adjacent to the back wall of our hotel (El Puma). At 1:30 PM we loaded on a bus, which took us to the ruins of Saxsayhuaman.


This is a photo of our group just before entering the cave at Saxsayhuaman

This evening we enjoyed a “Fireside” by Chad. The topic was “Viracocha”. There is an audio of the fireside here.

Day 5, Monday, March 24, 2017

Our humanitarians travelled to the village of Casa Ccunca, located above 12,000 feet in the Andeas mountains. We were greeted with the school children who draped paper mache leis around our necks, followed by a small group of children who marched with the Peruvian flag and sang the Peruvian national anthem. Then the U.S. national anthem was played over the intercom system. The children listened while we sang, “Oh say can you see, by the dawns early light…”. Then, we all danced and played games. We all enjoyed juggling by John and violin music by Ty.


Necklaces from the Casa Ccunca schoolchildren


This is a photo of the water tank that was funded by our team in 2016 for the school. The water is stored during the “wet” season to provide water for the children during the dry season.

After we returned to Cusco, Efrain Alcazar (a doctor and fire chief) came to our hotel to coordinate our training meeting with the firefighters. Richard talked with Efrain about what first aid items were needed by the firefighters and where to purchase the items. At 6:30 PM, an ambulance arrived at our hotel. Our medical team loaded into the ambulance and were driven to the San Sebastian Civic Center for training workshops with 80 “bomberos” (volunteer firefighters). During the training, as part of his Eagle Scout Leadership Service project, Richard presented 65 first aid kits to 65 firefighters.



Day 6, Tuesday, March 24, 2017

This morning, we left for our cultural and historical training at 8 AM. Our shuttle took us up, out of the Cusco valley, past Saxsayhuaman and down into the Sacred Valley. We made a stop at a refuge and received a tour that included seeing condors, puma, alpacas, vicunas, cuy and a native cat. We continued on to the ruins at Pisac, then to Ollantaytambo (some of our group made a brief ascent to the top of the ruins), after which we boarded a train that took us to Aguas Calientes.

Day 7, Wednesday, March 24, 2017

Cultural and historical training at Machu Picchu, including hikes, to get a birdseye view from Huayna Picchu and the Puerta Del Sol.



Day 8, Thursday, March 24, 2017

Drive to Puno, passing by Sicuani and through the Altiplano and Juliaca, over a 14,000 foot pass.

Day 9, Friday, March 24, 2017

Training in the hospital at Juliaca, and work in, activities with the school children and donations to the schools on the floating Uros, reed islands at Lake Titicaca.

Day 10, Saturday, March 24, 2017

Training to 106 Parteras (nurse midwives) in Puno and an afternoon cultural tour of the floating islands, with a ride on a large boat made of reeds. Ty, Ari, Lana and John were in Lima today. Earlier in the day, we said goodbye to John, Lana, Ty, and Ari who left for the airport in Juliaca to begin their journey back to their homes in the U.S.



Day 11, Sunday, March 24, 2017

The largest contingent of our group started for home today, leaving at 10:30 for the airport in Juliaca, flight to Lima and a visit to the Indian Market.

Day 12, Monday, March 24, 2017

Bonnie, Lisa and Mike had a 8-hour layover in Los Angeles (most of our group chose a more direct route :) During their time in LA, they caught a “free” airport bus to Parking lot “C”, then a Big Blue Express bus to Santa Monica, and got off a block or so from the Pacific Ocean!! They kicked around in the water, ate lunch at quaint restaurants (Mike ate at Joe’s Pizza) and walked with the many beach goers, along the pier.

Tuesday, March 25, 2017

From (Mike). I arrived home late Monday night (was I really at the ocean beach today), spent Tuesday with the last details of a CME conference, left early Wednesday morning for St. George, where I ran a Physician Assistant education conference from Wednesday evening until Saturday afternoon.

I look forward to hearing about your transition back to your normal activities at home (please type details below)