June 6: Jesus+Shower+Kids

It has gotten so busy! Here's a recap of the past few days.

Sunday, we visited Cristo Blanco--the huge statue of Jesus Christ that overlooks the entire city. It was a difficult climb, but so worth it! And on the way back, we picked up what is now my new favorite snack: choclo con queso (aka amazing corn on the cob with a chunk of cheese). Sonia was our unofficial guide for this excursion--a very important detail: In Cusco, the locals are nice to the tourists, but there is a deeper dislike for them (us) because of what they (we) tend to do to their culture. Because of this, there are many things that cost a lot of money for tourists and cost no money for the locals. Because Sonia was with us, she was able to guide us along a route where we wouldn't have to pay. Yea for us!

But on the way home, Sonia described more of this situation. Cusco is a tourist city. Their economy relies on tourists, and it is easy to come in with a mindset that we are supporting their city. But she reminded me of all the harmful effects tourism has on the culture: tourists come and see something pretty and take cute pictures to post on Instagram and are ignorant to the fact that their standing on and taking pictures of graves containing the bodies of the locals' ancestors. Not only that, but the local men prefer to marry tourist women and then move away. Thus, it is difficult to preserve the culture. It's more complicated than I realized, and as a tourist, especially with all the upcoming festivals, I am striving to understand and appreciate the culture here without messing with it or even comparing it to the US.

It's hard to balance the constant comparison between Georgia and Cusco. It is not fair to classify a characteristic as good or bad because for someone it is normal, it is tradition, and it is important, even if I think it is weird, rude, dirty, etc. Thus, I am trying to use my experiences and perspectives to enhance my appreciation for what I have without allowing them to devalue the new experiences and perspectives I am gaining here. Still, it is hard.

Yesterday, I began working in a local health center where I will complete my 7 week internship. The center is located about 2 miles from where I live, in a smaller, more impoverished area of town. This clinic is the primary source of non-urgent medical care for the people that live in this area. The building in total is a little smaller than the size of two of my high school classrooms and houses several types of medical professionals: an adult doctor, a geriatric doctor, two obstetricians, two pediatricians, a psychologist, a dentist, and several nurses and building managers. It seems like it is going to be a great place to build on my Spanish skills as well as learn and practice some medical skills. So far, I have primarily been assisting the pediatricians.

Today, I accompanied the pediatrician who focuses on older kids (rather than babies) to one of the local elementary schools where we measured and recorded the height and weight of each of the students in the third grade. For the rest of the week, we will be doing the same with the other grade levels. Therefore, in the past few days, I have had significant exposure to the medical and education systems here.

In terms of the medical system, it is all on paper, nothing is digital, and they are very dependent on their paperwork because this is how the doctors get paid and how the patients receive care. When patients bring their SIS paperwork with them and complete all their required checkups, their care is free. Otherwise, they pay for everything. In terms of recording data, like the heights and weights we collected today, all this is handwritten and charted in various notebooks. Tomorrow, we will be using a standard table to diagnosis each child's height and weight as healthy or not. As you can see in the pictures of the pediatric office, they have very little supplies and sanitation/safety requirements. For instance, the "sink" (pictured) and, in the other office, there is an open electrical outlet right next to where the babies sit/lie for their examination. Nevertheless, the care is available and sufficient for most of the needs. The doctors seem to enjoy their jobs and are good with their patients, and I am excited to learn and help in all the ways I can. Outside of work, I am studying a lot of medical vocabulary as well as helpful expressions to use with children in order to improve my skills in the clinic.

Today at the school, I only got a glimpse into how classes are run and the schedule of the day. Similar to in the US, the children are grouped in classes of about 20 by grade level and use worksheets to learn. Different from the US, today the children prepared posters and chants to have a protest in the streets. I believe that they are protesting for drivers to turn off their cars. I am not sure exactly why--possibly pollution and traffic, maybe something more significant. It's not the first I've heard of it, but I need to get some clarification of the exact issue. The protests lasted about 10 minutes, during which all the traffic patiently waited where the children were blocking the road. I say patiently and I mean it. The drivers were not honking. In fact, most were taking pictures and videos. Again, I don't understand the full picture.

As for other news: I GOT TO TAKE A SHOWER!! I'm still figuring out the hot water situation, but I enjoyed a half scalding hot, half freezing cold shower yesterday morning, during the hour or two that the water was miraculously flowing. By the time I got to breakfast, it was already gone!

I still love the food here. The only thing I have eaten that I will probably not eat again is pata de pollo  (I did not ask what it was before I ate it.) My new favorite food is palta a la reyna, basically a perfectly ripe avocado stuffed with chicken, potatoes, carrots, peas, and cheese. This is typically served as the first course of a meal in place of soup.

The month of June in Cusco is full of celebrations, so every evening, after school, the majority of children are in the parks practicing their traditional dances for this year's celebration. Last night I passed through the square closest to our house to watch them practice. There is a different dance for each age group and/or gender, and they're all beautiful and elaborate, and yet there is so much variety. When they practice, they just find a spot in the park and someone starts playing the flute and drum, and they start dancing. It is really amazing!

That's all for now. I'm sure there is more to come!