Hotel Esmeralda Piura

... 192 patients<br> over 1000 patients seen by the Sierra team on their Primary Care excursions<br> 44 US volunteers including surgeons, nurses, PA's, support staff<br> approximately 80 volunteers from the Diocese of Chulucanas<br> all of this in just 10 working days!<br><br>Our departure for Lima is at 4am via bus, that means a 3am wakeup call to get everything out the door and cleaned up.. phew...

... there are in the US. There were stalls for shoes, clothes, household items and of course fruit and vegetables that were beautifully stacked (don't worry, I didn't eat any). There also was the overwhelming smell of the meat that is hanging for purchase. I saw my first rat, and it was dead... I don't know if I can ever eat chicken again...<br><br>Tonight we are going to try some local fare at a restaurant and then I believe we're ...

Today was the first full day of surgery and I did get some pictures from the OR from yesterday to put up. I tried to keep it clean so sorry if you get grossed out easily...the boy with the cleft lip said "Ay Yay Yay" when he first woke up from surgery - apparently he thought is wasn't the most pleasant experience. <br><br>the Sierra team is on their way back down from the mountains tonight, bouncing in their truck, from their first multi day excusion to provide ...

... them, she lives in the mountains so it's impossible to navigate the terrain without knowing how to use them. Mick is an orthopaedist so he found some crutches and showed her how to use them, by the time she left she was grinning and hopping up and over stairs like she'd been doing it forever. There is someone willing to fit her with a prosthetic so I'm going to work on getting the information so we can submit her case to First Hand for assistance. <br><br ...

... br>We arrived into Loja about 12-35, just enough time to grab a burger lunch and board the bus to Piura. <br><br>In our haste to leave Vilcabambe I didn&#8217;t have time to get any cash from the ATM, and at Loja none of the ATM&#8217;s were working. I was a bit nervous as we were down to $30 and you could never be sure that the AT&#8217;s would work at our destination in Piura. We would need to buy tickets to Lima tonight.<br><br>The trip to Macara on the border took 5 hours and ...

... happens when a dog is inches away from my heels, as if that makes me more difficult to see or something equally stupid. I also said the b*****d word A LOT.<br><br>We''ve eaten chicken for the second day in a row, which is fine because we've managed to avoid it for quite some time, but I can see a point in the very near future when we start to seek out other foods, namely Chinese.<br><br>Tomorrow we go down the road to Piura, just 40 kms away and from there we will take ...

... br><br>Top Scary moments<br>- Whale swimming under our flimsy boat<br>- Going over a 50 foot drop, dangling from some rope when not fully expecting it (Alex was too sensible to do this)<br>- Maverick Andean Bus drivers<br><br>Top Characters<br><br>1) Isidro. There is a bit of me that is very jealous of him, but I'm big enough to put him in. He was our surf instructor who was born in the Galapagos, started surfing at the age of 3, has represented his country and been ...

... and decided to set up camp there. It was a beautiful setting, and we made a great big campfire with the dry roots and branches from the desert trees. We had to scare away four over-flying eagles that were drooling over the sight of little Salina - and we made a great meal of pasta and hand-made marshmallows from Ecuador...<br><br>In the morning, Salina was still there and ready to go....<br><br>Up next - Chicmayo and the Witch Market

<br> We woke up Piura, but didn&#8217;t jump to an early start, liked we&#8217;d hoped we would. Andy&#8217;s immune system has gotten a proper welcoming to the developing world as he got hit with round three of being sick. Grounded to the toilet, he had no desire to walk around or jump on the 3 hour bus to Chiclayo. Eric and I went for a half an hour run and came back to a puke-plugged sink, which Andy was trying to fix. By ...

so wer arrived in piura early this morning and instead of staying there as planned (thank god ther ewas nothing there really) we went with some lovely engilsh people onward to to trujillo. we got there at like 3 and took another 20 minute taxi to our curnet location of Huanchaco to end our travel marathon. peru is sooo differnt, it was deseert for forever and then a mile of slums and so much trash. more detials later, interent money running out. yay peru!!!!