Peru, at last.

Oh my goodness, preparing for my trip to Peru consumed my entire being. I was definitely a Katherine-on-edge. Not to mention, my room was (and still is) a confused disaster, stuck somewhere between moving out and moving in (leaving the dorm and now getting ready for my first apartment). I first found out about the trip through UGA Without Borders, who sent me notifications on the listserv (email). It was advertised as a third-party organization, International Service Learning, that hosted trips in Latin America and Tanzania that ranged from 10 days to 2 weeks among other things. There are medical trips, those concerned with dentistry, education, construction. Plenty of things to satisfy any volunteer. Anyway, I chose Peru. I've heard nothing but praise for the country, especially since a fairly large group of kids from my high school went to Peru with their church in 2009. Apparently, I found out about the trip a little late. So, when I signed up, there was all this confusion about what dates I was going on and blah blah blah. The trip coordinator, Diane, was terrible. She was nothing but a name to us, signed at the bottom of forwarded emails. Pick up phone calls? Funny joke. Reply to emails? Don't make me laugh. Let's just say, she became our best friend very quickly.

I kept telling myself that she was misrepresenting the program & I was going to have a fantastic time. I clenched my fist and trudged through the motions of payment and total preparation because I knew it would be worth it. And it was.

I'm slacking, and I haven't uploaded pictures yet, but here is my first email to my parents from Lima. Note the irony of the opening sentence:

So as much as I wanted to have a blog, I've decided it takes way too
much effort so I'm going to write you emails instead! Today was
surreal. First off we are staying at the hotel continental in lima in
the middle of the city. Yesterday was a nice introduction to the trip.
We had a breakfast in the hotel and then an orientation on ISL and the
trip. Then, we walked around Lima and came back and ate lunch. After
that we had a medical orientation that was Way too cool. Doctor Pedro
taught us about basic common Peruvian diseases and how to check vitals
and take a glucose reading. Dinner ran late yesterday so we ended up
waking up at 8 today instead of the usual 730 which will be our wake
up time tomorrow. The hotel feeds us a cute continental bfast with
cafe and fresh juices and fruit. Then we were bussed to San Lorenzo,
which is a suburb of the city located in the mountains, where we went
from house to house making appointments for those who are sick in the
community because we will have a clinic in the local church for
Tuesday and wednesday. It was completely surreal. I spoke Spanish to
all the locals and stood there in my scrubs as they described their
symptoms to me and my group issued them a clinic appointment. ah I
still can't believe I an here! Then when we were done scheduling we
headed to our group leader's house and ate homemade Peruvian food
prepared by her mom. It was so delicious. You know, Peru reminds me so
much of India and Spain. It's like if the two had a baby. Anyway after
eating we went on a tour bus to the top of one if the mountains of the
city where there stands a big beautiful cross called the cruz de San
Cristobal or the cross of st. Christopher. ahh! Wonderful. And the
best part is that all of us get along so well. We are all constantly
laughing and having such a great time AND we are all pre med
bulldawgs! In peru! So far I have just bought some saint bracelets and
an awesome green alpaca sweater that you will see in pictures.
Tomorrow is the first day of clinical work so keep us in your
prayers!!

Love,
Katherine