clouds and rain

Life in Peru

erin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:03:39 +0000

The day-to-day:

Because Sarah and I are here to work on data, it automatically means that we are experts on all things technology. Problem in the clinic, call on us, apparently. This includes refilling an ink cartridge with a 5mL syringe. Oh, and the computers will have an error everyday. Somehow, error messages in Spanish are scarier than errors in English. I maintain Macs are the way to go.
We eat A LOT of quinoa and carrots.
There are more dogs than I knew possible. Most look like mops.
Said dogs wear more sweaters here than in LA.
You do not, and will not have the right of way.
The sun comes up at 5:30am.
Water smells like sulfur. Surprisingly enough, not the shower. Just the tap. So bathing is good. Washing hands, ehhh.
The rooster will, like clockwork, say hello from 5:30am until 7:00am.
The illegal parrot next door says “hola” whenever you walk by.
We have 3 iron gates that require turning the key 3 times and opening a latch to get through. Don’t forget locking it back. That means 18 turns and several latch pulls.

More to come.

campaign

erin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:43:00 +0000

you may have seen my little comment about helping with pap smears…

cervicusco goes on screening campaigns in and around cusco. since dr. ferris may develop a cohort at one of these locations, sarah and i went along to see what campaigns were all about. the paperwork was pretty well taken care of, so we both assisted the medical and pa students with the pap smears. essentially this consisted of putting gel on the speculum, collecting the swabs, and filling in the paperwork. i was working with becky, a medical student from iowa, and she taught me a lot about the cervix, what to look for, how it changes with pregnancy and/or age. it was really interesting. the women were so sweet and would kiss becky’s cheek after their exam. if only in the states people were that thankful about screening exams.

looking back towards cusco from the campaign site

screening table

containers for swab collection

becky and i

tunupa restaurant

erin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:54:07 +0000

there are about 18 people staying at cervicusco now. sarah and i, pa students and their professor, other doctors, dr. ferris, dental students and their professor. quite the group. dr. ferris is leaving this afternoon, so we all headed out for a dinner in cusco last night at tunupa restaurant. pisco sours, red wine, a buffet of food and dancing. absolutely fantastic.

in other news, data headaches have been cured (for now).

hiking & headaches

erin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:11:11 +0000

yesterday morning i woke up at 5:00am to hit the road with Dr. Ferris about 5:30 for a short hike. i haven’t done much activity, aside from walking, since we got here, so it was time to venture out for some altitude adjustment and, more importantly, beautiful morning views. it was a touch cloudy, but here is the panorama from our destination, a little ridge in the national park ‘behind’ our home. (we’re not going to talk about the headaches. they relate to the data. i thought i’d reference that all is not perfect. at least the views are. )

Larapa, Cusco is off to the right (out of the picture)

shelter along the hike

Dr. Ferris knew this was a photo op spot

first few days

erin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 02:07:05 +0000

hurray, we arrived! sarah and i left atlanta on saturday afternoon and after a layover in lima, arrived in cusco early sunday morning. we spent most of sunday sleeping and getting aquatinted with our new home. today, after spending the morning with dr. ferris going over the medical records, we took a break and ventured into downtown cusco. we stopped by the starbucks (yes, starbucks. don’t worry, we’ll get real peruvian coffee shortly) and wandered around the square. for the past two days the weather has followed the same trend, sunny in the morning with rains coming in during the mid-afternoon. we stopped for an awesome lunch at los toldos near the plaza. we didn’t venture out too much with the salad bar and stuck to carrots, potatoes and beets. then enjoyed a veggie panini. after a little more wandering and bearing finding, we headed back to larapa. stopped by the supermarket and back to the clinic to start working with the records. sure enough, rains came in right as we hit the door. excellent timing.

there are certainly a number of things that have already taken us out of our comfort zone (the smell in lima and lead gas to name a few). i’ll have to toss up a kari inspired post about american versus peruvian culture soon.

Plaza de Armas

taking in the sun

blue

we will return to los toldos

instagram

erin — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 01:31:49 +0000

the camera on my iPhone has been my camera for the last month—not because mine is broken or anything, just because i’ve been lazy and the phone always seems to be on me. enter: selection of instagram photos from my break.

where to & self promotion

erin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:11:39 +0000

buenos tardes. (see that, i’m totally going to blend right in.)

first part of this post is a call for thoughts. sarah and i will be on a bit of a budget while in cusco, but want to take full advantage of our time there. cusco in and of itself will be fun to explore, but we would love any thoughts on key things to do while there! by that, lake titicaca and la paz, inca trail, amazon basin or other journeys? we’ll have to choose because they can get pricey quickly. ready? comment!

the self promotion part refers to me sharing that, should one be interested, i have a little photo blog. it’s hey erin in the blogroll. yes, i’m apparently narcissistic. or a really big procrastinator. or both. i don’t want it to link to fb because then you’d get a feed each day, and i don’t want to be that present on fb. i digress… so i’m going to attempt to do a photo a day. yesterday had a post about kale, so as you might imagine, it’s really thrilling stuff. i’ve seen other people do more intensive takes on this idea, and it’s unlikely that i’ll be that awesome, but hey, could be fun? (yes, i’m often this self-deprecating.)

in review

erin — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 02:46:51 +0000

i’m guilty of getting crabby and forgetting all the lovely things that have occurred in my life. because of this, i am assigning myself the task of remembering 2011 for all that it was. i’m babysitting for the evening, so why not reflect as i watch kourtney & kim take new york. cheers!

Rules of Engagement

erin — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 02:53:30 +0000

Amendment:

Apparently iMessage and Facetime will work because they run off WiFi. The options just might be expanding. Hurray.

—

I’m sure most of you are aware of the hefty international rates that apply to phones…regardless, I thought I’d toss this little post up. The phone won’t really be an option at $2.49/minute and while I can receive texts at the normal rate, sending rates increase quite a bit. Thus, internet, Skype, and snail mail are in. If we’re close enough that we would communicate via one of these mediums, and you would like my Skype username or address in Cusco, send me a little note. I’ll be reaching out for some addresses myself.

Hope the holidays are going wonderfully for you all!

why peru?

erin — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 01:58:54 +0000

in short, that’s kind of the question. peruvian women have one of the highest rates of cervical cancer in the world. one doctor from georgia health sciences university (ghsc), dr. daron ferris, opened cervicusco in 2006 with the aim to prevent cervical cancer and provide additional women’s health care services in the region. in the fall of 2010, uga expanded their partnership with ghsc when they opened the interim medical building, with plans to move to the old navy school campus, now the health sciences campus, in the fall of 2012. in addition to the medical school, the college of public health will join the fun and actually began their move to the new campus this week. still with me? so, dr. ferris has awesome plans for analysis of his current data, as well as a host of future studies. but first, the data has to be in a state ready for analysis. and that’s where mph students ripe and ready to put their epidemiological skills to use come into the picture! a few classmates began the venture earlier this year and in january, i will head to cusco, peru to work at cervicusco with a classmate, and wonderful friend, sarah.

with that, stay tuned as wordpress will be one of the best mediums to share our experience. and trust me, it will be an experience (for starters, our knowledge of spanish is quite thin).

also, any tips and treks will be duly noted.

love,