Doc´s visit- 6/13

6/13--I’m writing to you on a cold Tuesday night from home. I can honestly call Carata my home. I just came upstairs from having dinner in our small adobe kitchen. One of the school teachers and I conversed about the unlikelihood that the neighboring volunteer Ana would marry him so he could gain residency to the U.S. It’s actually a pretty common conversation, that we as volunteers have come accustomed to dealing with.

My room is warming up now, I’ve got the space heater on, but still wear a winter hat, and it’s probably a chilling 45 degrees outside. (Did I ever think I’d be cold in June?) The environmental diversity of this country amazes me. Some of my friends who live far north practically on the boarder of Ecuador, and south of Lima live in desert like conditions. It’s so hot they can’t even sleep. Some are talking anti-malerial meds, which in itself hinders sleep. Although I’m freezing at night it’s beautiful during the day, I really can’t complain. I just hope I get a chance to use my new tent one of these nights. (Thank God for therma-rests, smart wool socks and mummy sleeping bags). I keep on forgetting to buy a thermometer.

My English has gotten so rusty, I just spelled socks with an x. Sounds like box. The spell check is handy for gringos like me who have forgotten their native language…..

Today was Tuesday, a long day. I woke up a couple of times last night thinking I was going to over sleep and miss my 7:20am English class. Nope, still haven’t missed it but getting up at 6am or 6:30 is a struggle when it’s still cold and dark outside. The classes continue to discourage me, because I know that teaching about health will take these students much farther in life. This is how I see it, sure they’ll learn some basic English, but if they don’t understand the general concept of washing their hands they’re going to die from illness! Remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? I do. Freshman year of college, Nursing Health Assessment. The theorist Maslow defined that humans first need the basics before anything else. Food, Water, Shelter. Health came way before “Second Language Classes”. Call me pessimistic, but its true!

I’m pealing paint from my fingers from working on a project today. We’re painting house numbers on blocks of wood for the village. It’s a big project, but simple and necessary. The houses are unnumbered and there are no street names. There are no streets really, just large paths separating neighborhoods. We are going to make over two hundred and continue from there to see if we need more. Eventually we’d like to make street names. I want to name a street after myself. Egocentric right? It still would be funny.

My doctor came to visit me Sunday. We have two Peace Corps doctors, a man and a woman both Peruvian. They are excellent and work extremely hard to monitor the health of the 116 of us. Jorge has won us over with his humor, wit and easy going personality. He was called up to La Libertad the department where I live to visit another volunteer who was sick, and as she became better he decided to take the opportunity to travel to a couple of our sites just to visit. He tries to visit every volunteer once in their site during their two years. Jorge arrived Sunday night, and after realizing the extent of the trip from my capital city, Trujillo, I hope he didn’t have doubts to immediately turn back.

Monday morning I gave him a quick tour of town, it’s so tiny you could miss it if you blinked! I explained some history and facts about my site, and we talked about planned projects I’m working on. He hoped to walk to Ann’s site but than it started raining, and we watched a world cup game instead. Jorge was a great help with the house numbers, taking pictures just like a tourist. He even visited me teaching English. (Jorge speaks English remarkably well!) the rain continued, amd trapped in Carata he made some phone calls and arranged to stay another day. He decided to try and catch a bus back to Trujillo this morning.

I honestly enjoyed the company, and was honored to have our Doc. spend as much time as he did with me. He tells me that when he visits volunteers he usually doesn’t stay overnight, especially two nights! We bonded and I got to know him a little better, since meeting him last year. Even more amazing, is that unlike other staff members Jorge travels like us (volunteers) when he can. He stays in cheap hostels, takes uncomfortable overnight buses, uses public transportation instead of driving and get this…hikes high altitudes! Most of our supervisors fly around the country to meet with us, or local organizations for meetings, or for site development. And when they land at the airport they are picked up in Peace Corps SUV’s. But not Jorge. For this reason and many others he will definitely be a memorable staff member when this Peace Corps adventure of mine comes to an end.