The translator returns...

I was asked once again to don my translator's hat, for a visit to Mariscal Gamarra with a visiting medical team from the USA.  This was a longer trip the usual - 5 days.  I am always a bit wound up and nervous the night before and I identified my main concerns:

• not getting enough sleep (pretty likely)
• getting bitten by flies and fleas (fairly certain)
• offending people by not being able to finish the huge portions they serve me (although I know some of them well enough to ask for less food these days)
• having to preach (it's an amazing privilege and I can never work out if I love it or dread it more)

I at least started off well by sleeping through til 4am, whereas usually I wake up every half hour wondering if I'm missed my alarm.

We hired a car and driver for the week, so it was easier than catching the public bus... until we heard a strange bumping noise from the front wheel an hour into our journey.  So Vicente drove back to Abancay to get it fixed, leaving us all in Lambrama to wait.  5 of us did continue the journey in said public bus... The main disadvantage is it drops us at the bottom of the hill rather than the top - but it's a beautiful walk up to the first village!

We arrived and set up as much as we could, bearing in mind we hadn't brought the medicines along with us.  We still managed to see a good number of patients before the rest of the team arrived several hours later. 

The following morning in the second village I awoke to find this little bird at eye-level as I climbed down the ladder from my room.  I have never seen such a tame bird!  After poring over some books we decided he might be a juvenile white-winged black tyrant.

I brought a water filter with me in an attempt to drum up some interest.  Here I am making a hole in the bucket using the drill piece included in the kit.  It's harder work than it looks like it should be!  We used the filtered water all week in our clinics, and drank it ourselves - and the demonstrations went well, particularly when I threw some mud in the bucket and the water still came out of the filter crystal clear!

 We were staying with a family in the village - with various animals all enjoyed by the boys who came too.  Even going to the toilet was an adventure - up the ladder and over the wall, turn right and walk between the pigs and the sheep pen...

After 2 days here we travelled on to the capital of the district - a 3 hour drive away!  It was very remote with stunning scenery.

Here we had use of the municipal building and could get ourselves a lot more organised.  Nurses took blood pressure and registered the patients, then our dentists and doctors could call their patients.  Our pharmacy even had chairs and shelves - a far cry the first day of scrabbling about on the floor!

While the patients were waiting, we gave training on various subjects - dental care, water hygiene and treatment, and a message from the pastor.  My water teaching seemed to go down well - and one of the dentists said it was the most dynamic teaching he'd seen!

 Meanwhile others were out in the field... even our driver was doing some work as well

 In the evenings we met in the local churches, sharing stories from the Bible, songs, and a film of the book of Luke - in the Quechua language of course!  It was great to have those times with the local believers.

There were incredible views on the way home - even some flamingos at 4200m.