Cusco is doooope

It’s been such a long time since I posted any kind of update! With so much to catch up on, I think I’ll focus on some of the golden moments of the last month or so :)

I got to meet and chat uninterrupted for a surprisingly long time with a founder of Partners in Health, Dr. Farmer, who visited Lima for the inauguration of a new TB screening program. I say surprising because it seemed all of Lima wanted to get his attention, and yet he found it important enough to sit and talk with a group of us volunteers on a long bus ride from the outskirts of the city back to the center. In this case I didn’t mind the traffic!

An opportunity to work as research staff fo an HIV-related project opened up for Jeff and I from our chance encounter with a seasoned Johns Hopkins doctor. We’re still getting things organized to start, but we’re excited to potentially have more hands-on time with patients. Meanwhile we’re also still working on our independent research project on TB adherence. We didn’t anticipate things would move quite so slowly on that front, but alas that’s how it seems to be.

On the Friday before Christmas, Socios en Salud threw a big holiday party. The theme was black and white, so we all dressed up rather fancilly, drank champagne, and took photos in the photo booth ;) Classic! Oh, and of course, we danced. Since there are so many more women than men in the organization, Jeff and I sort of took turns asking for our colleagues’ hands so that everyone got a chance to strut their stuff. I’m still shaky with the steps and spinning to Latino music, but our female friends seemed to have fun regardless! After the hired band took their leave later in the evening, our newly-formed band Socios en Rock took the stage: Jeff on guitar and vocals, Hansel on bass, me on drums, and our friends Bruno and Frank on lead guitar and vocals. We’re far from being pros, but we were lucky to have a very supportive crowd. They cheered (and even screamed), waved their arms, and nailed the call-and-response to a famous Peruvian rock song. By the end we felt like total rock stars. We stood offstage a good long while as people asked to take pictures with us. Our very own paparazzi!

Not long after the holiday party, I got to fly to Cusco with some of my very favorite people in the world :) My dad and his girlfriend, along with Pierre and his girlfriend, my sister, and Emily all came South to visit me for a few weeks. We had an incredible time in and around Cusco with too many memorable moments to list here, but I will list a few of my favorites :)

After recovering from the super-high altitude and some GI troubles, the fearless foursome of Linda&Pierre and Em&I ventured to the Sacred Valley. Our home base was perfectly nestled in beautiful countryside near a bunch of nearby trails to explore the area. We didn’t have many concrete plans, so we basically went out the gate to where we were staying and started walking! We were endlessly awed by the spectacular beauty of our surroundings - so lush and green, with mammoth mountains all around! We wandered by irrigation canals under the shade of trees growing alongside, picked some wild parsley, and enjoyed the soothing sounds of the running water. We unintentionally wandered a bit too far into someone’s farmland, but they let us know and we turned right around ;) In the opposite direction there was a dirt road leading up a canyon, with a bunch of red plastic bags attached the ends of long poles sticking out from various households to advertise that they sold homemade chicha corn beer. The poles were meant to resemble red flowers, we believed, and they were all over the place. Naturally, we had to try it. After one hike we hesitantly entered someone’s backyard after a boy shyly invited us in. There were ducks, dogs, cats, a room filled with a guinea pig colony, and a modest garden boasting some of the typical aji hot peppers of Peru. In the back were a couple large ceramic pots holding the fermented beverage, and the young boy scooped us two cups with a deep ladle. The drink was very tart and not particularly enjoyable, but we were happy just to be there and we got to try our hand at the local traditional game of sapo, or ‘the toad.’ You stand some distance from a wooden table with holes carved into the top surface and a proud metal toad sitting in the middle with its mouth just barely open. Feed the toad with one of the golden coins, and you automatically win, which means you’ve earned yourself a free cup of chicha ;) The game is similar to corn hole, but it felt significantly more difficult as we struggled to get any of the coins to fall into the holes, not to mention the toad’s tiny mouth! But back to the hiking, I remember one point walking up an unassuming dirt road, admiring the flowers and overall scenery, when we rounded a corner and Emily told us to look up. Suddenly there was an enormous glacier-topped mountain towering into the sky in front of us! It was so unexpected and ridiculously beautiful that I burst out into laughter. There were similar moments of giddy amazement throughout the visit as we encountered more and more breathtaking mountain landscapes. For example, on our way back to Cusco from the sacred valley, we kept asking the driver to please pull over so that we could take more pictures, including of a ridiculously spectacular rainbow seeming to emerge from Incan ruins and arching over pretty green mountains. Again I laughed at how absurdly gorgeous it all was. I was always filled with love for my family and for Emily. We had bonded nicely after the challenges of being in a new environment finding our way, and after a few strenuous hikes that rewarded us with yet more insane views. We functioned well as a group and in our smaller twosome units. I felt proud and lucky to be part of my family and as a couple with Em. After one fun outing and another tasty home cooked meal (props to Linda and Pierre!), we played the game Vertelli that my mom introduced us to at last year’s Christmas gathering (thanks for letting us borrow it, Mom!). Basically, it’s not so much a game as an igniter of deep, unhurried conversation. I cherish this moment because Linda, Emily, and Caroline got to go first responding to questions prompting them to reflect on their year in various ways. I loved hearing what they had to say! It was a perfect way to get to know each of our partners better :) By the time we parted ways to continue our adventures separately, we were all feeling warm and fuzzy with full love-tanks :)

So that’s already a ton of writing, and thus I won’t get in to Em and my backpack out to the ruins of Choquequirao! Suffice it to say there was more beauty, mountains, and rainbows ;)