Viva El Peru

     Some would wonder why I am reminiscing about Peru, but believe it or not it has been exactly 1 WHOLE YEAR since I was down there last year at the end of March.  Ryan and I have been a little sad lately knowing that Idaho Condor (the humanitarian mission group) is down in Peru since Saturday and we were not able to go this year.  Due to school and having to have to be responsible, we couldn't find a way to go.  Hopefully within 2 years when we are both in rotations and on the same schedule we will finally be able to go back to our "Falling In Love" country.  Peru has a place in both of our hearts and has definitely taught Ryan and I our love to serve others.  We both can not wait til we are done with school and will be able to go to Peru every year and all over the world to travel as a Doctor and Pharmacist to help others.
     Ryan and I were just friends and barely new each other before we went down to Peru.  Ryan had been recruiting my friend Ashley and I to go down to Peru to run the "Farmacia" in the cities we went to visit since we were in pharmacy school.

The Pharmacy was always placed where there were bars or a barrier or otherwise the natives would try to rush in where all of the "goods" were at.

     The pharmacy was a new division for the group.  We have a surgical team that stays in Lima, Peru and does facial reconstruction surgery and then the dental and medical teams go to Cusco, Peru which is an hour flight away from Lima. Ryan started the medical team division last year so having an actual pharmacy was new. The doctors and dentists wrote "recetas" aka prescriptions and the people would bring them to us to be filled.  It was so AMAZING to see how the Peruvians were so thankful for a bag of Ibuprofen for their aches and pain or some simple Omeprazole for heart burn.
     Last year the rainy season was very hard on the cities.  A lot of the cities had been washed out and lost everything.  It was a very humbling experience to see people literally living in "Tent Cities."  We were able to help over a couple of thousand people and go to 5 villages.  Peru will always have a place in my heart.  It truly taught me the REAL meaning to Serve and Sacrifice.  Here are some pictures....

Kids were lined up ALL over the streets just to earn a "Sole" for a picture

People waiting in line at Triage

Beautiful Andes Mountain Range, we were about 13,000 feet up

The kids were precious and loved the balloons we brought

     Many of the younger locals spoke Spanish, but a lot of the older people in the village were Incan descendants so they spoke Ketchua which is the native Incan language.  There were very few Peruvians who could speak Ketchua because it was becoming a lost language in Peru.

     This pictures is of one of our dentist checking the teeth to tell her what station to go to, but this lady is a what the older women would look like with long braided hair, tall top hats, skirts, and she spoke Ketchua.

Dental crew setting up

      When we went to the cities, they were very gracious for us coming to help so they would put on a performance with their kids and the Police.  One city put on a show for us with their police dogs.

Here is the city band performing for us

     Along with traveling to some cities, we were able to do a lot of site seeing as well.  The group usually goes to Machu Pichu every year for a few days, but this year we decided to go to Lake Titicaca in Puno, Peru.  It was so much fun!  We took a LONG boat ride to a huge island in the lake and we were able to see the man made floating islands.  The people that live on the Islands are super super short.  I'm talking like barely 4 ft. tall.  Here are some pictures of their houses/islands.

Our Sweet Rides down to Lake Titicaca from our hotel

This is a design that the Islanders make on the way to their homes out of the Weeds that hold the islands together

This is how they travel island to island

Their homes are super small!

This weed grows at the bottom of the lake and it holds the island in place.  Also the Islanders eat the weed to clean their teeth because it has fluoride in it.

     So, at the beginning of the trip, Ryan and I new very little about each other.  But by the end of the 10 days we were a lot more curious about each other and our friendship had grown a lot.  So the pictures towards the end of the trip have a lot more of us in them.

Lake Titicaca behind us, on an island where the locals fed us a traditional meal of fish and soup

     While we were traveling to cities at the end of the day we took a couple of hours to see some sweet agriculture sites.  This place was my favorite.  The Peruvians are amazing farmers.  All of the farm land is up on the mountain sides. The sides are so steep that you would never be able to get a John Deer tractor up the mountain to harvest it.  They are brilliant people when it comes to agriculture.

I found some corn.  It was raining on us.

     Another interesting place we were able to stop at was the Salt Farm.  There were over a 1000 families who work here.  This is how they get their salt for their family and sell some as well.  The river that flows through here is pure salt, hence why they can farm it.

Once the water evaporates the wells will be white with all the of the salt to harvest

     There was so much that we did in the 12 days that we were in Peru and thousand of pictures to pick from.  It was the best experience that I have ever had.  It has changed me as a person and taught me the true mean of serving as well as being humble.  From helping people who lived in tents because their houses had been washed away from floods to the locals who live over 13,000 ft up in the Andes to preserve their heritage, I learned the true meaning of what family should mean to me.  I am so very thankful for my husband.  It was in Peru where I learned what kind of man that I wanted and found.  I am so thankful that Ryan is a man who is always thinking of others and loves to serve.  Even though we are extremely sad that we are not in Peru right now, trust me, we will be back as soon as we can! And hopefully we have found many friends here in Arizona who would love to go and serve the Peruvians as well!

Guinea Pig is a delicacy down there, so here is my first time eating it....trust me it is not a delicacy to eat!!!

So long Peru....we will See You SOON!!!!!!