Hello everyone. greetings from cusco, peru. day 10, week 2. wait that doesn´t make sense. oh well.

where to begin? i´m keeping extremely busy every day! i would like to walk you through a typical day being jessi adams in cusco, peru. for your reading pleasure.

the alarm goes off and i sprint to the bathroom. (can any of you actually believe that? i know.) i do this because i share this bathroom with 4 other people. (it is a race to beat out three other shower seekers.) i then dart downstairs for my coffee, and my house mom Gloria can´t believe i´m so crazy and late and unorganized. it makes her laugh. she has now just gotten out of the way of the tornado that blows through her kitchen seeking REALLY BAD, and i do not use that term lightly, really bad coffee. i believe it´s like some sort of scoop powder stuff. i bought a "to go" mug in a local market this past weekend. it is like a child´s thermos, only cheaper. like it should have scooby doo on it. i think i really shouldn`t put hot liquid in it. oh well.

Now it´s time for the bus. let me explain. i rush down the street about 3 blocks and stand at the bus stop. there are "combi´s" which marc explained, (picture mini vans with a few extra benches for good measure.) so the morning commute involves being packed like a pickle between a child going to school and a wierd old man who´s trying to sit real close to you and smells funny. oh and you have to yell "baha" really loud when you think it´s your stop. if you don´t, they won´t stop. then you´ll go on a nice tour of the city.

i go to one stop and change combis and hop on another for the ride up the hill to the clinic. the road is cobblestone, but rises above cusco to reveal the entire valley. it reminds me of missoula. this is the most peaceful part of my next 4 hours. and i did explain what riding the combi is like, for some perspective.

i go into the public clinic where you are first faced with wading through a long line of people waiting for triage, where i worked last week. patients need height, weight, blood pressure taken before proceeding upstairs. it costs 3 soles 50 centiminos, which equals a little over a dollar, to enter the clinic. beyond that, every service is free.
i have survived the line, and head upstairs. this is where the waiting room is. it is a circus. there are at any time 40 patients with wailing babies or extremely old parents waiting to be seen.
the waiting room is packed with people, and smells bad.
i would like to briefly mention breast feeding. the reason i mention it is because i witness four year olds toddling up to their mothers, lifting their mother´s shirts and going to town. i do not understand this. there is much breast feeding going on, fun for the whole family.

i now go into my new room, "topico," which i refer to as the "stitches and shots" room. this room is a trip. we have to keep the door closed while working with one patient at a time while others knock and try to bust in. Picture a famous singer trying to get away from crazy fans and the security guard is fighting with arms, legs, hands, etc. to close the door. that´s how it feels! i´m serious! i am not, however, a famous singer, and i hardly suppose they´re seeking me... anyway, i digress.
i´ve seen so many butts in the last two days, giving shots. it has been a festival of butts, if you will. keep in mind that as all of this unfolds before me, i hardly understand the language. i have never experimented with hard drugs, but this must be its equivalent.

so, the 4 hours at the clinic come to an end as i hop on the combi to go to my school. i meet with a local girl who wants to learn english as i want to learn spanish. her name is kelly and we talk for an hour. she is very good at english, i a dullard at spanish. kelly finds it helpful to correct my "tenses." (i feel a major victory when the point of what i´m trying to say is understood, needless to say what tense i say it in.) whatever.

i proceed throughout my day, and finish with my two hour spanish class taught by my new friend george, pronounced "horhay." we had some drinks last weekend and he is a hoot. needless to say i know way too much about horhay. anyway, my spanish class is fun. it is fun only because horhay is extremely patient and has a good sense of humor.

i end my day by rushing home for dinner. dinner is a formal affair. my housemates, gloria, pepe, their son diego, and joe cocker. joe cocker is their cocker spaniel, and pepe is very proud of that name. every time he says the dog´s name he looks at me, waiting for a reaction, because the first time i heard it i just bust out laughing, loudly, at the table. there are 7 of us eating dinner. they all chit chat away the hours while i play with my food. i see how many small bites i can take just to kill time...sure i understand what they are saying.
then there is dessert. dessert varies on how much time gloria had to go for it. last night, for example, was cherry jello with fruit. it was not set. so it was like jello soup. very interesting.

my treat is being able to watch "friends" with spanish subtitles in the evening. then i go to bed, only to start the whole cycle over in the morning.

i hope i have amused you. i am now at the section of my schedule where i pack into a combi and head home for dinner and hopefully a repeat of the jello...

love,
jess