Last Days in Cusco

Yesterday, our tour bus was delayed while coming to get us in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. There was a transportation strike, and the main roads were blocked to and from the city. We spent the morning just enjoying the scenery and each other's company. Once the bus got there using a back route, we drove the long way back home to Cusco as well. We stopped on the way at a salt mine. That meant more steps and hiking, which my legs were not willing to do. I saw it from a distance, which was good enough for me, and perused around the gift shops. The salt mines are come from underground naturally at this point. We got back to Cusco around 3pm that day. We spent more time just hanging out and shopping around. Cusco is very cold at night--getting down to 38 degrees. It is still amazing to me how different the weather is from the coast, to the rainforest, to the mountains, all in the same country!

Salt Mines

A couple students and I braved the weather, and also braved the bacteria while eating street food. We spent 6 soles on our meal ($2.30) that included a huge bowl of soup, a hearty helping of deliciously herbed rice, and a nice piece of chicken. It also included a drink and dessert. I was very impressed. It tasted better than what we had been buying at the more upscale restaurants PLUS it was much, much quicker.

Friday was a free day! It was also a national holiday, celebrating one of the saints. We were able to look at one art museum, but the other two we wanted to see were closed. The museum we went to was "modern" art. Most of it consisted of sculptures that were made. They all had something to do with the crucifixion of Jesus, or the last supper, or other Biblical events. The sculptures were not realistic looking; they had exaggerated features that came across as very eerie. That day, we also went to a chocolate museum called Choco. We got free samples of Peruvian chocolate, which was much appreciated. All the chocolate you could buy was wayy over-priced. It had some history on the uses of chocolate around the world, and we also tried some chocolate tea. It tasted like really, really watery hot chocolate. We found some better markets to go to as well. They had better prices on the items we had been seeing and purchasing the entire trip. I am not a huge fan of bartering, but it is fun to get a good deal.

Saturday morning we flew back to Lima. My flight left from Lima to Atlanta at midnight that day, so I had the afternoon and evening to kill time. We all needed to go back to the Miraflores district in Lima to get our luggage that we did not bring to Cusco with us. This took quite a bit of time and money, which we were disappointed about. Some students were not leaving until the following day so I put my luggage in their hotel for the afternoon. We went to more markets, ate at Pizza Hut, and reminisced about the trip. I took a taxi by myself from Miraflores to the airport. Upon arrival, there were other students there so we waited for the Delta line to open up. The check-in process was very lengthy. Once we got on the plane, I tried to sleep since it was midnight until 8:30am. It was definitely hard to sleep. They did feed us well, though. We all boarded the plane on time, but after we left the gate, we needed to find a new gate to go to. Apparently, one of the gas tanks was leaking or not working or something. That took an hour of our time. I was a little nervous because I only had a 2 hour lay over in Atlanta, but it all worked out just fine. Five girls from my trip had the same flight to Atlanta as me, so it was nice to stick together for a bit. The plane from Atlanta to home  left on time. I sat next to a family with 3 little girls. We talked for a bit. The dad was a doctor so we had really awesome nerdy conversations about phenytoin, coumadin dosing, and the medical world.

Peru has been great but I am excited and thankful to be back home.

Macchu Picchu and the Sacred Valley of the Incas

On Tuesday, we drove to Ollantaytambo, or the Sacred Valley of the Incas. This is where we stayed for two nights. There are huge Incan ruins here as well, built into the hill. It was very impressive and quite the climb.  The hotel we stayed at was very nice. It had a cute courtyard with well-kept plants. The entire town was very quaint, and I believe it was my favorite location of the entire trip. It was surrounded by mountains, and had little water canals that ran throughout the entire city. We enjoyed the most delicious hot chocolate I have ever had there. All the local people were welcoming and very laid back. 

Incan Ollantaytambo Ruins

Yesterday, we took the train to Macchu Picchu. The train ride was about 1 1\2 hours from Ollantytambo. Then we rode a bus up to the top of the ruins. We hiked a long time all over the mountains there. There were  tons and tons of steps. It was absolutely exhausting. The weather was picture perfect, though. We got to the ruins around 8am, and we wandered around until about 3pm. Once we were all ready to leave we hiked back down to the bottom instead of taking the bus back down. That took about an hour and our thighs, knees, and ankles were killing us. I got about 10,000 more bug bites there which was disappointing. Other than that we are going back to Cusco today and tomorrow to hang out. Soon I will be back in the states!

Macchu Picchu

Cusco

We stayed in the town of Iquitos one last day on Friday. We had a fabulous hotel with clean, hot water and air conditioning. It was quite the treat after our adventure down the Amazon and the Reserve. I shared a room with the other Drake girl.We enjoyed the little things we normally take for granted that day. We had one last meal at The Yellow Rose of Texas restaurant, and slept early.  
We then flew from Iquitos to Lima on Saturday morning. The flight left at 8am so it was another early morning for us. Fortunately everything was on time and there were no issues. It was fairly nice weather in Lima. We went to an up-scale shopping place called Locumar, which is basically a mall that was built infront of the ocean on the side of a cliff. Everything was way too expensive, but it was fun to look. We went to the movie theater there to kill time. Fortunately, the movie was in English, with Spanish subtitles. That made it much more enjoyable. We ate at Chili's for lunch, giving into our American food craving. The portion sizes are smaller, but the food was just as delicious.
Sunday morning we flew from Lima to Cusco. If you recognize that name, it is probably because you have seen the Emperor´s New Groove. We had to get up by 3 am to leave that day. On the plane I sat next to a guy who was from Cusco, and he was a musician in town. He showed me his guitar, which looked more like a ukalele, but it had ten strings. It was interesting. We arrived in Cusco early, around 8am. We went to our hostel, but of course the rooms were not ready yet. We had breakfast there, and sat in the courtyard for a couple hours. It was good just to rest, because the altitude is so high. You walk up one flight of stairs and you feel like you just ran a marathon. Many people get serious altitute sickness when first arriving in Cusco, and it can be very dangerous. The moment we stepped off our plane, women were selling coca leaves to prevent this sickness. People put them in the side of their mouth, and essentially make a tea with their own saliva. We went to the central plaza that night and ate at a pizzeria. It was not quite American food, but we were all craving pizza.
Today was a day of sight-seeing. We went to various Inca ruins around the Cusco area. The first was called Saqsayhuaman, which was high up on the hill. It had a beautiful view of the mountains of Cusco, including the Andes. We also visited Tambomachay, which was also a hike to get to. It was an area that the Incas used to rest at on their journeys. Tipon was another place as well as pukapukara. Q´éngo was the very last ruin we saw. It was a cave where they believed the Incas performed sacrifices. Mostly, they sacrificed llamas, but archaelogists have found some human sacrifices, and mummified bodies. At night, we saw a cultural dance show. The traditional dances resemble the Spanish Flamenco and other folk dances.

The city of Cusco in the background

Cartwheeling through the mountains

Llamas and Alpacas everywhere!

I am excited for Wednesday because that is when we visit Machu Picchu! I can´t believe the trip is almost over. Nothing has been a relaxing vacation, but it has been very interesting!

Last day at the reserve

Thursday, we did the rest of the student plant presentations in the morning. By this point, we had at least heard of everyone´s plant already so we had a better idea of what was going on. The afternoon was time back in Iquitos to do some shopping at the markets.
I have made very good friends with two of the waitresses at the Yellow Rose restaraunt we always eat at in town Their names are Susanna and Tatiana. They always squeal with excitement when I come, give me a big kiss on the cheek and a strong hug. I am one of the few students in my group who speaks decent spanish. I get in trouble, though: I speak well but I do not understand what is said back to me. I have talked quite a bit with these two young ladies and we are now amigas. They are so sad that our group is leaving.

That night we had a birthday party for everyone/going away party. We sang happy birthday to ourselves and ate delicious chocolate cake. It was our very last night on the reserve. I played a lot with Junior, the crazy and oh-so-loveable  6 year old who lives there. He was telling me all about his "Bota gigante" (giant boat) that fits 25 students and traveled the world. He only speaks spanish, so my details could be wrong. Our group will really miss Junior and all the staff at the reserve. We won´t miss the hard floors, river showers, or bugs though!

Junior stood still long enough for a picture!

Back to the Reserve

After the boat excitement from the previous day, we were relieved to find out that we would be taking the "rapido" boat back. This is essentially a speedboat. Initially we were going to take an 18 hour boatride back to our reserve, where we would sleep in hammocks, but everyone was too worn out and wanted to be back NOW.

Well...that did not turn out. The rapido turned out to be more despacio (spanish word for slow). The huge storm caused many logs and obstacles along the river, plus we were going upstream. The engine choked a lot and got caught in weeds far too easily. Sometimes, the driver would reverse the boat and that was all that was needed. Othertimes we had to cut the engine completely. That is all fine and dandy, except the quality of these boats is nothing compared to the US. The engine had a lot of trouble starting back up. We should have arrived back to the reserve around 1:30pm. Instead, we had just hit the outer edge of our city around 6pm. No food, no water, no bathrooms. Lovely. Our engine completely was shot at that point. Another peki peki came along side us. We hopped from our boat to that one, with all our backpacks in the middle of the river. This boat was slow.

The engine worked but we did not arrive back to the reserve until probably 7:30 that night. Riding in the boat at night was pretty interesting. We could not see a thing. We actually ran into another boat along the way, but no damage was done. I felt something wet hit my leg and then I heard fluttering. I quickly turned on my head lamp and saw a small silver fish had jumped into our boat! I´ve never successfully caught a fish using a pole, but I guess I can say I have caught a fish now. The time dragged on and on. We were all starving, dehydrated, and exhausted. Don´t worry. I had my glucagon shot and a whole bunch of pharmacy students waiting to practice in case I got too low of a blood sugar!
The Amazon certainly has its trials. You cannot expect anything to go correctly and must plan for the worst (but always hope for the best!). Everyone is alive and well though.

Pevas Excitement

Instead of waking up to just roosters crowing, we also had the 6am morning news. The town of Pevas has one loudspeaker that is projected throughout the entire town. The announcements sound like a garbled mess, even the soundest of sleepers could not sleep through these. Our group called this the "Daily Jungle Announcements." We looked at Fransisco Grippa´s gallery with all his paintings and pottery. He told us we could buy whatever we wanted. Unfortunately we are all poor college students that do not have thousands of dollars to spend on a painting. He personally signed any item we bought though, even postcards, which was nice. After the gallery, we visited 2 tribes by Pevas. We all crammed into the peki-peki. I was wondering if it would hold all us since on the 3 day trek we had to keep bailing out water. There were small leaks all over the boat. We arrived to the first tribe which had a giant hill with well worn stairs. The moment we got out of the boat it started to rain. We all thought it would be a nice rainforest shower, but it turned into a torrential downpour. We walked, already soaked, into the large community hut. Some of the people performed typical dances for us, including an anaconda dance.

Afterwards, we could barter and trade with the people. It continued raining really hard, but we moved on to the next tribe, which was within walking distance. We tramped through large puddles of mud and grass and found ourselves in another large community hut. One of the rowers on the trip with us is in line to become the head tribesman of this tribe. They performed more dances for us, and we had more opportunity to barter with them. People were thrilled to have pencils, pens, and paper. They asked me for the shirt off my back, my hair, and even my eyelashes. Sorry, I could not give those up. We waited awhile longer, but the rain did not let up at all. So, we brought out a huge tarp, tried to get everyone under it, and walked the steep descent back down to the river.
We made it safely to our peki-peki, but once on, we were really frightened. Rain was pouring from the top, and water was filling in from the bottom. We all sat paralyzed to the side of the boat praying that it would not sink, or capsize, or stop working. The rain was pouring down on our tarp. Imagine being in the position for a tornado drill, but on a boat, for about an hour. Pure torture. Our engine kept cutting out and our boat would stall. Too much rain was getting in. One of the Drake students thought we should help our driver. All of us stared at him in disbelief--we did not know anything about motors. He crawled out from under our tarp and held a tarp over our engine. That was all it needed! The lack of water really worked and saved the day. We arrived safely back to Fransisco´s house, all worn out and completely freaked out. We all literally thought that could have been the end of us.
Good news though...we were cleaner than we had been in days!

River Travel: Day 3 and Arrival

8 more hours on the boat. This time we did not even stop on shore for lunch-we ate avacadoes and bread in the middle of the Amazon river in the heat. Everybody was ready to be done with this part of the adventure. Our final destination was Pevas, a decent sized city about 90 miles out from our reserve. When we were in site of the town, two young men rode out a peki-peki with a cooler full of beer to welcome us. All I wanted was water. We had run out of clean water the previous day. We had some boiled tap water from the previous town, but it smelled and tasted like campfire. No thanks. It left you more thirsty than before. I stayed thirsty that entire day.

Lila, one of the natives who traveled with us, and her son

There have been 2 deaths (not ppl) so far on this trip. Yesterday, I was riding in the boat and all of a sudden, CRACK. I thought something hit my sunglasses. The frame split in two on the bottom. They were still wearable so I wore them. About two hours later, CRACK: they fell off my face. That was strange, but I thought little of it. Luckily, the professor on the trip was holding sunglasses for one of the rowers, so he gave me those to use.  Within 2 hours, CRACK the frame broke again. I was like "what is up with this?!" No one elses sunglasses were breaking, how in the world did I break two in a matter of two days? I was not even touching them, they were simply on my face. Later I found out some of the solvents they use in bug spray ruins this plastic. Apparently DEET not only feels disgusting, but decomposes plastic.
By the way, bug spray is pointless here. It seems to be more of a condiment for the mosquitoes than a repellant.
We were planning to spend the next two nights at Fransisco Grippa´s house. He is an internationally known artist. When we arrived, our rooms were not ready despite being reminded multiple times we were coming. He was bringing in matresses for us (not sure where they have been), and his workers were putting doors on our room. His house was huge, but would make an architect cringe. He kept adding on, which left some areas much higher than others, so there were landings and stairs everywhere. It reminded me of a giant tree house. The wood was questionable. The room I stayed in had three beds for 5 girls. One of the girls got out of bed and accidentally created a small hole through our wood floor. Our suspicion was termites. After our 3 day trek down the Amazon everyone wanted to shower. Unfortunately, there was no water for us to bathe in and again no water for us to drink at his house. We had to go into town to buy some bottled water and we bathed in the river. It was gross, since the river is used as a sewage line as well. Once again, kids just watched our every move. Fransisco´s wife owned a restaraunt in town, which is where we ate for dinner. We had some delicious fish and fries.

View from Grippa's tower

River Travel: Day 2

We got up around 5:30 Sunday morning. Our first successful camping night! We packed up quickly, ate some breafast and were off again. It was another terribly hot day with not a cloud in the sky. People were getting cranky at this point with little sleep, rationed water, and hot hot sun. One of the people in my tent was not feeling well that night with a fever. The wife of one of our native rowers rode our boat. She cooked and washed dishes for the entire group. She was clearly a mother because she let the girl sleep and held an umbrella over her the entire boat ride for shade. Camping in the Amazon is much different than camping in the states. You are constantly dirty; there is sand, mud, clay, grit, dirt...always. It is quite the experience. The final destination was for that day was Canton, I believe. It was a very remote and small tribe that had tons and tons of kids. They hardly ever see "gringos" so we were like caged animals at a zoo. No matter what you did, you were being watched. Sleeping, eating, going the bathroom...no privacy. I literally sat in my tent for half an hour, doing next to nothing, and I had three young kids who watched through the screen the entire time.

One of the locals built an "outhouse" for us. It was a hole in the ground with 2 planks of wood to squat over. Lovely! We were even more gross that night since showering was not an option. I made do with wet wipes. I brought a rope, and we tried to teach some kids how to jump rope. It was semi-successful. With little to do, we went to bed early and woke up early the next morning, still with kids watching us through the screen.

River Travel: Day 1

Friday was a day in Iquitos to buy some last minute items before our big adventure down the Amazon. It was very laid back and allowed all the students to spend quality time with one another. A couple guys went fishing on the dock. They caught a couple pirannha, a small snake, and other smaller fish.
Saturday was our first day of travel. We had 4 canoe boats for rowers, and the 1 motorized "peki-peki" boat. We rode about 2 hours all together on the peki-peki to bypass the busier portions of the river where there would be too many waves for our dugout canoes. We passed an entire "floating city" called Belen where they built all their houses on rafts. That way when the water levels rose and dropped, they would not have to worry about flooding. Genious! The tributary we were coming out of went right into the Amazon River. When these two different bodies of water mixed, you could see the color change. This was an area where we saw 2 river dolphins! They were off in the distance, but still I was thrilled. We stopped on a piece of land so everyone could switch boats. I took two steps and all of a sudden I was knee deep in sand/mud. It was not quicksand per se, however, it was pretty close and I sunk fast. I was pulled out by one of the natives who steer our boats and was good to go--just a little more dirty than before.
Once everyone got situated in their canoes or the peki peki, we were off! It was sunny the entire time on the river. There was very little breeze. Since I was in the motorized boat with half the group, we would go fast for awhile and enjoy the wind, but then we would have to stop and wait for the paddlers to catch up. This would be every 20 minutes or so. When the boat was stopped it was brutal. You are sitting on the side of the boat, so your butt hurts. You cant move around a lot since the boat is small and would easily tip. There was zero shade and the scenary was all the same. The Amazon river is very wide, so you could not look into the trees to find animals or anything easily. We went this way for about 4 more hours that day.
Our destination was a house up on a bank of the Amazon. The owners were very nice and allowed us to set up camp on their property.

They brewed their own beer and were excited to have the group try and buy their selections. This did not really interest me, but other members of the group were excited. We crammed 4 people into our tent that night. It was really hot and stuffy at first, but definitely cooled down later in the night. Since the house was  on a high bank off the river, it had a beautiful view of the river and at night, the stars were so pretty. We ate out of our mess kits and were happy to have a toilet to use. The toilet did not flush. Instead they have a bucket of water that you pour into the bowl after you use it. This has the same effect as flushing, just with a little extra human effort. I slept surprisingly well, thanks to my ear plugs, but you can still hear a lot. Roosters do not crow at the crack of dawn but about every half hour throughout the entire night. Too much, in my opinion!
I have more stories, so stay tuned...

Shaman Visit

Last Thursday night, we spent 6 hours with a Shaman (aka curare in the local culture). She had very different beliefs than me, but it was interesting to hear about medicine. To be a shaman, is to live a very selfless life. They are usually not compensated for their work, yet are expected to respond at any time of day or night. She explained the purpose of a special drink called ayahuasca. The patient and the shaman both take this drink in order to "see" the past, present, or future questions. She says that this drink is not given to get high off of. When people take it, they end up vomiting and having severe diarrhea for several days. They are also supposed to have a special diet one week before that excludes salt, sugar, or anything pleasurable. We experienced a special ceremony that night, which was strange, but I am glad to have further understanding of the culture and their beliefs.

During the ceremony

Another girl and I talked to this shaman awhile after everyone else went to bed. She knows much about western civilization and our medicine. Her husband is a medical doctor from Germany and now her daughter is studying to become a medical doctor as well, but she wants to blend natural Shaman remedies into her studies. I asked the shaman about her beliefs as well. She said that they believe that the soul and the spirit are separate. The soul is in the body, but the spirit can be freed. Thus when a person dies, the soul dies with them. The spirit lives on and joins other spirits. She explained that she believed all the plants and trees have spirits as well. She said she can sense their spirit and if we keep killing all the plants in the world, we will run into "serious problems." Once again, I do not believe any of this, but it was interesting to listen and ask questions.

Last day of class!

After presentations last night and yet another grilled cheese sandwich with ChaChi´s ¨Mystery Soup,´¨ everyone claimed an oar of their own to sand down. One of the local tribesmen on the reserve is going to paint whatever we like on it.  Sanding takes forever, and you feel like you are not getting anything accomplished. Everyone was pretty tired after this week, but this will be nothing compared to the week to come. 
Today we went back to the same place as yesterday (MET), and a pharmacy professor talked to us. Unfortunately I did not find his lecture very intriguing. He did not explain any mechanisms of action for the plants. Instead, he basically explained how thorough their research is and the variety of tests they run to classify the plants. The lecture got done early, so people are buying some last minute necessities before our big trek down the Amazon.

The entire group

Tonight and tomorrow, we will have a Shaman (the doctor of a local tribe) visit our reserve. She will be explaining her knowledge and use of plants. I think it will be interesting for the group.
We leave by boat early Saturday morning. Half our team will be rowing and half will be taking the motorized ¨peki-peki¨ boat. I assume you all can guess I will be taking the motorized boat. It is a 3 day trek, until our final destination and we will be visiting 3 tribes along the way. It is going to be HOT, with no breaks from the boat. 4 hours the first day, 6-8 hours (depending on the rowers) the next, and another 4 hours the following. We do not go on shore for anything which means if someone needs to use the restroom...it is going to be over the side of the little canoe. Siiick. Thankfully no one has gotten diarrhea yet (which is unheard of). We all hope it stays that way! This journey will last until Friday. This will be the part of the journey where teamwork and patience is key. I will not be back on the internet for the week so don´t be alarmed!

Investigating Medicinal Plants

 Last night, everyone headed out to the dock to look at the stars. We are so far from civilization that the sky is beautiful. I was able to see the Southern Cross and the Scorpio constellations. After that, our group headed to the patio where we danced to Spanish music. One of the guys from FL is teaching us all merengue, and attempting to teach us salsa. Good luck is what I say!  I was talking to one of our leaders named ChaChi. He is originally from Peru and has a lot of plant knowledge. He was telling me how he has cures for so many  issues, including cancers, acne, and migraines. He wanted to know what type of diabetes I have. I told him type 1 (insulin dependent) and he was really quiet. After awhile he said, ¨my people cannot cure this. They can cure type 2 diabetes in 30-45 days, but there is no possible way for you.´´ Well, I already expected that so I was not disappointed. If the modern world did not have a cure, I would not expect any plant from the Amazon to help me either. I find it so interesting how much ChaChi believes he has the actual cure for all these diseases. He does not just believe, he knows they will work. If these methods were actually tested, I do not think they would cure, but maybe that is just my scientific and American worldview speaking.

Today was yet another day in class. Our bus did not show, so we got to use motocars. They are glorified motorcycles that pull a covered cart behind them. We were at a place called MET, which was a research area for investigating medicinal plants. They have a thorough process and try to make everything standardized, however, the resources are what the US had in the 1930s. For them, this is top notch, but to us it is pretty primitive. They showed us the rats and mice they were experimenting with. They gave all the rats type 2 diabetes using Alloxan, and are trying to find medicinal plants to help cure them. It was a grotesque process, because they draw blood samples from the rat´s tail using a scalpel-type instrument. The rat was screaming the entire process. I can only stand that for so long. Outside they have a huge garden where they are growing all sorts of plants. We got to see more that were presented on, but this time it was the entire plant and not just a branch or fruit.

Classes in Iquitos

Headed to our Reserve from Iquitos by Peki-Peki boat

Monday we had our first day of class. I paddled with 3 others from our reserve back to Iquitos. The canoe trek is usually 30-45 minutes. No breaks. It´s definitely hot--but tons of fun.

 Our class was at the IIAP (an institute of natural medicine). We had a professor who spoke about many plants, their medicinal uses, and we got to taste many of the fruits, nuts, or other things the plants produced. Some people tried grubs, but I had no interest in trying one. The professor was a little difficult to understand, but he did quite well. Many of the plants that he talked about were ones that each of us had to research prior to the trip. He was able to talk about the local use of these, which was interesting. Everyone rode the motorized boat back to the reserve, since it would be upstream and pretty hard to row. 

The group in class

We had student presentations that night, which went more in depth about specific plants. Our generator was not working, so we had no electricity on the reserve for that time. We each got out our super nerdy headlamps and were good to go. Each night, the students and the three adults just hang out and talk. Lights go out at 9pm, so most people end up sleeping early. The sun sets around 5:30, which I did not expect. Of course, once the sun goes down, that means it is time for all the animals to be noisy. I am very, very thankful I brought earplugs, otherwise I would receive no sleep. Unfortunately, we have not seen any exciting wildlife yet. Hoping for the future!

Tuesday was another day of class. There are not enough canoes for everyone to travel, so I got the luxury of the motorized boat. Surprisingly, I was not sore from yesterday´s paddle, although your butt definitely hurts because you are sitting on a small plank of wood while in the boat. Before we left, we got to play with one of the kids at the reserve. His parents work there; his responsibility is just to be cute and carefree. He caught a small lizard and let everyone hold it. He is highly entertained by us all, and we are likewise by him. We were at another school today in Iquitos, that was located at a Catholic church. The professor did not speak any English, so one of our guides, ChaChi interpreted. This professor talked more about ethnobotony and the agriculture. We learned about achiote, which is a seed that has red liquid in it. This liquid is often used by tribes for war paint. It can also be used for lipstick. It can help as an anti inflammatory, for burns, pink eye, and hypertension. We also talked a little more about the plant I had to research, the Air Potato. The professor said it was the first used birth control, and can be used for dermal inflammation, kidney stones (maybe I should try some!), or as a diuretic. We eat at the same restaurant in town everyday for lunch called ¨The Yellow Rose.´¨ It is Americanized, which means we know all the food is safe. They have a good variety, so that is nice. 

Thanks for reading and please continue praying!

The weekend: Lima-->Iquitos-->Rainforest!

Our first view of the Amazon! (Iquitos, Peru)

Saturday was a day for flying. The two other Drake students and I left our hotel around 1pm for the airport. Our taxi took a route along the ocean which was fun to look at. We were finally able to meet everyone else on the trip. So many pharmacy schools are represented! Our flight on Peruvian Airlines was supposed to take off at 5:30, but due to reasons that were not explained, we did not leave until after 7pm. We were just sitting on the plane. The flight had quite a bit of turbulence, which is never fun, but we arrived safely to the Iquitos airport around 9:30. We had not had a real dinner yet, so Barbara and ChaChi, our guides brought us to a restaurant where we had a delicious and well portioned meal. We got to try delicious juices straight from the rainforest. Camu-Camu is one, and it has the highest amount of vitamin C of any fruit. It is a pink juice, that has a slightly sour aftertaste, but is still good. We also got to have passionfruit juice, which is my favorite, called maracayu. We got to live in luxury for one last night, staying at a beautiful hotel in downtown Iquitos. Iquitos is an interesting city. It can only be gotten to by air or water--no roads go in or out of the city. It was very wealthy in the 1900s when rubber was the big draw. Even Mr. Eiffel himself designed a house here, but unfortunately only one small part of it is left. The city was majorly affected by flooding. Iquitos experienced the most rainfall in 2012 than it ever has in its history. Many houses were destroyed and people were displaced, which always leads to issues, filth, and poverty.Many people try to sell animals on the streets from the jungle, which is illegal. If we see any of that happening, our group will confiscate the animal, and help reintroduce it back to the wild. 

Sunday was our going to be our first time to the reserve in the rainforest! We were all excited and nervous. We rode a motorized boat to our reserve with all our camping gear.

The Reserve

 In order to get to the boat, we had to walk through a gigantic sawmill that smelled interesting. There was a steep bank down to the river but everyone made it down without a scrape. The boat is basically just a wide canoe that is powered by a lawn mower engine. We took our first 30 minute trek to our reserve in the Amazon. It is MUCH nicer than I expected. We do have two (currently) functioning toilets, and 3 showers, however you are able to bathe in the Amazon if you want. I am not brave enough yet, but I will before the trip is over. Yes, there are piranhas in the river, but supposedly they won´t bother you. What you do need to look out for are the electric eels that hide out under our dock. We are basically staying in a giant, two story hut that reminds me of a tree house. It is completely screened in, but there are no windows. It allows a nice breeze at any time of day. All the students are in one giant room. Some people put up tents, but most, including me are sleeping on the floor in our sleeping bags and mats. There are a couple small bugs that get in, but since it is fully screened in, we don´t have to worry too much. There is definitely not privacy, but so far we are all getting along great. Next week, we will be roughing it in the jungle, as we visit tribes further down the Amazon. I am so excited and so nervous! On Sunday we had our first test run in the hollowed out logs that are our canoes. We canoe to Iquitos everyday this week for class. Each canoe holds 4-5 paddlers. The oars are all handmade by a man who works on our reserve who has no fingers or toes, but he does a magnificent job carving.

Seein the sights in Lima

Yesterday was our last full day in Lima. So, we decided to do a little more sightseeing. We started off at the Lima Cathedral downtown and watched the changing of the guards at the Presidential Palace. The cathedral was very nice, and very big. We had a guide this time, who gave us a lot of history. The person who discovered Peru, Fransisco, is buried in this cathedral. Much of the artwork and items in the cathedral were brought over from Spain. We were told that Peru is where the potato originated from, and that they have over 3000 varieties in this country alone. Under the church were many tombs, and there were a lot of skulls on display from various people.

Inside the Cathedral

We ate a restaraunt nearby, called Don Pablos that was really good and inexpensive. As we were wandering around the historic district, we saw there was a place to get a massage, so of course we had to get one (much cheaper than in the US). It made for a relaxing afternoon. Before heading back to our hotel in Miraflorez, we stopped at a shopping center called Polvos Azules. It had EVERYTHING you could imagine, all in little set up shops, row after row. It reminded me of markets typical of Central America, but this one was for the upper class citizens of Peru. They had backpacks, hiking gear, every shoe imaginable, tons of brand name clothing, etc. This is where all the youth seem to hang out. We were the only foreigners there, which I did not expect. You can barter at these little shops, but the prices seem similar to that in the US.
We hung out for awhile back at our hotel, found a small cafe to eat at, and then met up with some of the other pharmacy rotation students from FAMU (Florida). Everybody seems very friendly and I think we will get along well.
Today, we fly out of Lima and on to Iquitos, which is right near the Amazon River. We are all excited, but a little nervous for the real adventure!

Exploration of Lima, Peru

I woke up early this morning despite getting to bed around 2am. Horns are honking constantly in Lima, worse than NYC. The weather is cool. There is always a constant haze in the city, meaning there is tons of pollution. The moment I stepped off the plane last night, I commented to my seat buddy that it smelled like burning candles. He smiled and said "Get used to the carbon monoxide of Lima!"

This morning, the two other Drake students and I caught a taxi outside our hotel, and after a little bartering on the price were off to the Gold Museum. (My dad would be so impressed since every family vacation would not be complete without a historical museum!). This one was mediocre. We opted out of a guided tour, so we were not exactly sure what we were seeing. Basically all it had was weapons, armor, and tons of gold items created by the Incas. The gold creations were interesting. Anyone who is currently trying to gauge their ears has NOTHING on the incas. They had the biggest gauges (made of heavy gold, mind you) I had ever seen.
We caught another taxi and asked the driver what are some good places to go. He mentioned more museums (no thanks), some things we did not understand, and the zoo. So of course we went to the zoo! It was big and much cheaper than our zoos at home. We ate an authentic Peruvian lunch nearby. Chicken, rice, soup, and french fries. It was very good.

All the taxi drivers have been very friendly and helpful. We always strike up conversation, even though no one ever speaks english here. Between the three of us students, we manage our way through conversations. You definitely cannot trust all the taxi drivers. You also have to set a price before you leave for your destination, and lowering the price is expected. Of course, they see me (obvious American) and hike up the price. However all our rides have been extremely reasonable in the end, even though they take almost half hour usually to maneuvor around the destination.
We got back to our hotel, exhausted. Ate at nearby grocery store/convenience store similar to Target and collapsed.
Stay tuned...!

Arrival: Lima, Peru

Hello friends!
I arrived safely in Lim last night around 11pm. All my flights were on time and went smoothly. I flew from Mpls to Atlanta, then Atlanta to Lima. On the flight to Lima, I sat next to a guy currently going to school at Northeastern in Boston. He was very talkative, which made the flight go quickly. He was born in Lima, but moved to the states when he was 7, so he does not get to visit very often. Upon arrival, we headed to immigration which took FOREVER. We are talking 1 1/2 hours of standing in line. I stayed with my new buddy and met some new people as well.
The guy infront of us was a senior in high school. Get ready ladies for a super cute story:...when he was in 4th grade he told a girl from his school that they would go to high school prom together. With her dads work, she ended up moving all over the globe, currently in Peru. So this guy kept  his promise, and flew by himself from Michigan to Lima to go to this girls high school prom. Awww!
After immigration I found my hiking backpack and was ready for the next adventure: the taxi ride to the hotel. I had prebooked a taxi from the hotel so there was a guy with my name written on a board waiting to give me a ride from the airport. However, there were tons of other offers of rides until I finally found my trusted guide. I kid you not, one out of every three cars on the road is a taxi. They stop anywhere...even in the middle of a street to pick up passengers. I have had several mini heart attacks as Ive ridden in other taxis here, but so far have survived accident free! I arrived to the hotel where the two other Drake students were already staying.

Research

Everyone who is going on the trip is assigned a medicinal plant to research and share with the group.

My plant? Dioscorea Bulbifera, which is also known as the "air potato," "potato yam," or the "air yam."
The information I have found so far is conflicting: it is poisonous yet edible (tell me how this works?), it is a weed yet a powerful Chinese medicine...
It treats everything from diabetes (type II--don't get too excited), to goiters, to heart attacks, to pain, and has been used as a contraceptive. I'm a little skeptic.

Anyways, next time you are on a tropical hike, try looking for some air potatoes: