Leave Puno and drive -- Latino music -- Spanish chatter--majestic Andes-- snow-capped/glacier peaks ...
Stop to see condors (Pepe has promised me --didn't mention they were part of a very, very humble animal hospice and so they are within a reserve. But, still, they are impressive as they
swoop down for the carrion provided by their caretaker). We give small donations as we leave.
Everything, mind you, is always dry and dusty and the dry dust/dirt kicks up into the air
as you walk (I think I'm sucking up the DNA of pre-Incan bones...). It's getting increasingly hard to breathe through my nose and my throat feels dry as the desert (weird to think it's a desert climate, since it's not hot and there's no sand -- I keep reminding myself to stay hydrated).
Drive several hours more and arrive Pisac market -- incredible open-air/partially covered
market of artisan wares. It's just closing due to the time and the downpour--frankly, not to my dismay, don't feel like "shopping"-- I manage, however, to buy a cool, gorgeous high quality sterling silver pillbox with designs of the Nazca Lines on it (Kathy buys a gorgeous bracelet with insets of Lapiz). These are both from an enterprise that (of course) Pepe has connections with ...
We wander deeper still within the market and find several textile stalls still open but the
vendors are disheartened by the rain and lack of business ... I also buy a long hand-woven
runner for my dining room table -- and another "tapete" (cloth)/runner for the top of my kitchen table at home .... (I cook for friends "en casa)"
Onward finally to our destination -- the next EcoHotel which will be our home base for
the Medical Mission. The entire group who had come from Cleveland Clinic and Case Western
Reserve Schools of Medicine are out on the street in the dark cheering and greeting us.
Pepe sounds his loud, long siren horn of the minivan and you would think we were celebrities.
Enormous welling up of love and strong embraces. I had actually been counting minutes
to seeing them all, but especially my two students, Pedro (class name) and Bill. I hug and kiss
them and go into the EcoHotel while they go out to dinner (they've been up since yesterday morning).
They return and we all discuss details -- our student leader (this is a student initiative and the students are given the reins) has a well-organized agenda. We discuss and set up a system of triage (in-take interviews, coding system for rooms and patients, etc.).
Tomorrow we'll go to the clinic to set up meds (we brought a dozens of suitcases filled with supplies, and a Pharmacist) and "stations" or consulting rooms. The clinic is in Lamay (small village in Urubamba about an hour from our EcoHotel).
