Health Campaign

The ProPeru folks think there may be a strike tomorrow, which would be annoying but we would be fine where we are in Urababmba.

Today we went to Pancarhually, a small community of around 55 families, and gave health presentations off of posters we made the day before covering dental health, clean body and clean house and clean water issues, and women´s health, pap smears and STD's. Zach gave his in Spanish, while the rest of the group took advantage of the translators with the ProPeru group, especially for the women´s health issues. The community people asked great questions: if they were students in my freshman class they would all have gotten the A for the day, questions about the causes of cancer, the nature of diabetes, etc. We handed out toothpaste and toothbrushes, talked with some of the people about their most urgent concerns, and played some soccer, football with the local teenagers. We ended up with a tie with the mixed teams we had.

We are hoping to go back to do the health campaign tomorrow, but if the strike is on the roads will be blocked and we will be disappointed. After our health presentation some of the local folks took us to a very cool Pre-Incan archaeological site with some interesting petroglyphs. One of the community leaders had had family in the area for some time and pointed out the old salt road that the llamas had carried salt on when he was a child, and some alternate routes to Cuzco and Machu Picchu through the country roads that were the remains of Incan trails. Brian said he felt at home because we were in farm country: the wheat harvest looked good, and they were harvesting potatoes of a special variety that took up a distinctive flavor from their red earth, and sold as gourmet items for a premium price in the big cities.

Anyway, all are in good health and good spirits, and hopefully the change in the law stops the strikes from happening so we can do more of what we came here to do. We will see you soon!