Off to Peru

I'm so far behind in my stuff, it's ridiculous! But I did want to write a few words before I just up and leave the country for 2 weeks... Several people have heard I'm headed to Peru (South America) and have asked what I'm going for, and I just wanted to say a few words about it before I leave.

First I have to say that it has always been a dream of mine to do some sort of medical humanitarian mission type thing...and this is the first opportunity that I've taken to do it so far. I'm going with one of the ER Doctors and several nurses and other people we work with. We leave in a few hours, and travel down to Peru Sat and Sun, and have time to settle in and tour Cusco on Sunday. Here's a brief itinerary...

Monday (31st) -- I will be working on some humanitarian project in one of the villages somewhere.
Tuesday (1st) -- I will be teaching a short lecture in the hospital to doctors and nurses...Overall we are teaching "Initial Management of a Trauma Patient" over Mon and Tues.
Wednesday (2nd) -- we hold a free clinic all day.
Thursday (3rd), we hold a free clinic for half the day and take a bus & then a train to Aguas Calientes where we spend the night.
Friday (4th) we hold a free clinic all day.
Saturday (5th) we are scheduled to get up early and watch the sun rise at Machupicchu, and will spend the day touring there, then head back to the Sacred Valley & tour, then head back to Cusco.

At that point, part of the group heads back home to the States, the rest of us stay on for the optional "Jungle Tour Package"...here's where it gets interesting...of course I'm staying!

Sunday (6th) - fly to Puerto Maldonado where we see the city, then take a boat (yes, BOAT) to our hotel.
Monday (7th) - Sunrise expedition to Parrots Collpa, Morning excursion to Monkey Island, Afternoon hike to Lake Sandoval, and then a "Night safari to locate caymen and other nocturnal creatures"...Yes, when I first read that, I thought...I don't even know what caymen are but I want to go find them!!! I've since learned that they are like baby crocodiles...I still want to go find them! :-) I hope to come back with all my fingers!
Tuesday (8th) - visiting small tropical farms & sailing and fishing at Lago Chorillos. (This is the day for my TAN!!!)
Wednesday (9th) - finally a relaxing morning at the Inn. We leave the hotel where we take boat to bus to airport transport to get back to Lima. We will have time to tour Lima this day, as we have a red-eye flight out this night.
Thursday (10th) - we will be flying in the wee morning hours from Lima to Atlanta, and then on to SLC, where I'll arrive home shortly after noon...if all goes as my itinerary shows...

I'm excited to go, and have been looking forward to this for a while!