One reason why our health care costs more

This morning I shadowed the GYN doctor at the clinic. A general visit cost 5 soles. A pap smear an additional 5 soles. Additional labwork cost as much as 15 soles. There are 2.7 soles in one american dollar. Needless to say this is inexpensive medical care. Granted it is subsidized by NGOs and the government for the poor, but still. Way cheap.
Here´s the downside. The table was never once wiped clean the whole morning. There was no crinkly paper to lie one, just the hard plastic. The gloves came from a used kleenex box rather then sterile packages. The swabs came from a metal box and were made of cardboard rather than sterile plastic. The speculums are kept in a plastic tub. The patient brings her own samples down to the lab, waits at least one hour for them, and then brings them back up to the doctor. At the end of the morning nothing is cleaned save for the speculums which have been soaking in soapy water. They are washed, dried, and then thrown back into the bin.
I´m not saying all this is bad or good, but it definitely is a less expensive way to run a clinic.

Arequipa la Cuidad

Today we wandered around the city of Arequipa. We went to the archeologic museum where we learned all about Juanita- a young girl the Incas sacrificed to the gods who was found 500 years later on top of a mountain frozen in ice. And remarkably well preserved. They flew her to Johns Hopkins to learn that her final cause of death had been blunt trauma to the head- done with a ceremonial stick someone lugged up a 20,000 foot mountain. They buried her body along with sacrificial artifacts at the top of the mountain. An earthquake caused her body to shift downwards about 100 meters, and that's where the researchers found her.
Her journey started months earlier, starting out from Cusco and traveling through the country summitting various peaks before the final one here in Arequipa. They did all this in leather shoes lined with wool. No cramp-ons for them. After climbing to 20,000 feet covered only in blankets, they mercifully give the children a really strong alcoholic drink (chicha) before their deaths. They covered the graves with stones, which is how researchers find them. Three other children have been found on the mountain outside Arequipa, 14 children have been found total in various mountains. The children are offered once a year to appease the gods, more frequently if there are natural disasters.
The children are raised for this honor. They live in a special house in the capital and receive only the best food and clothes. As they grow, they select the most beautiful of the children to be considered for sacrifice. They were very egalitarian about it- even royal children were enrolled.

packing is not as much fun as traveling

2 duffles, 2 backpacks, 2 carry-ons, and much work later and we are almost completely packed and ready to go.

a selection of things to bring to peru:

antibiotics (cause no one likes diarrhea)

lots of underwear

contacts

glasses

spanish-english dictionary

capilene

hiking boots

chacos

debit and credit cards

cash

passport

vaccination record

ipod

books

camping stove

titanium pot

new neoair thermarest

sleeping bag

fleece

smartwool socks