Huancayo!

Caleb arrived at the Lima Aeropuerto (late) on Monday night and Boy Was I Glad to See Him!

Tuesday morning (early), Dr. Yabar picked us up at the hotel to drive us to the bus station. In tones evocative of Gandalf, Yoda and Barack Obama and in a language stringing from Spinglish to Spanish to English he gave us a message muy claro (very clear). Here is a (loose) translation: "My very good new American Friends. I send you forth to a place high in the mountains called Huancayo and from which the biopsies we receive are crappy. You must go to them and educate them. Caleb must translate the message well. I am putting you on a bus which will take you over a 14,000 foot pass. They will offer you food on this but you must not eat it or it will make you sick. When you arrive in Huancayo you must first acclimate to the altitude, then bring the important message to the doctors there, then eat a food called PACHAMANCA, then return safely to us in Lima."

Well, the bus was small and cramped but the scenery was beautiful (if you don't count the slums of outer Lima). Unfortunately for me, they were playing videos with the first one being the movie (in English!), "My Sister's Keeper." My eyes kept straying from the scenery to the screen and I cried and my sinuses plugged up again. When we arrived in Huancayo i was almost too sick to stand up. Bless Caleb. He had a Z-pack with him. In fact, Dr. Karin Tansek had sent him off with 2 Z-packs. 2 hours after 1 gram of azithromycin I felt better than I had after a week of the Peruvian Levofloxacin (oh no! was it Fake Peruvian Levofloxacin???).

I was able to get up, doll up and get off the the Huancayo Hospital in good shape with Caleb in tow on Wednesday (this) morning. Caleb was the star of the day. NO ONE HERE SPEAKS ENGLISH. YO NO HABLO ESPANOL! Caleb starred as a simultaneous translator in the Hospital Director's office (Director's message as translated by Caleb: "We are doing a great job here in Huancayo and you need to tell the Es Salud people in Lima that and tell them that that they need to pay us more money!"). Caleb then translated for my hospital tour (pretty similar to Rebagliati but smaller, no bone marrow transplant unit). Caleb then translated for my Grand Rounds Lecture (good attendance and great questions after which means that Caleb must have done a really great job). THEN Caleb translated my, "How to do a really good biopsy" lecture and I could tell from the looks on the faces and the questions after that THEY GOT IT!! Me amo Caleb!!

THEN, the really cool doctors took us out for PACHAMANCA! Pachamanca is the Peruvian equivalent of a clam bake but no clams. They dig a pit in the ground, fill it with hot stones then throw in meat, potatoes and (Get This) Fava Beans (no G-6PD deficiency in this town!). The meat includes, chicken, pork, goat and CUY. Don't know what CUY is? It's GUINEA PIG (yum?).

Word of the day? Pachamanca!

PS: Wireless Internet in Huancayo? Perfecto!