Just like back home.......

Well, I went to that Big Conference last night. I caught a ride with Dr. Valdez, a pathologist who looks suspiciously like Dr. Robert McKenna at the U of M (uh oh, is my life like that old daytime Soap Opera, "Dark Shadows," where the same actors played different characters in different times and places...??????). Back to (my version of) reality, Dr. Valdez came (escaped) from Cuba to work at Rebagliati Hospital then moved up to working for Dr. Javier Arias Stella (yeah, the guy who the Arias Stella reaction is named after). Dr. Arias Stella owns his own free-standing anatomic pathology laboratory (kind of like Dr. Jack Uecker in Minnesota but more famous). Back to the point, Dr. Valdez got invited to the thing so that he would drive me and I got invited because I'm the Big Visitor from The Estados Unidos. If I were to describe the evening in fluent Minnesotan I would say, "It was nice." This could be translated into Vanessa as follows: It was an event sponsored by Roche Pharmaceuticals at one of the nicest (most expensive) hotels in the Really Nice part of Lima (San Ysidro --Oh, so this is what I've been missing!). Roche is flying the French Oncologist around the world to report the results of his group's study of their drug Velcade (bortezomib) in Multiple Myeloma. There were about twenty of us well dressed men and women (I honestly don't know if the other women were doctors or drug company rep's or hookers or what) in this fabulous room in this fabulous hotel eating Absolutely Fabulous Food ("Fabulous Food" en Espanol es, "Muy Rico") all paid for by Roche Pharmaceuticals so that the Famous French Oncologist could tell us that elderly people with multiple myeloma live a few months longer if you treat them with bortezomib (and people wonder why prescription drug prices are so high). So, just like back home, I guess, or no, wait a minute......are there laws against this in the US? Hmmmm......can't remember. Well the photo's (except for the one of Dr. Valdez) are not mine. I was trying to be on my best behavior so I didn't take my camera out of my purse. Oh, and Dr. Valdez dressed up in a suit before he came to pick me up for The Event. Oh, and Dr. Valdez invited me to come to see the laboratory where he works and to meet Dr. Arias Stella (what a pick up line!). I told him that I would have to check with Dr. Pilar Quinones because from now on I'm not going anywhere without her (except Nazca).

Don't forget to check back! Tomorrow: Nazca!