Pucallpa Pics

The kitchen, where all the magic happens

The port: more bananas than I have ever seen

My adventure to the doctor (that'd be him)

Mas Aventuras

As my family well knows- I cannot go on a trip without incurring a serious infection (eg Dengue Fever) or a serious natural disaster (like a rogue wave or an avalanche). I wasn't about to disappoint with this trip, but I wasn't expecting it to come so early. I suspected with my luck that perhaps something could come of my ayahuasca experience (see part 2), but thankfully that was not the case.
Part One: The jungle in all its moist deliciousness is an ideal environment for life of all kinds, including a crazy assortment of fungi and bacteria. Basically if you have a wound, it will become infected. Because of this, the blisters which I received playing soccer the day I got here (which I could have more correctly identified as absesses), turned into little pockets of excrutiating infection on the soles of my feet, that I felt with each movement of my foot. I was hesitant to go to the doctor here, knowing from my experience working in a clinic in Cajamarca that the care here is ¨unresearched¨ at best, dangerous at worst. But when I couldn't sleep a couple nights ago, my friend Oscar dragged me to the clinic.
The clinic in reality was a modified store front. We knocked on the door and a secretary answered. She called the doctor who was in plain clothes and had me take a seat in the one-room office. I undid my bandages for him to see, to which he remarked, ¨Puta madre,¨ which is sort of like saying ¨son of bitch,¨ but a little more crude. With ungloved hands, he washed it off and applied some more gauze. He then gave me a shot in the butt of Pennicillin G and a steroid. The whole thing took about 10 minutes and cost about $10! The same thing would have cost at least a few hundred dollars in the US.
Hooray for getting sick...but not too sick thank god (may I never have to be hospitalized here; I would rather be in a US teaching hospital in July...which if you've never worked in a hospital is the time when the new residents come on board and it can be a little scary). I am happy to report that with the magic of systemic antibiotics and steroids, I am back to freely walking about, and I even went to a disco with Oscar last night, which invloved watching a bunch of 18-year-olds grinding on each other to reggaton.

Part 2: The reason I came to Pucallpa was to drink Ayahuasca, which is a mix of hallucinogenic and purgative jungle herbs which has been taken for hundreds of years by tribes in the Amazon as a sort of super medicine to cure all that ails you, from parasites to cancer to depression, and to help you connect with the spiritual world. Many books and articles have been written about the curative effects of Ayahuasca, and there is actually a research and rehabiltation facility in Tarapoto that specializes in rehabilitating drug addicts, alcoholics, and criminals using ayahuaska and psychotherapy. I had wanted to experience it the last time I was here, but I met someone who told me I should wait until Ayahuasca came to me instead of seek it out. So when I had the opportunity to drink it with my friend who is from the area, who has done it several times before, and who is acquainted with a well known (and non-touristic) shaman, I couldn't pass it up. I am going to write a whole other article about my experience, but I will not post it publically, so if you're interested in reading it, email me. I invite anyone to read it, but I don't want it to be out in the public realm, so really, if you have interest in learning about my experience or Ayahuasca in general, simply send me an email at Rachel.Olsson@gmail.com and I will send it to you when I finish writing.

That's it for now! much love de la selva (the jungle)
RO

Pucallpa

Bueno, I made it safe and sound to Pucallpa yesterday at 5am. My friend and his dad picked me up from the airport. I then crashed until about 10am and awoke in a pool of sweat. It must be 190% humidity here. After taking a shower (from which I never quite dried) we feasted on ceviche. It was a version I´d never had before, which I didnt think was possible as I have partaken in a whole lot of Peruvian ceviche (far superior than others in my humble opinion). It was a version of ceviche called Chinguirito from Chiclayo with strips of dried fish, and of course tons of delicious lime juice, tomato, cilantro, chili, and onion, and served with choclo (big kernals of corn), cancha (choclo fried and salted), and yucca. Yum. I ate it with several glasses of camu camu juice, which is a fruit from the jungle here.

Then I played soccer with 7 Peruvian dudes for almost 3 hours, which was amazing except for the fact that I did not have adquate shoe-age, and now have enormous blisters on the bottom of my feet which makes it hard to walk. Hilarious since one of the guys playing literally had only one shoe on, so how could I get so effed up? Ah, such a gringa I am.

Things I had forgotten about and am so excited about:

• My simple little Peruvian cell phone with a flashlight on top that stays charged forever


• Fresh squeezed orange juice on the corners


• SO much fresh fruit and vegetables


• Rice and lentils (the food in general, it´s so fresh!)


• the smell of the air...which is really a lot of pollution, but it´s somehow soothing


• riding motorcycles


• the simplicity of life here and the calm presence of the people who are so damn good at living in the now


• the lack of mirrors

The whacky wonderful world

Employed

I got a call from Presbyterian Hospital in Espanola, NM on Friday around 11am that they were interested in interviewing me. Now, with a non-refundable nor changable for <$250 plane ticket to Peru leaving Tuesday, it didn't leave much room to wiggle. To complicate matters I had promised my friend Alexis, who is getting married while I'm in Peru, that I'd come visit her before I left. So I booked a last minute flight leaving Sunday morning to Albuquerque with the necessary rental car to drive an hour and a half north to Espanola. Then I showered, jumped in the car, and headed to Minneapolis.

That night Alexis, her fiance Jordan, and I feasted on delicious Vietnamese food in Uptown. The next morning, she made her classic: scrambled eggs with cheese and chocolate chip pancakes (yum!) and then we met up with my friend Jessalyn for some farmers market fun. I got 10 minutes of Reiki at an Immigrant Rights fundraiser booth (best fundraising idea ever!). Then a quick run to the co-op, where I gave sick Mike a hug and helped him pick out some OJ :) Then back to Des Moines to pack and leave in the morning.

I arrived into Albuquerque around 2, drove to Santa Fe, walked around, then passed out. Man I love having a whole hotel room all to myself. Monday morning I checked out, drove up to Espanola, interviewed, got the job on a sweet labor and delivery unit: low c-section and epidural rates, super small hospital with opportunity to do lots of things include float to other units, interesting and diverse population (eg lots of Native Americans), ETC. Victory dance in the parking lot (see pic above). With a little extra time to spare, I happened on a West African dance class in Santa Fe (I couldn't make this stuff up). I danced my heart out and released a lot of tension from driving-flying-driving-driving-interviewing-driving, then drove some more: back to the airport, flew to Denver, flew to Des Moines, got in at 10pm, and here I am , rushing to pack for Peru, while indulging at looking at apts around Santa Fe.... They're holding the job for me until I get back, so basically, if I can hold on long enough for the ride, I'm set!

So here I go again (deep breath.) A little more prepared this time with some Spanish skillz, Peruvian friends, a clue of what I'm getting myself into (though come on, it's South America, who knows?)... Oh yes, and with only a 45 min layover in Atlanta, I'm carrying everything on.
First stop: Pucallpa, a town east of Lima in the jungle. I probably won't post until I get back to the capital city in a week or so.

Mmmm, lots of love and good vibrations :)
Rachel

Boston family va-cay

Mark and Rachel historical reenactment

I'm here in Boston on an old school family vacation. Complete with historical sites, walking tours, family dinners, angry car rides, and my mom twisting her ankle. Are we having fun yet? Mark and I got some classic pictures of my baseball capped dad walking down the street with a map fully unfurled, nearly running into other tourists...my mom stumbling behind him with her McDonalds latte. Oh man, it's probably good for me to get this concentrated family and tourist time out of the way before I hurdle myself back into the jungles (literally) of Peru. Especially since it's probably one of our last times to hang out just the 4 of us...oh the joys :)

All in all, I've had a great time though. The best was certainly getting to see my dad play in a soccer tournament for men 65 and older. To see a 70-year-old slide tackle his opponent and then get up and yell at the ref who called a foul, is absolutely priceless. Every time I saw one of them head the ball with blind vigor, I had to feel inferior, thinking I can only hope to become this cool in 40-50 years. I'm not shitting you: I saw one of them try to bicycle a shot on goal.

Other highlights of the trip included

• My brother, dad, and I went to see the Goldcup matches: USA vs Haiti and Honduras vs Grenada in the Gillette stadium (where the Patriots play). I had forgotten how much fun soccer was.

• Went to a Couch Surfing meet-up at a Cambridge brewery. I got to couch surf with a friend I had met in Lima and I met a couple other really cool people.


• Embarked on a salsa dancing cruise around the Boston Harbor, which involved 3 levels of music. Following the cruise, my two couch surfing friends and I hit up a beautiful bar called Rocca. I don't generally like to drink at all...maybe a glass of wine with dinner here or there, so it was trouble when my friend kept bringing me shots of 1800. I vow once again to never drink again...


• Ate a pistachio ice cream cone at Revere beach and watched Brazillian boys in tiny swim suits play an impressive blend of soccer/volleyball


• The Freedom Trail!


• Walked around Walden Pond and visited the site of Thoreau's home in 1846, where he wrote Walden. This was probably tied actually as my favorite with watching 65-75 year olds play soccer.

Check out these faces:In Walden Pond:

Notes from my zillions of beautiful hours in the car:
Austin, TX = yum
Dallas, TX = a cluster#$%@
106 degrees in Texas = hard to stay cool while driving. I actually sunburned through the window.
Green green and glorious Oklahoma. Who knew?
Boggy State Park = a lovely place to re-energize.
I ate an entire papaya and a cucumber along the way (and near the end, a lot of tootsie-roll pops).
I'm so glad I took the back highways and not 35

Kansas City:
Lots of babies, dogs, and watermelon.

To Boston on the 7th:
Flying with the family = hilarious. (see Herding Cats)
We'll be watching 2 Goldcup soccer games (The big soccer tourny for North America, the Carribbean, and Central America), as well as watching my dad play in a senior soccer tournament--so cool!! I can only hope to be as cool as my dad when I grow up :)