THE WORK AND THE NIGHT IN PARINARI
August 7, 2009
From the hotel Akemi in Yurimaguas, it was just a 15-minute Moto-Kar ride, a 5-hour boat trip up river, and a 30-
minute hike in the jungle. The village of Parinari, with no roads, cars, or air conditioning, hosts a couple hundred
residents, primarily Chayahuita Indians.
As we arrived just after noon, there were already quite a few people waiting at the local Health Post for us. The
Health Post building in Parinari actually has a concrete floor, and it has fluorescent light fixtures hanging on the
ceiling. But, there’s no electricity, and there are no screens on the windows.
The first patients we saw this afternoon had walked from another village about 2 hours away. Many of them were
the usual back pains and headaches, and all of them had parasites. There were several children who had
significant infections, and we were able to provide antibiotics for them.
About 3 PM, word came that a man was arriving via a wheelbarrow, as he was too weak to stand or walk. He had
been having vomiting and diarrhea for a few days, and had become dehydrated. The team was able to re-hydrate
this man with some IV fluids, and he seemed to feel better.
The dental team continued their work in the front room of the Health Post, with several more painful mouths
relieved of their discomfort. Parinari is so far out in the jungle that dental care is just not something these
residents could ever expect.
We stopped seeing patients just before dark, and the team crowded into the small kitchen with flashlights, ready
for some soup and rice. Each team member shared some comments about where they saw God on this day.
The Health Post building was also to serve as our “Parinari Hotel”, and the team blew up some air mattresses and
pulled out a few light sheets from the back-packs. We strung up our mosquito netting, a plan that was to prevent
some bites this night (in conjunction with the clothing and sheets that we had already sprayed with permethrin, as
well as some repeated coatings of DEET on our skin the past few days). One really has to wonder how the
Chayahuita Indians have managed to live out here for hundreds of years without a can of Deep Woods Off….
The roosters were crowing way before daylight, and the cows could be heard rustling along outside the open
windows. We were up before daylight, and the patients were lined up again. We knew we had only 2 or 3 hours to
see patients, since we had to be at the Tarapoto Airport before 8 PM for our flight back to Lima (and we still had
the 5-hour boat trip from Parinari, time to shower in Yurimaguas, and the 3-hour bus ride to Tarapoto).
Fortunately, none of the patients in this crowded morning were too sick, and we wrapped up the clinic by about 9:
30.
We had help from several of the locals in carrying all the equipment for the 30-minute hike back through the jungle
to our boat on the Rio Yanayaku. We loaded up and headed back down the river, through the twists and turns of
the narrow Yanayaku, with the multitude of sounds of birds and monkey and all manner of wildlife along the river’s
edge. Then it was back onto the larger Rio Huallaga, and now, going with the current, we made better time,
getting all the way back to Yurimaguas in just over 4 hours.
We had been pretty far “out there” in the jungle the past 30 hours, and it was with a mixture of sadness, relief, and
even some puzzling hopefulness that the team ran through some quick cold showers in the hotel Akemi and then
boarded the bus for the trip to Tarapoto.
We were to head back to Lima at midnight, and then spend the day (Sunday) relaxing in the capital city before the
all-night flight back to the USA.
August 7, 2009
From the hotel Akemi in Yurimaguas, it was just a 15-minute Moto-Kar ride, a 5-hour boat trip up river, and a 30-
minute hike in the jungle. The village of Parinari, with no roads, cars, or air conditioning, hosts a couple hundred
residents, primarily Chayahuita Indians.
As we arrived just after noon, there were already quite a few people waiting at the local Health Post for us. The
Health Post building in Parinari actually has a concrete floor, and it has fluorescent light fixtures hanging on the
ceiling. But, there’s no electricity, and there are no screens on the windows.
The first patients we saw this afternoon had walked from another village about 2 hours away. Many of them were
the usual back pains and headaches, and all of them had parasites. There were several children who had
significant infections, and we were able to provide antibiotics for them.
About 3 PM, word came that a man was arriving via a wheelbarrow, as he was too weak to stand or walk. He had
been having vomiting and diarrhea for a few days, and had become dehydrated. The team was able to re-hydrate
this man with some IV fluids, and he seemed to feel better.
The dental team continued their work in the front room of the Health Post, with several more painful mouths
relieved of their discomfort. Parinari is so far out in the jungle that dental care is just not something these
residents could ever expect.
We stopped seeing patients just before dark, and the team crowded into the small kitchen with flashlights, ready
for some soup and rice. Each team member shared some comments about where they saw God on this day.
The Health Post building was also to serve as our “Parinari Hotel”, and the team blew up some air mattresses and
pulled out a few light sheets from the back-packs. We strung up our mosquito netting, a plan that was to prevent
some bites this night (in conjunction with the clothing and sheets that we had already sprayed with permethrin, as
well as some repeated coatings of DEET on our skin the past few days). One really has to wonder how the
Chayahuita Indians have managed to live out here for hundreds of years without a can of Deep Woods Off….
The roosters were crowing way before daylight, and the cows could be heard rustling along outside the open
windows. We were up before daylight, and the patients were lined up again. We knew we had only 2 or 3 hours to
see patients, since we had to be at the Tarapoto Airport before 8 PM for our flight back to Lima (and we still had
the 5-hour boat trip from Parinari, time to shower in Yurimaguas, and the 3-hour bus ride to Tarapoto).
Fortunately, none of the patients in this crowded morning were too sick, and we wrapped up the clinic by about 9:
30.
We had help from several of the locals in carrying all the equipment for the 30-minute hike back through the jungle
to our boat on the Rio Yanayaku. We loaded up and headed back down the river, through the twists and turns of
the narrow Yanayaku, with the multitude of sounds of birds and monkey and all manner of wildlife along the river’s
edge. Then it was back onto the larger Rio Huallaga, and now, going with the current, we made better time,
getting all the way back to Yurimaguas in just over 4 hours.
We had been pretty far “out there” in the jungle the past 30 hours, and it was with a mixture of sadness, relief, and
even some puzzling hopefulness that the team ran through some quick cold showers in the hotel Akemi and then
boarded the bus for the trip to Tarapoto.
We were to head back to Lima at midnight, and then spend the day (Sunday) relaxing in the capital city before the
all-night flight back to the USA.
