AUGUST 6, 2009.
The Tupac trip.
It was so hot in the small, metal-roofed clinic yesterday that we all got up this morning feeling a bit unsure of our
ability to get through another day like that. We’d been in the baking oven for several hours, and it affected the entire
team. We’d gone through more water yesterday than any of the previous days.
Fortunately, today’s building would not be quite as hot.
We gathered for breakfast again in the hotel dining room at 0700, and were ready to go by 0730. Susan had her
pick-up and she had hired a man with a 4-wheel drive vehicle, and both trucks headed out of town. A couple miles
out, we turned off on a clay/dirt path and bumped along about 3 or 4 miles to another river’s edge. We climbed down
the steep riverbank to an open boat below, and our new friends Juan and Warren, and a couple of the boat
operators shouldered all the bags and supplies for us. We were taken across the river, and then boarded 5 of the
ubiquitous moto-kars for the final 3-mile trip on the dirt/gravel path to Tupac.
Tupac is another fairly typical small village, but its citizens are mestizo (mixed) rather than pure Chayahuita. We sat
up shop in the community center building, a one-room structure with a concrete floor (wow!) and a metal roof again….
BUT the metal roof was quite a bit higher over our heads and didn’t seem to be radiating the heat down on us as the
lower roof had done yesterday. There was a small space of open ventilation just below the roofline.
Bob, Barbara, Mary Beth, and Warren set up their dental operation rather efficiently as usual, and were ready to see
a patient by 0930. Arlen and Mackenzie set up the medical area, and had a line-up of patients within a few minutes.
Kelly, Sarah, and Max had the pharmacy ready to go within minutes. Brenda was unpacking several of the bags of
goodies we brought along for the kids.
More than 170 patients checked in on this day. Our sweating was constant all day long, but it wasn’t running off of
us quite as fast today. Our 10 gallons of water carried us through the day.
Many teeth were extracted again, and the medical side of the operation saw countless headaches, skin infections,
back pains, and respiratory infections. We opened and drained an abscess on the side of a young girl’s neck and
we gave a bunch of anti-inflammatory medicine to an older woman whose hands were deformed from rheumatoid
arthritis. We found a huge tumor in the abdomen of a young woman, and we passed out vitamins to nearly everyone
who came to see us. Everyone got an albendazole parasite pill.
We were able to leave Tupac by 5 PM, and we headed back to the river crossing in some moto-kars and then back
into the pick-ups for the bouncy ride back to our hotel, Hostel Akemi. We took moto-kars back to the Chinese
restaurant here in Yurimaguas, and then walked 2 blocks to the only ice cream shop….wow, this was good!
So far, everyone on the team has stayed fairly healthy. There are innumerable bug bites, and some fatigue due to
the hours, the heat, and the lack of good sleep in this hot, humid hotel, but so far nobody has actually become ill….
no vomiting or diarrhea. Thank you, God!
Tomorrow will be a tough day.
We are scheduled to leave Hostel Akemi at 0515, drive to the Rio Huallaga again, and then travel by boat about 5 or
6 hours up river to an isolated Chayahuita village, Parinari, in the jungle. The river is the only way to get there. We
will stay in their village overnight, and try to travel back out on Saturday.
We’ll need some prayer for this one.
The Tupac trip.
It was so hot in the small, metal-roofed clinic yesterday that we all got up this morning feeling a bit unsure of our
ability to get through another day like that. We’d been in the baking oven for several hours, and it affected the entire
team. We’d gone through more water yesterday than any of the previous days.
Fortunately, today’s building would not be quite as hot.
We gathered for breakfast again in the hotel dining room at 0700, and were ready to go by 0730. Susan had her
pick-up and she had hired a man with a 4-wheel drive vehicle, and both trucks headed out of town. A couple miles
out, we turned off on a clay/dirt path and bumped along about 3 or 4 miles to another river’s edge. We climbed down
the steep riverbank to an open boat below, and our new friends Juan and Warren, and a couple of the boat
operators shouldered all the bags and supplies for us. We were taken across the river, and then boarded 5 of the
ubiquitous moto-kars for the final 3-mile trip on the dirt/gravel path to Tupac.
Tupac is another fairly typical small village, but its citizens are mestizo (mixed) rather than pure Chayahuita. We sat
up shop in the community center building, a one-room structure with a concrete floor (wow!) and a metal roof again….
BUT the metal roof was quite a bit higher over our heads and didn’t seem to be radiating the heat down on us as the
lower roof had done yesterday. There was a small space of open ventilation just below the roofline.
Bob, Barbara, Mary Beth, and Warren set up their dental operation rather efficiently as usual, and were ready to see
a patient by 0930. Arlen and Mackenzie set up the medical area, and had a line-up of patients within a few minutes.
Kelly, Sarah, and Max had the pharmacy ready to go within minutes. Brenda was unpacking several of the bags of
goodies we brought along for the kids.
More than 170 patients checked in on this day. Our sweating was constant all day long, but it wasn’t running off of
us quite as fast today. Our 10 gallons of water carried us through the day.
Many teeth were extracted again, and the medical side of the operation saw countless headaches, skin infections,
back pains, and respiratory infections. We opened and drained an abscess on the side of a young girl’s neck and
we gave a bunch of anti-inflammatory medicine to an older woman whose hands were deformed from rheumatoid
arthritis. We found a huge tumor in the abdomen of a young woman, and we passed out vitamins to nearly everyone
who came to see us. Everyone got an albendazole parasite pill.
We were able to leave Tupac by 5 PM, and we headed back to the river crossing in some moto-kars and then back
into the pick-ups for the bouncy ride back to our hotel, Hostel Akemi. We took moto-kars back to the Chinese
restaurant here in Yurimaguas, and then walked 2 blocks to the only ice cream shop….wow, this was good!
So far, everyone on the team has stayed fairly healthy. There are innumerable bug bites, and some fatigue due to
the hours, the heat, and the lack of good sleep in this hot, humid hotel, but so far nobody has actually become ill….
no vomiting or diarrhea. Thank you, God!
Tomorrow will be a tough day.
We are scheduled to leave Hostel Akemi at 0515, drive to the Rio Huallaga again, and then travel by boat about 5 or
6 hours up river to an isolated Chayahuita village, Parinari, in the jungle. The river is the only way to get there. We
will stay in their village overnight, and try to travel back out on Saturday.
We’ll need some prayer for this one.
The road from the river to Tupac. We had to take breaks in the heat.
| The work building this day was not quite as hot. There was a constant crowd waiting outside, and the team worked hard again this day. |
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