After our short break and travels through Bolivia, it was back to work preparing for the arrival of our April mission team. The April mission team was the strongest medical team we’ve had thus far, with two dentists, two general medicine docs, a physician’s assistant, a nurse, and others with experience in the medical field as well. With so much medical talent, we were able to offer a great variety of services at our clinics, including ophthalmology, dental care, general medicine, and gynecology.

Additionally, our first three clinics with the team were held in very rural communities on the northern side of Lake Titicaca, where we had not yet been able to go with any of our previous mission teams. We worked at/with the small local clinics in each community and were delighted…and slightly overwhelmed….to have about 250 people show up at each of the first 2 clinics. The amazing thing about having so many people show up is that the medical team is able to treat incredible numbers of people (which is precisely what they’ve traveled thousands of miles to do) and we’re able to educate incredible numbers of people about disease prevention, dental health, eye care, etc as they wait in line. The downside is that with hundreds of people showing up, by night time we inevitably have to turn people away, which is beyond heartbreaking…since they all have such incredible needs and have been waiting for hours upon hours to be seen.

We also held a clinic out at the health clinic on the Uros floating reed islands. 

Our medical team headed to the clinic in style on a traditional reed boat.

As always, when working down here flexibility is absolutely essential…for instance…as a dentist you just might have a handicapped 20-year-old show up at the clinic with more than 5 teeth to be pulled…at a facility that is NOT handicap accessible. So you can either turn the kid away…or you can haul your instruments outside and do the extractions in the middle of the parking lot. FLEXIBILITY. :)

As with our previous clinics, my primary role at our clinics was interpreting for our dentists and teaching those waiting in line about dental health, toothbrushing, causes of cavities, etc.

But perhaps the best education of all was received by the crowds of kids and adults peering through the window of the room where the dentists were working…seeing the traumatizing process of extractions and all of the decaying teeth we worked on should have been some pretty serious motivation for them to start brushing and caring for their teeth.  

As always, our clinics are one of our primary means of training our healthcare promoters and giving them the opportunity to teach their communities about healthcare prevention practices. On the left you can see a picture of one of our healthcare promoters teaching about proper toothbrushing techniques.

The dental gang! :)

Being at high altitudes and with no central heating almost anywhere in Peru, particularly out in the rural communities, you really have to bundle up in the evenings.  Gwen (my roomie from the April mission team) and I headed to bed complete with scarves, hats, gloves, long underwear…and about anything else we could cover up with!

Our last clinic was held at a school outside of Copacabana, Bolivia, which provided us with yet another great opportunity for dental health education with the kids.

After the clinics were finished…it was officially time for some rest, relaxation, and FUN! Before heading out of Copacabana a group of us took a boat out to the Isla del Sol (Sun Island),

which had some spectacular views…especially of the Bolivian mountains and snow caps in the distance.  

At the southern end of the island you can climb old Incan steps, which are set beside a truly phenomenal waterfall of sorts….phenomenal in that 24/7 for hundreds of years it has had a strong and rapid current of water running down it….and where the water is coming from????? No idea. They hadn’t had rain in weeks and the water was rushing down….and there are no snow caps or any visible source at the top…it’s a pretty small island. Phenomenal. Best I can guess is that back in the Incan days they must have tapped into a high pressure water source way below the island…very neat to see.

In La Paz, I was utterly spoiled by the mission team…treating me out to dinners, souvenirs, and on our last day, a round of golf at the La Paz Golf Club. Being treated to a round of golf in and of itself was very special, and it was all the more special because the La Paz Golf Club is titled as the Highest Golf Course in the World!

Before starting off we shared a wonderful lunch together on the country club’s scenic patio.

The golf course was truly beautiful…surrounded by mountains, canyons, lakes…and to top it off it was a beautiful, breezy, sunny day! Couldn’t have asked for more.

And as if a beautiful day on a beautiful course wasn’t enough…for the first time in my life I had a caddy! :)  He’d been working at the course for 18 years, and since he could speak Spanish to me, he gave me tons of pointers, helped me improve my swing, my stance…it was essentially a private golf lesson!

And contrary to his serious expression in the photo, he was a very lighthearted and fun guy!  

Working side by side, sharing common interests and passions…I have been blessed to develop wonderful relationships with all of the incredible missionaries that have come down…which in turn makes it very difficult to bid them all farewell when their 2 short weeks are over. Luckily, they’ve almost all been from Idaho…so I hope to be able to see many of them again sometime next year when I make a trip out to Idaho to visit Bev and Scott! :)

On my bus ride back to Puno I enjoyed the beautiful scenes…it’s harvest season right now, and their handmade haystacks spread across the countryside are really beautiful.

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For more pictures from my work with the April mission team, click on the following link: http://whereintheworldiscammeo.shutterfly.com/1496

Stay tuned for my next entry about our 2nd training session with our healthcare promoters! :)

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