Off The Charts: Nursing in Peru : Hola from Peru!!

Well I made it safely to Santisimo Sacramento in Piura, Peru on Saturday night!! Due to our crazy busy schedules and spotty wifi connection it has taken a few days getting this baby up and running. It is absolutely gorgeous weather here (about 75 degrees), a little bit chillier than expected but still very beautiful!!

Outside of Santisimo Sacramento

Here is a picture outside the compound where I’m staying. Everyone here is EXTREMELY welcoming and love having us here!! We are famous around here and have paparazzi following us!! We are applauded whenever we go places and the people flock to give us hugs and kisses.

Let’s give you a quick recap of the past few days. Friday = Traveling. UGH. It was such a long day starting with our flight out of Ohare at 12:45, layover in Atlanta and finally landing in Lima at 10:20 (I’m still in the same time zone, so no jet lag!!). We stayed overnight in a hostel in Lima called Hotel Victor, which was probably the best sleep I’d had in a while.

Anne in our room at Hostel Victor in Lima

View of Lima from our window at Hostel Victor

Saturday morning we were made breakfast (which was all fresh and delish!!) then we were off on a tour of Lima. So all 10 of us plus a driver and 2 tour guides crammed in a van to take off around Lima (which is HUGE!). The tour was nice because we got a good general tour of Lima, but it would take a few days just to tour the sites specifically because Lima is such a big city with 9 million people living there!!!!! We went to Santa Rosita Chapel and had a tour, she is the saint of Lima. There is a well there that it is said if you write down a wish and throw it into the well it will come true!!

Outside of the Chuch

Anne with her wish to Santa Rosita

Me dropping my wish into the well

In Peru there is no differentiation of church and state, so each part of Peru has their own saint (there are 5 total but I don’t remember them). Next we risked out lives going to the Monastery of San Francisco where we got to go down into the catacombs!!!! There were at one time 25,000 people buried down there and the monks later decided to turn it into a museum so they dug up the bodies and put all the bones in various rooms and places in the catacombs. It was pretty creepy seeming all the bones! And sorry pictures weren't allowed so not bones seen here L I mentioned that we risked out lives getting here because no joke the driving in Peru is the WORST you have ever seen, you would be wishing to drive in Chicago rush hour traffic after being in this. People do not follow any street signs what so ever, a one way street becomes 2 ways, passing people with oncoming traffic; at one point our driver pulled out into an intersection of 3 oncoming busses and stopped because cars were coming the other way! We all thought we were going to die in a bus in Lima, Peru. Needless to say nerves were pretty high!

Next stop on our journey was a Bridge of Sighs where people were known to go as couples, it is said that if you make a wish and walk across the bridge without breathing then it will come true. So naturally we all had to try and were successful!! (Not telling what I wished for! J)

Final stop was El Parque de Amor (Park of Love for all you non-spanish speakers) It was absolutely beautiful and overlooked the ocean.

Statue in the park and every year they have a kissing contest where you have to sit like this!

Anne and I at El Parque de Amor

After our tour we had to catch a plane to Piura, so we crammed all our luggage in the tiny van and made our way to the airport. On arrival in Piura, we were greeted with a big MU sign and all the parish staff there waiting to take our bags and get us back to Santisimo Sacramento. When we got to the parish, many people were waiting to greet us and the kids came and gave us hugs as we got off the bus. It was amazing how welcoming they all were!!

On Sunday we had another filled day starting with breakfast and adoration. Following that we went on a tour of the different locations that are associated with Santisimo Sacramento—clinic, Casa Maria (a home for women of domestic violence), hospice (designed by Padre Joe and houses 12 people at one time, not many elderly are in hospice or nursing homes in Peru because their families care for them at home), San Jacinto (a sister parish and we had a traditional lunch with Padre Joe). Catacous was the next stop of the day where we had time to visit the market and get a few trinkets.

Market in Catacous

More Market

It was the Feast of Corpus Christi and down here 98% of the population is Catholic so it was a HUGE day!! Adoration and mass take place all day, and the main street from the Cathedral to Santisimo Sacramento was closed for the day and rugs of sawdust were made by the Peruvians. They are amazing, never would you think that sawdust could be so useful!! This is so important because after the mass outside the Cathedral the Bishop led about 5,000 people through the streets of Piura back to Santisimo Sacramento, there were tons of people pushing and fireworks and music and yelling. Everything requires a FIESTA here!!

Working on their sawdust rug

Completed rug from above

beautiful work

My favorite! They used flower petals and leaves.

At Corpus Christi mass at the Cathedral

Bishop with Corpus Christi in the procession

Procession of TONS of people!

Almost done! Monday we had an orientation with Padre Joe to the parish and all of the services that they provide, which is amazing and allows for 35,000 Piurans to have access to things they wouldn’t otherwise!!

We also had a tour of Hospital Jorge Reategui Delgado which was VERY interesting to see! They don’t have all the high tech equipment that we do in the US but they still get by pretty well.

Supply cabinet

Clinic rooms--each has a different specialty

Had to get a picture of this one!!

Nurses Station!!

Delivery room

Tells people based on their problem where to go in the hospital

In the afternoon we led a group, Women de Leche, which is a big group of women from nearby villages of all ages and they come to spend some time together! We did some stretching and danced the Chicken dance, Macarena, and Hokey Pokey with them!!! (had to dig deep to remember those dances!) They had a blast and so did all of us!!

Women de Leche

Finally we went on a tour of one of the only nursing homes in Piura which is run by nuns. It is paradise…that’s about all I can say about it. Look for yourself!