At the training center posing with Dr Jorge (center holding cake) on his birthday, Friday.

Getting sick in Peru was probably the thing I was most afraid of before leaving. I have such a weak immune system and sensitive stomach that I just imagined myself being in pain from the moment I stepped off the plane. Much to my great surprise, I have been relatively healthy this past month, relatively. I got a sick for half a day the second day with my host family. GI started and I just assumed that wouldn’t stop for the next 6 months. But it did. Since then, I’ve watched everyone around me, fall to some ailment or another. The most common are diarrhea and the flue. Everyday at training, we are missing two or three 3 do to these maladies, and a handful of others that are suffering through them but dragged themselves to training anyways.

One of my observations is that the boys seem to be doing worse than the girls. Just about every guy has missed a session training, where as only a handful of girls have missed classes. And for the first time in my life, the line for the men’s bathroom is longer than the women’s. This leads me to wonder if this is all coincidence or if there is some reason behind it. I wonder if the difference in eating habits between men and women have an effect on it. The amount of food and type of food that people eat in their 20’s seems very different between the sexes. The guys definitely are complaining about more about the food here than the girls. They all salivate at the thought of a steak or even a hamburger. Eating rice, chicken and vegetables everyday, isn’t that big a shock to my body. But I wonder the impact it would have on an American man who is used to eating much larger quantities of protein. Or maybe it’s that the girls here are more careful. There is a huge list of stuff we are supposed to be doing to our food to help insure that it is sterile enough for our developed country immune system. Obviously, all the water we use is supposed to be either bottled or boiled, even when we are brushing our teach. But in addition to the water, we are not supposed to eat the peels of fruit or raw vegetables that haven’t been washed in sterile water with a few drops of bleach. I’ve been pretty good at making sure the food I eat is clean, but I have started eating small salads that I know haven’t been washed in bleach water.

Also, I can’t help but wonder if the guys are just a bit wimpier than the girls. It is a possibility that the girls are equally as sick as the guys but just tough it out and show up to training more. We have an infirmary at the training center and I know a couple of girls have utilized it in the middle of the day to lay down and rest. I know I have forced myself to class on days when it feels like someone is ringing out my stomach like a dish rag. But in the guys defense, some of the guys have been hit hard by illnesses. While it seems like everyone is being hit by diarrhea at least, a few guys have been immobilized by high fevers and constant vomiting…..ah such is the life of a peace corps volunteer. Oh my favorite of all, is Adrianne. She would occasionally complain that she didn’t feel well from the time we got here. Finally after a month, she decided that there was something really wrong with her. She was always tired, she had a hard time getting out of bed in the morning, she didn’t really have an appetite and she had bad headaches. Her mom and my mom tried to tell her she was depressed. She said she wasn’t even said so how could she be depressed, but Peruvian mothers had made their diagnosis and were sticking to it. Even our PC doctor told her she thought it was depression, but Adrianne was convinced she wasn’t “wouldn’t I know if I was depressed!” she said to me. Well after getting a blood test, turns out she has a parasite! Good job Adrianne, I would expect no less from you than to be the first one with a parasite. As scary as having something living inside you sounds, she was pretty relived to be told she wasn’t depressed. I think Adrianne gets my toughest camper award for this first month. She’s had to deal with more crappy stuff than anyone here. But she shrugs most of it off where others would complain miserably or get really down from it all. That’s why you’re my friend Adrianne!

This is the medical kit that was given to us. It pretty much has everything. And if we run out of anything, we just call out doctors and they mail us whatever we need. Talk about the greatest health care ever. I´m even getting the new HPV vaccine for free. With out insurance (and sometimes with) this 3 shot series runs about $150 a shot. I never thought I could be so excited for a shot.

So for all the parents out there that are reading this, it’s a little scary I’m sure. To here that all your kids are suffering from one ailment or another, but try not to worry too much. I know I’ve said if before, but we have the best medical care possible while we’re down here. We have two doctors that look after all 115 volunteers out at our sites. We have their cell phone number and we can call them anytime of day or night. But it’s more than that. Every week we get shots and health presentations from them, so they are in the training center twice a week. They are funny and nice and are really more like friends that take care of us. When they are not around the training center, they are traveling to visit volunteers at their sites. They will get to us as soon as possible if we are sick, but they come visit us when we are healthy too. At least 3 times during our service. They stay with our host families and eat our food. They do what we do, so they can understand our life style to better assess our physical and mental health. This is a picture of our Doctors, don´t they look like the sweetest people ever? I’m not afraid of being sick anymore. I know it will happen, it has happened already. But I feel very safe knowing I have Dr Sunni and Dr Jorge just a phone call away.