Kickin' it in Cusco: Part II

Waking up on sunday was great knowing that our weekend was not over.  The energy in our house was high with our family knowing that Sarah and I were going to "The Game" today.  The championship game between Lima and Cusco.  Both Peruvian teams with fans of both teams heavy in Cusco.  We had sat in line for a hour the Friday before so we thought we had an idea about the energy and excitement that was ahead of us.  We were told that it would take a while to get into the game so we left our house 2 hours before game time with a 15 minute walk to the stadium.  We knew we were going the right way as road blocks, flashing lights, jersey venders, and police were ahead of us.  We had a friend come with us who is an Australian firefighter named Mark, so we knew that we would be ok if things got raw.  As we got closer we realized that this wasn't going to be your organized fence and coned off isolated linear line to get into the doors as we imagined.  There were four ticket sections that you could purchase and there were four lines to get in the stadium.  You obviously had to be in the right line, but

The line going forward.

making sure you were in the right line was a bit tricky because the "lines" were winding and twisting down the streets and around the stadium with each person chest to back with their hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them.  Wanting a jersey, Mark and I left the confident Sarah to hold our spots in line as we walked back to the vendors for a quick minute or two to buy one.  We came back to chaos, as people compressed themselves even tighter than when we had left. Apparently a group of people realized they were in the wrong line, and after they left the line surged forward pushing everyone together even closer, like a compressed accordion.  We found Sarah laughing hysterically and yelling at us "This is Normal!"  This was all going on as police on horseback and an ambulance were trying to part through the crowd of lines that were not going to budge apart.  Not even for the ambulance.  Mark and I had to walk down to try to get to the other side of the line so we could get to Sarah but the it was packed so tight with people who were too paranoid to let anyone slide in between.  It wasn't until a TV camera man was granted access to the other side that we were able to get through.  I grabbed onto his back and Mark onto mine and we pried through the line.  

Mark waiting to get in line.  He never takes normal picture.

We finally made it to Sarah, which she wasn't hard to find since the surrounding company is at least a foot shorter than her, and she was confidently holding our spot - chest to back - squished in the line and a VERY happy, smiling, old Peruvian gentleman with his hands on her hips.  I couldn't help but laugh - we all were having a great time.  A surge in the line granted enough space for Mark and I to squeeze in front of Sarah and hold fast in our spots of the continuing squished line.  The next hour in this line consisted of people passing by, vending everything and anything, intense bursts forward, and the whole line-gallery hollering at anyone temping to cut or pass through.  Of course we joined in on the hollering and refusing the people asking the Americans to cut through.  In the heat of the line Sarah and I were confronted by a TV camera and energetic sports reporter, with a microphone in our faces asking us the fastest hispanic questions we had every heard.  Smiling and trying to answer the questions to the best of our understanding, the reporter asked us where we were from, smiled said something to the camera, and moved on.  

Sarah and I in line.

The stadium was unlike anything you could imagine.  Like I said, there were four sections of the stadium which had four different entrances because each section was separated by 25-foot high chain linked fences.  The North and South sections behind the goals were the rowdy fan sections.  This was obvious by the constant horns, dancing, songs, confetti, and tossed rolls of TP.  We found out that our section did not have as many horns, no dancing, no confetti, but the seriousness of the fans was not slacking.  People were still pouring into our full section only to find that sitting at the rail in the very front was their only option.  People were sitting on the stairs up the stands, which was no problem.  But the people up front were yelled and screamed at to move on the find other places to sit because they were in the way.  After a while it was obvious that our section was full and every person that walked up the steps was yelled at to move on and not even think of plopping down in the front of the rail.  If someone was so brave as to try to challenge our section and sit down below the front rail, all hell broke loose.  They would either be physically removed by the person in a seat behind them or yelled at by everyone, along with food, trash, and anything anyone could spare to throw at them was sent airborne.  I have to admit that this was a bit fun and we joined in on the yelling part, repeating what people around us were saying, not even knowing what we were saying.   

Finally everyone calmed down and the game had commenced.  The game was filled with close calls, dramatic soccer players, constant north and south sections surging with team pride and, moments of disappointment and excitement.  The game ended in a 1-0 loss for Cusco, the home team.  We were a bit bummed that Cusco didn't score because we wanted to see the stadium erupt and we left with about 60,000 disappointed Cusquenians.  We obviously had the experience of a lifetime due to the fact that it did not follow the typical American sporting event protocol, and that was all right with us. 

View from our seats. 

Now to give a little insight about how my volunteering has been going.  I was supposed to start last week in the initial clinic that I was supposed to be in the whole time, only to find out that it has been postponed for another week.  This was a bummer until a friend of my volunteer coordinator, Angelika, said I could come and volunteer/intern at his clinic.  I found out on my first day last week that not only is he a doctor in the clinic, Clinica Paredes, but he is also the CEO.  He told me that I would be able to observe any surgery and follow him with his patients.  The beginning of last week involved me following and observing his patients with interesting pathologies including, needing an endoscope from drinking, Ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic potion from the jungle, removing butterfly larva from under a patients skin, trauma surgeries, and observing my first C section.  The last day this past week was the best day of the week.  I had been talking to the trauma doctor before his surgery only to find out from the scrub tech that he may need help with the radial fracture.  I didn't know exactly what that entailed untill I was instructed to scrub up for the surgery.   Whether it was the time I spent in the OR to that point, or the need for a free hand, did not matter to me because I was scrubbing in for a surgery within one week of volunteering at this private hospital.  I ended up assisting and suturing the incision closed to finish up the first surgery of the day.  There was another surgery after that I wanted to see as well.  A fractured jaw was up next and I was already happy with my experience and just observing was going to be alright with me.  It turned out the doctor for this surgery wanted some help and before you know it I was assisting and throwing the final sutures in the mouth of a girl with a newly fixed jaw.  After the surgery I was talking to the anesthesiologist who apparently was the director of the operating rooms in the largest hospital in Cusco.  He said that he would love to have me come and gain as much experience and help with all different kinds of surgeries at his hospital.  He gave me his number and instructed me to call and come whenever I wanted.  

The first couple weeks of my volunteer have been pretty shaky in terms of having a place I could see myself going to everyday for 10 weeks.  But now I feel as if I have the opportunity to observe and potentially help out in future clinical and surgical situations which would be a great experience for me.   

Sarah and I are both excited for this week and are looking forward to our trip to Machu Picchu planned to leave this friday at 7:15 am.  It is a 4 day 3 night jungle adventure trip that will, from the looks of it, surely leave us exhausted. 

So look forward to a jungle action filled Machu Picchu blog post in the near future and thank you very much to every one who is taking an interest in our lives and blog.