Final Clinics & Machu Picchu!

I am writing this on my phone at a hotel in Machu Picchu! Sadly, my journey in Peru is coming to an end as clinics are over and we are exploring Machu Picchu tomorrow before heading back to America on Tuesday.

In total, we helped over 130 patients at our 6 day clinic! I was able to shadow/assist three days, sterilization one day, intake one day, and vitals one day. On vitals I took patient's blood pressure, temperature, weight, and blood glucose levels. Overall, I was very pleased with all the different things we were given the opportunity to do in the clinic. Back home I am able to shadow which is amazing, but here I felt like I was able to engage in more behind the scenes parts of dentistry including the sterilization of tools and documenting patients.

On the final day we packed up the clinic in preparation for the next group to set up in a community. My favorite part of the clinics was definitely the people I was able to work with, both the rest of the VAW team as well as the patients. Something I've noticed about Peru is how kind the people are; they will greet you with "¡Buenos Dias!" even if you are simply crossing paths in the street. The patients were always so grateful and would return multiple times in order to get as much work done on their teeth as possible. They truly appreciated the work we were doing and it felt good to see them want to come back! The doctors were also just as appreciative and constantly thanked us when they were the ones who deserved to be thanked the most. Our leader at the end even teared up as she was so thankful that we were able to come, and I'll be honest it almost brought me to tears too.

It was such an eye opening experience as some people in this community lacked even basic knowledge on how to care for their teeth, but by them coming to our clinic you could tell they cared and wanted to have good oral health. It made me realize the current boundaries of healthcare and the effects of not having access to basic information on certain health aspects such as oral care.

As we concluded our final day we analyzed our experience and went through our bucket list of the things we wrote out we wanted to do from our first meeting. We accomplished most of our goals such as learning more Spanish, learning more about dentistry, and trying a Pisco Sour. One thing we hadn't done was explore Machu Picchu... but that comes next!

Today we took a bus ride that brought us to several amazing archeological sites. The Incas were honestly incredible and I am in awe that they carried such huge stones up mountains and through the terrain to build their structures. One structure we went to was even shaped like a llama, which is mind blowing to think that it was already so much work to get the stones, but to then shape the entire site as a llama?! Incredible. We then took a train ride to Machu Picchu! We got here when it was dark so I haven't gotten a good look yet but tomorrow we depart at 6:30 am (I hope I can wake up) to explore Machu Picchu, and I am so excited!

Overall, I am already reminiscing on my time at the clinic and I am already missing Peru. I am going to soak up these last few days.

P.S. we had to carve a block of wax into a tooth, and mine got third place! I can't believe it.

Also! We played some games with the grandchildren of our host family, including monopoly, which was interesting to play in Spanish; I really appreciate their willingness to help us understand what they're saying and that we can still have fun. The granddaughter gave us some Peruvian candy to eat at Machu Picchu, which I am excited to try. I am going to miss them!

Stay tuned,

Paige