This entry is for our fourth day in Peru June 4 2014.


This fourth day in Peru was a mixture of traveling, looking much more closely at the Peruvian public health system, spending time with Peruvian college students, and getting lost. I woke up this beautiful Wednesday in Lima Peru with an accumulative 20 hours of sleep in the last 5 days (according to my estimation). Dr. Davis and I walked through the buzzing steets of Lima (I was sleep walking) in order to find a 7 o clock mass to start the day off the day on the right foot. Unfortunately, we could not find the church until after mass was over, but to our pleasant surprise, we were just late enough to catch the Dunkin Donuts empoyee setting out donuts which we purshased for the group (the donuts were noticeably set out at a later time than the usual 6am in Omaha Nebraska).

After we stuffed our faces with a delcious combination of glazed sugar and doughy goodness the 13 of us loaded our tired bodies on the bus to turn our attention to the Peruvian water plant. At this utopia styled water sanitation plant (I call it Utopia because the lucious green grass, overwhelming ammount of sprinklers, and the facility operated futbol field) we were given an educational tour of how all of the water for the 8 million people in Lima Peru is sanitized. I will not go into the nitty gritty of the details for the sake of the reader´s attention, but essentially the water that flows from the Andes is seperated into two different locations, a filter is placed to remove rocks (and a surprisingly sad ammount of dead bodies), the water is then treated with chlorine, then there is a specific treatment for microbiology and metallic compounds, and after a few more sanitation treatments the water is then approved by stringent guidelines and is pumped through the pipes as water that is 100% drink ready to be used by Peruvian inhabitants. Keep in mind that the source this information is coming from is a worker in the water plant.

To continue this discussion on Public Health, we left the Utopia water plant and traveled just outside of Lima to Ate. This area outside of Lima was a desert situated in a valley of tall dirt mounds. Houses are semilegally built and break almost all of the building codes we would use in the United States. In Ate we came to the conclusion that the water coming through the pipes in these shantee-like homes is not 100% drink ready. Our source to this conclusion is from water testing done by UNO´s group last year which showed certain undesired microbiology. Water resivoirs in Ate are located at the top of this dirt covered valley and are surrounded by thick stone fences and barbed wire (giving the look of a high security prison). Water in Ate is so scarce that there are grassroot efforts to attempt to recycle the water. Here I should also note that there is no water recycling practiced in Lima which means that as soon as the snow capped Ande mountains have melted there will be no water.

After this experience in Ate we went to the public hospital where we saw the Peruvian Healthcare system in action. Lines of aching people dripped out of the doors. We were informed that the majority of those receiving care were poor people under government operated healthcare. We were fortunate enough to speak to the director of the hosptial, and we were informed that the hospital is changing its focus from infectious diseases to chronic illness, there is a lack of professionals to cover the need of care, and 40% of the population is enemic.

After a day of abundant information on the public health system of Peru our group of students was able to unwind and attend a dance with the students from UARM. Together we refined our sharp Latin American dance skills (which I should note the majority of us acquired for the first time last night) and we loosened our United States-ian hips to the beat of cumbian music. Inbetween the cumbian music there was a live performance of professional Peruvian dancers who touched on native dances from Puno and Cusco as well as the National Dance of Peru - the marinera.

Overall, the day was exhausting and some of us missed out on certain experiences (sorry Jose), but it was a time of abundant social and educational experiences.