Peru HSVMA-RAVS 2012

by: Angie Gebhart and Dr. Dave Turoff

August 20, 2012

Today was a travel day from the large city of Cusco to a small mountain town

called Mollepata. Our 3 hour drive brought us through rugged mountain switchbacks, potato fields, and impressive irrigation. We were thankful to have our luggage on top of the vans covered in plastic as the last half-hour of the drive was on a narrow gravel road winding up the side of the mountain. Once we arrived in Mollepata (a humble hostel but with award-winning views of the Andes), we re-stocked supplies in the courtyard. We will work in this community for three days.

Our cooks made us lunch inside a house that is being constructed down the street from our hostel, then we observed some ladies practicing the traditional weaving techniques taught by the social service division of YANAPANA. These ladies brought us to their shop where we could purchase handcrafted scarves, bags, and other crafts made of alpaca and llama wool, as well as some homemade jams and marmalade.

There was a bit of confusion about tomorrow’s worksite, which Maria Teresa and Michele had to discuss with the community members at the municipality. Instead of the fenced-in sports field that had been used in prior years, we will be situated in an open field just down the hill from the town’s main plaza. We prepared another game plan for the triage station to help keep arriving animals and owners organized,

more aligned with what the group has done in years prior.

We saw a few of our patients being run down the main street of town, following one girl in front with another young girl “shepherding” them from behind. The uneven clip-clop of some loose and missing shoes guarantees us of much work for tomorrow…