Vision, Wheelchairs and the Great Pyramid of Lima

7 May 2017

We enjoyed another good week of humanitarian service, along with a nice little side trip to the great pyramid of Huaca Pucllana on our day off.

Humanitarian Activities

Tarapoto Vision Project

Surgical instruments for Tarapoto Vision Project. Most of the project involves donation of sophisticated ultrasound equipment for use in eye surgeries.

We finally got the contract in place for the Tarapoto vision project in northern Peru. This project involves a donation of diagnostic ultrasound equipment and other instruments for eye surgeries. We are purchasing the equipment now and will later coordinate the visit of Dr. Aaron Peterson, a US doctor who will come to Peru and spend a week performing cataract surgeries and teaching surgical techniques to local doctors. Another part of the project involves examining and providing 2,000 pairs of eyeglasses to disadvantaged children in this region. More on this project in the coming months.

Wheelchairs Project

Our donations of wheelchairs and course for evaluators and technicians in Peru appeared in the Mormon Newsroom website (Noticias Mormonas).  We were glad to see this news article that provides details (albeit in Spanish) of some of the work we have been doing. Click to follow the link:

    iglesia-dona-1100-sillas-de-ruedas-en-peru

Article title translates to "Church of Jesus Christ Donates 1,100 Wheelchairs in Peru" - Good news is a welcome relief from most of the sad news in the world.

We put final touches on the wheelchair training course preparations before our trip up north to Tumbes (near the border with Ecuador) at the end of the month. This course, like the others in Iquitos and Cusco, will be taught by our partners at the National Rehabilitation Institute (Institucion Nacional de Rehabilitacion, INR). We delivered 15 tool kits and boxes of other supplies to be shipped up north to Tumbes when we go to do the course and the donation of wheelchairs.

Wheelchairs donated to the National Rehabilitation Institute (Institucion Nacional de Rehabilitacion, INR) in Lima last year to transport patients within their facility. The donations we make for actual patient use are far more durable for the rough use they get here in Peru.

We are trying to get more evaluators and maintenance technicians trained throughout the country to handle the church donations of wheelchairs, hence our travels to conduct training.  This year alone, the church is donating 1,100 wheelchairs for the needy throughout Peru. Part of our time in Tumbes will also be spent delivering 150 of these donated chairs in a public ceremony.

Great Pyramid of Lima - Huaca Pucllana

On our day off, we traveled to the pyramid of Huaca Pucllana (WA-ca pook-YA-na), located in the heart of the Miraflores suburb of Lima.

Until the 1960s, the locals thought this was a giant sand hill sticking up like a sore thumb in the middle of prime real estate.  When they dug into it, they found what turned out to be one of the largest adobe brick pyramids in the world. After years of work, the pyramid is still only half excavated

Huaca Pucllana now sits in the midst of this high-rise and modern neighborhood

It is such a strange site to see this ancient pyramid, surrounded by modern businesses and high-rise buildings and this high-priced neighborhood. But as they say, 'In Peru, everything is possible'.

Billions of handmade adobe bricks make up Huaca Pucllana

All the bricks in the pyramid were made by hand. Most estimates are that there are several billion bricks that went into the construction. How many is a billion? If you could make one brick in 10 seconds and could keep doing it 24 hours/day, 7 days/week, 365 days a year, it would take 317 years to make your first billion bricks.

Close up of the individual adobe bricks, all hand made. Look closely and you can see the hand prints of the workers that made the bricks more than a thousand years ago.

Bricks stack up on layer after layer, built by successive generations. A layer of mud separates each layer.

Billions of bricks, stacked up like library books on shelves of mud. The builders found that stacking the bricks in this manner (with a small gap in between) helped them survive the many earthquakes Peru receives.

Huaca Pucllana was used as a religious site from 200 A.D. until the Spanish Conquest in the 1500s. Succeeding generations would add new layers of bricks to pre-existing layers, thus helping the pyramid to grow bigger and bigger throughout the centuries.

The walking tour let us traverse along only part of the top of the pyramid; the rest is still under excavation.

Trail to the top of the pyramid

Trail to the top

View from the top. Huaca Pucllana is a popular spot for field trips. The area down below was used for various ceremonies and rituals. In fact, the name Huaca Pucllana translates into something like 'sacred games', which means rituals.

The excavation has been on-going for more than 40 years, and only half of the site has been excavated. They think it will take another 40 years to complete the excavation.

Excavation in process. Left side is finished. Right side still shows what needs to be removed to complete the excavation. Only half the excavation is complete on this massive pyramid (after more than 40 years of work).

Archaeologist have unearthed tombs on the pyramid. Bodies were wrapped up and stored in baskets, along with good needed in the afterlife like food and tools.

Burial tomb inside the pyramid.

Recreation of rituals performed on site. Clothing and ritual offerings are copied from artifacts recovered. From bodies recovered from tombs, anthropologists estimate the average height of the men was about  5' 5" (1.65 meters). 

Roads run around the perimeter of the pyramid, allowing great views. Fences and gates are all that separate the pyramid from the rest of the city.

The city starts where the pyramid ends.

Final shot from the great pyramid - another of the marvels of Peru.

Park Kennedy - Miraflores

We left the pyramid and walked through Miraflores to reach Park Kennedy. Peru, like many other countries around the world, has named parks in honor of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. The park, with its many flowers and trees, is a nice refuge from the press of the Lima crowds. Artists display their paintings on the perimeter of the park, and couples relax in the shade. (The park used to be overrun with hundreds of cats, but the city trapped and move them this year based on health concerns).

Relaxing in the shade at Park Kennedy, one of the nicest spots in Lima.

Artists displaying their wares on the perimeter of Park Kennedy.

Some of the paintings were so beautiful. How do you fold them up for the journey home in a suitcase?

This painting, 4-ft wide, is a little big to fit into a suitcase to take home

Fountains and flowers at the entry gate to Park Kennedy - a refuge from the noise and crowds of the city.

South American Instrument - Kena

A favorite flute of the Andes, handed down from pre-Inca times, is the Kena. All traditional Andean music groups play this instrument. It is a hollow tube with six holes on the front and one on the back that plays delightful music of the native Peruvians. You blow across the open end (the one with a notch) like blowing across a pop bottle, but you have to seal most of the blow hole with the area below your lip, which makes this hard to play.

I have purchased two kenas while here in Peru. Both are excellent quality, professional grade instruments. One is made out of traditional wood, the other is made from several llama bones that are connected together and polished.

Kenas - Traditional wooden instrument (top) and unique white instrument made from polished llama bones. Their sound is similar, but the wooden one is a little easier to play.

These would be a little pricey back in the USA, but here, the prices are incredibly low. The llama bone kena cost around $33 while the wooden one cost about $13 (my excellent bargaining skills came in useful for getting these two instruments).

The kena, unfortunately, may take the rest of our mission here to master - it is one of the hardest flutes I have ever attempted to play. I just hope the neighbors don't call the cops to complain about the shrill notes I make while practicing.

Broken Wisdom Tooth

One of my wisdom teeth broke last week. How do you get something like that fixed in South America?

A big smile:  my teeth - after the repairs

We asked others in our area office what to do.  Both an American and a Peruvian suggested I visit Dr. Quillatupa, a local dentist known for the quality of his work and low prices. His office, like most dentists here, has very low overhead (no receptionists, hygienists, or dental assistants, other than his wife), and his office desk was in the same room as his dental chair. He and his family live in an apartment upstairs.

Dr. Quillatupa got me into his office the same day I called and did one of the most complete dental exams I have ever had. He said he needed to take an X-ray of the affected area, and he apologized about the price (20 soles, about $7). In addition to the broken wisdom tooth, he found a few other teeth that needed fillings. I ended up getting an on-lay crown to fix the broken wisdom tooth, plus he filled the other three teeth. Total price for the crown, fillings, and X-ray was about $200.

I was very pleased with his work, and I was amazed at the price. Many Americans come to Peru on what they call 'dental vacations'. Dr. Quillatupa said whole families will fly to Peru and spend a week or two getting everyone's teeth fixed!

More Peruvian Culinary Finds

Every week, we find more foods that are so amazingly good. This past week was no exception.

Peruvian version of Cordon Bleu - Chicken stuffed with cheese and ham on fries with salad and fresh strawberry smoothie. Your guts are ready to burst after this meal, but you just can't stop eating. (Interestingly, many menus throughout the country list this as 'Gordon Blue'. We laugh whenever we see it written like that.)

Salchipollo is another favorite here in Peru. A delicious layer of sliced roasted chicken sits atop a bed of fries with sliced hot dogs in the middle (a little weird). Not the most delicious meal, but certainly popular here. It comes with a whole tray of sauces, including cactus fruit, hot spicey aji and rocoto, ketchup, mayonnaise, tartar sauce, and mustard. The mango smoothie finishes things off.

A new friend

We just had to include this shot of a llama at the Huaca Pucllana pyramid. We had never seen a llama with a more goofy face. Llamas and alpacas are found throughout Peru, but they often only use alpaca wool (due to its softness) and eat alpaca meat (becaue llama is too tough). Maybe this llama is grinning because he knows he is not going to be eaten like the other alpacas that were in the same enclosure with him.

A face only a mother could love!

So our weekend is over, and we return to the office to continue our humanitarian activities. We are glad we are able to serve here in Peru.