Made it to Northern Peru and Set Up the Clinic For the First Day.....

.....It was a six hour flight and 15 hour bus ride but we made it up here in pretty good shape. Ther are 25 of us--a pretty good mixture of medical and dental and some optometrists.

Piura is the oldest Spanish colonial city in South America--Pizarro landed here and moved throughout the Continent from this location. It is a large city by Peruvian standards but very easy to move around in with good restaurants and a really nice plaza across from the hotel. As in all South American cities, plazas and statues to leaders are everywhere.

The clinic is about an hour bus ride from the city and is in a very poor area but is different from the first time I was here. That trip, the village was basically desert sand but this location is very tropical with lots of agriculture. We set up in a school--and Peru has very nice school facilities--even in these remote areas. They have electricity but is is only available at certain time of the day.

The first day of clinic went pretty well with only a few glitches. I am working with a dentist from South Carolina and a Peruvian dentist who doesn't speak any English but we have a translator who smoothes things out. I think between my Texas accent and the South Carolina twang, though, we keep her off balance. Basically, I'm working with the Peruvian dentist and she is very good with the children so we are seeing a lot of them.

I'll post more later, but we're off to a good start......