Tacna, Peru

Hi everyone! One week ago, I was making banana bread for my host mom here to try and packing for Peru. Somehow it's a week later and I have a lot to update you all on!

The border crossing into Peru was exciting for me as it was my first time in Peru! It is a well traveled border, so Chileans don't even need their passports and instead just use their national ID cards. Most chileans end up going into Tacna for cheaper health care or appointments with specialists, plastic surgery, or to stock up on groceries, electronics, and other things. The only thing that can't travel over the border is fruit and vegetables- but pretty much everything else moves in between!

We spent the 3 days in Tacna eating delicious Peruvian food, visiting more health centers, doing a little community service in the poorest slum of Tacna where we painted numbers on each household so that they can be identified during the census and other home visits, interacting with people in the community involved in important projects like a community kitchen, and of course- Alpaca shopping.

The main highlight for me was doing a home visit alongside a nurse to a woman who had given birth 2 months ago and hadn't come in with her baby for her second check up. We spent a long time with her discussing the importance of breast feeding, because she was also feeding the baby whole bottles full of anise water (it is a myth here that anise water will settle a baby's digestion- instead, it is better for the mother to drink for increased milk production!). She also told us about her really horrible experience in the hospital here (the doctor allowed several students in on the Cesarean section and she wasn't fully under anesthesia so she could hear him describing the surgery) and how she wished she could have had a home birth but complications didn't allow it.

Centro de Salud de la Natividad 

Outdoor market (yes, unrefrigerated chickens)

Statue in Tacna illustrating how much they rely on mining

Community kitchen conversation about sanitation measures

6:20 AM army drill down the street in front of our hotel.. we were worried it was a protest!

Education session we attended with pregnant/recent mothers to illustrate portion sizes and healthy meals for infants and toddlers

Dentists and pharmacies line the streets in Tacna

A shop filled with Alpaca where I found some amazing colorful fabric

Hope you enjoy these pictures! I have a week of exams and then we head to the south of Chile to Temuco and then to Bariloche, Argentina for some relax time before our independent study project starts! I am really excited for what is to come as it will all be new and more focused on my interests.

As always, email me! marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
Marisa