Wandering Bob

An update from Dr. Bob Gehringer, HBI's peripatetic Medical Director:

"Hello Everyone,

It's been a while since there has been a Peruvian epistle from me, so Thanksgiving seems a good time. The Peruvian calendar is replete with holidays, but El Dia de la Accion de Gracias, Thanksgiving, isn't among them. I've been in Peru almost a month this time, and this week in Ica (check the map), where I've been kept rather busy with multiple neonatal resuscitation workshops. So far this week, I've done six workshops for a total of 117 medical professionals of various sorts, with two more tomorrow. I just spoke to Natalie and all is well, though I'd rather be enjoying Thanksgiving with some of you at home. At least the Packers won again.

So, yesterday.... I went to Pisco, a small city near the ocean, to the hospital to do a training, and had a delicious ceviche lunch with the director. Late afternoon, I was picked up at my small downtown Ica hotel to be transported with all my gear a little over two hours south to Nazca by a guy named Gustavo Montoya Lopez, a chunky, gregarious, middle-age Peruvian. We headed south on the Pan American highway out of Ica through a wide irrigated valley about equally divided between vineyards and cotton fields and punctuated by smaller plots of aspargus, artichokes, and corn. The Pan American is really the only north-south highway of any consequence in Peru, mostly a busy two lane road with a variety of vehicles, especially inter-city double deck buses and long haul trucks.

The first half hour was through the valley with the sun setting behind the first ridge of the coastal range of the Andes a few miles to the west. Sunsets happen more quickly here than in my more familiar northern latitudes and the clouds went rapidly from cotton candy pink to a deep mauve before fading into night sky. We rolled south climbing a bit to a plateau of rocky desert moonscape devoid of vegetation, over and around some modest mountains, and finally into Nazca.

OK, now for the best part. Gustavo picks me up in a wonderful, beat-up, bright red, 1975 Dodge Cornett. This thing is so big you could land small planes on the hood. In the crowded Ica city traffic it's a joke, but out on the highway we cruise through all the small towns. Cruise is definitely the correct verb, as it's a true land yacht. The acceleration wasn't great, but when Gustavo stepped on it, the sound was magnificent. A full throated roar, akin to a turboprop just before take off. The radio going full blast, windows down, and me channeling Jack Kerouac. All we needed was a bottle of Pisco to pass back and forth (no, no Pisco).

Anyway, it was a memorable trip and Gustavo asked me to call him next time so he could bring me over to his nearby hometown of Palpa to spend the day eating and drinking. I hear he sings and plays a pretty good guitar, so let me know if anyone's interested.

One last thing, our organization, Health Bridges International is doing two runs, each 50 kilometers through the slums and nicer neighborhoods of Lima and Arequipa early in December to highlight the contrasts and need for change. Please check the websites, www.hbint.org and www.iamthebridge.org and consider making a pledge, all of which will be used to support our partner organizations that work in impoverished communities in Peru."