Defeated
There are only a few times in my life when I have really felt defeated (losing in PKs in the NCAA tournament, barely passing first SHELF exam, etc). Last Friday morning was one of them. I enjoy hiking and in the last year have done some amazing trips in the USA (Superior Hiking Trail (autumn and winter) and Pictured Rocks National Park) and in Peru (Laguna Rapagna, Inca Trail, Colca Canyon and now Volcano Chachani).
I was supposed to summit the volcano Misti with a few of my friends but we all had to work so I went with a different group to a higher mountain, Chachani, instead. At a towering 6,090m (19,977ft), Chachani is the highest volcano in the region. To get there we drove on the worst dirt road and at the highest elevation I have ever been at in an old beat-up, filthy dirth Toyota 4x4 who's engine was roaring and whose tired I thought were going to pop from the boulders in the road. I'm glad we didn't die on the way up and they let us off around 5,000m to climb to base camp (approximately 5,200m (17,060ft)) for the night.
Once our backpacks with our tent, sleeping bags, mattresses and food were packed, the five of us (two girls from Sweden and a boy from France and I) started the painfully slow walk to camp.
Shortly after arriving I had a mild headache and took a nap in our tent (I was sharing with Sebastian from France) before dinner. My heart was pounding and I had the chills since the temperature up there was around freezing and I had not brought enough warm clothes. I felt weak at dinner but ate and went straight to bed after sunset (see below)
to get some sleep before waking up at 1am to climb to the summit. I tossed and turned and at around 9:30 I had an urge to get out of the tent but the zipper was broken and I could not open it in time before puking all over my sleeping bag (and luckily - for him - not on my tentmate). I grabbed a plastic bag and threw up a few more times, stuck the bag outside and tried to fall back asleep with my head pounding and heart racing, doubting if I will have enough energy to wake up in the morning to climb.
At 1am, we woke up under the stars - the milky way spanning from north to south, Orion and the Southern Cross on either end - and packed our things to started another painfully slow walk up the mountain. After crossing two passes of adjacent mountains, El Angel and Fatima, with at least three hours to go over an ice field and up another peak, I decided to call it quits, enjoy the view, and wait for the group to return and not ascend the summit. If I hadn't been carrying my ice axe in one hand and walking stick in the other I may have tumble off the mountain as my legs were so weak and I was losing my balance every other step.
I have never felt so bad at altitude before. The total climb time from base camp was seven hours, and only three hours to descend. As soon as I got back in the 4x4 by noon I was feeling 100% better and by 11pm I was back in Lima at sea level. I guess that means no more mountain climbing for me for a while which is fine since I think I prefer the more scenic trails with waterfalls anyway.
The best sporting event of my life
My friends Jonathan, Josh and I went to the final game of the Peruvian soccer season between the two top teams that were tied for first - Universitario and Alianza. It was the same team I saw with my friend Romina back in September but this was a completely different experience. Stadium Mundial, with over 70,000 fans, was unlike any other sporting event I have been to - better than any Twins game, the BC vs Notre Dame football game, the men's Olympic half pipe in Italy, the Argentina vs Peru World Cup Qualifier, this was on a whole new level. Passion doesn't even come close to describe these fans. Their love for their teams is in their blood and everyone gets really really into the game, and so were we.
Real quick, the play-by-play:
1. We scalped tickets outside and hoped they were legit
2. Walked a mile on the Universitario's side of the road past riot police
3. Bought sweet 15 soles jersey's to try to fit in
4. Got searched at the gate and almost lost our belts - who knew you couldn't wear a belt to a game?
5. Paid a man 2 soles to find us seats in the sold out stadium
6. Arrived just time for the teams to take the field and everyone start throwing paper confetti and giant balloons and toilet paper which COVERED both goals and most the sidelines.
7. Ate an overpriced chicken sandwich and kola real (the fake Coca Cola).
8. U forward was taken down in the box - PK! "He shoots he scores!!!!!!!!!!" The stadium goes NUTS! There were fireworks, flame sticks, smoke bombs, noise makers, and everyone is jumping around screaming with joy.
9. The game gets dirty and players are diving left and right, the play stops a lot but the refs do a good job calling the game.
10. 10 minutes left and U's captain, a burly Italian-looking long-haired Argentinian sweeper goes up for a header with Alianza's forward and smashes his face breaking his nose and the other guy's skull. The Alianza player goes down hard and starts to have a seizure.
11. Play resumes and the tension builds as the clock ticks down. The opposing fans start lighting everything on fire and the riot police run around like chicken with their heads cut off trying not to let anyone throw anything else in the burning piles.
12. As the referee blows his final whistle, the U fans at the end of the stadium rush the riot police and start climbing the 30 foot fence and about 40 get onto the field to celebrate with their heroes. I can't imagine what these games would be like if they served alcohol inside!
13. The U fans are told the stay in their seats until the Alianza fans have time to leave and while they present the trophy to U for winning the league.
14. We try to beat the rush and leave with the Alianza fans in our U shirts and Josh almost got jumped outside while trying to find us a taxi.
15. Back in Miraflores everyone is going nuts and cars are honking, fans are parading around Parque Kennedy celebrating U's victory. So we join the riot and sing:
Ese es la "U",
el mejor de los equipos,
el mejor de los equipos,
ese equipo se llama la "U",
¡la "U"!
It was pretty freaking awesome!
Murmurs galore at EsSalud
I started a clinical rotation in the Institut Nacional del Corazon (Heart Institute) at the hospital EsSalud this week. I LOVE it! I forgot how much fun it is to work with patients and this national referral hospital see EVERYTHING with regards to problems with the heart. In my first two days I heard more murmurs and saw more bacterial endocarditis than I probably will in my entire career! They have two cath labs on the other side of the 1000-bed hospital which means when someone has a "Code Red" aka heart attack, you have to wheel them down the hall to the elevator to the 1st floor, through the hallways of the clinics past the pharmacy to the cath lab. Realistically, if you have a code, you're probably a goner. Their clinic has lots of echocardiography machines and a room of treadmills. Their students and residents work round-the-clock like we do. Their nurses are great even though the RN to patient ratio is 1:7. I can't wait to go back and I am glad I waited until my Spanish was better to work with patients because even though I don't know most of the words, I am learning the importance of the physical exam and Dr Stillman would be proud of my auscultation skills (even though you can hear some of these murmurs a mile away!). I am comfortable (maybe too much so) speaking in Spanish and sounding like an idiot because that's the only way I really learn.
Feliz Navidad!
I will be staying in Lima for Navidad and going to a friend's house to celebrate with his family and then I will be flying to Rio de Janiero, Brazil, to meet my boyfriend and his friends Fernando and Leslie to celebrate my birthday and New Year on Copacabana beach.
Muchas gracias for reading and I hope you have a wonderful holiday and Happy New Year! Adios!
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