No more climbing mountains, U's victory, and murmurs galore

Hope you have your coffee ready... this might get a little long.

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!

Trucha and rafting in Arequipa

I have been taking Spanish classes everyday with Beatrice from 9-11am and then working on seven projects (in various stages from needing IRB approval to finishing touches before submitting to big journals) all day and night. Tonight, I was invited to the house of one of my mentor's in Peru, Dr. Josefina Medina. She and her husband had me over for "coffee," which turned into three hours of talking about my family, their family, medical stuff, research, Peru, etc. (in Spanish) and drinking a few apple martinis, Pisco, coffee, Real Kola, and eating cheese sandwiches, ice cream and chocolate cake, I was very content. Their house is beautiful and has a central fountain inside and every bedroom overlooks it. They also have a nice garden with a small swimming pool. I was very impressed and grateful for their hospitality.

Rafting
After working all weekend (literally until 1am on Saturday) I took a little break and went white water rafting (grade 3+/6 rapids). I highly recommend it! It was very exciting except we had a novice guide who didn't speak English and couldn't steer. The other boat had the English speaking guide but I got moved since I "speak" Spanish (go me!). Our guide was pretty bad at giving us commands, which consisted of "Delante" "Detras" "Alto!" "Pesos derecha" "Pesos izquierda" "A dentro!" and basically steered us into just about every rock in the river. He had to get out nearly a dozen times in two hours to push us over and then leap back into the boat as we flew through the rapids. I will admit that part of the problem is that the rainy season starts in a few weeks so the river is very low right now. However, the other boat didn't have many problems. The canyon that the Rio Chile runs through was absolutely beautiful! There were a few 10ft drops that got my heart racing and one time our guide got us perfectly stuck perpendicular to the river between a rock and the wall of the canyon. As our guide is yelling "Pesos derecha" to avoid the rush of water pouring into our boat, the other boat comes flying over the rapids and T-bones us. I thought for sure we'd tip over but somehow both boats made it down and we didn't have any major catastrophes. We were back by lunch and I almost wanted to do it again. But alas, there was work that needed to be done.

Trucha
For lunch today, Josh, Katie and I met at the trout farm on the outskirts of Arequipa and ate in a cute wooden boat on the Rio Chile. For only 15 soles ($5), I had delicious "ravioli de trucha" that turned out to be fried wontons with fresh trout - absolutely delicious!



Afterwards, I climbed to the top of a hill nearby to the mirador (lookout) where I could see all of Arequipa - a city of over 1 million people - and a perfect view of the Volcano Misti (that I will be climbing in a few days).

I was exhausted by the time I got to the top so I sat at this tienda and enjoyed the famous ice cream from Arequipa: Queso Helado.

Colca Canyon

Bottled water in the Canyon: 10 soles ($3) (usually only 3)
Night in a hut next to hot springs: 15 soles ($5)
Eating fresh trout over rice and french fries every night: 5 soles ($2)
Squatting over the hueco (hole), legs shaking/aching, breathless at 9,000ft, overlooking the canyon 2,500ft below: Priceless



Generally the trek is 2-3 days, but we took an extra day so we could see the waterfall at the start of the canyon. It is merely a trickle right now compared to in the wet season in February and the boys were tired so they took a siesta while Katie and I went exploring in the boulder field below.

Trekking in Colca Canyon, Peru
My friends who are working in Arequipa on Chagas disease, Josh Siembieda and Katie Maloney, and I, just finished a four-day hike in the Colca Canyon - twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. I had arrived from sea level (in Lima) less than 24 hours prior after an exhausting and delicious Thanksgiving Day feast with over 50 American and Peruvian friends, two 25lb. turkeys, and lots of yams and potatoes and cheap Chilean and bad Peruvian wine.

Day 1
We woke up at 3am to take a bus from Arequipa to Chivay and Cruz del Condor where we watched the Andean Condors cruise within 30 feet of us.


We ended in Cabanaconde at lunch time and had trout with rice and french fries and we stared our hike. At the canyon lip, Cabanaconde (10,700ft) is the main town where all the small villages (spread out over the approximately 35 miles in the Canyon) go to for for education, trade, and transportation to Arequipa. We hiked over four hours downhill on soft rock to the Colca River and at the bottom (6,600ft) our legs were shaking and the smell of rotten eggs was overwhelming. There was a geyser and hot springs next to the small hostal called Llahuar (our room had a bamboo door, rock walls, dirt floor and a tin roof, and three mattresses). Don't worry - we inspected the room for chirimachas (the bug that carries Chagas).


Our local guide, Rolando, didn't speak any English so it was great practice for us.

Day 2
Since we had to carry our own packs, I tried to pack super light and it still felt heavy. I didn't cut holes in my toothbrush but I only brought the following items (including what I was wearing):
Backpack with 1 pair of pants, 1 shorts, 3 shirts, 1 jacket, 1 hat, 2 socks, 1 shoes, swim suit, travel towel, arm warmers, 1 flip flops, 5 underwear, 1 bra, sunglasses, SPF, hand sanitizer, TP (a MUST!), toothbrush, glasses, contacts, gallon of water, small first aid kit (Josh used the moleskin for blisters, I took 250mg of acetazolamide twice a day for altitude prophylaxis, and if it wasn't for the Advil on the last day when we hiked out I would have died), headlamp, Freakonomics book to read, iPod for the bus ride, travel pillow (this goes everywhere with me), camera (thank you Mom and Dad), battery charger (but none of the towns had electricity), phone (which didn't get any reception), trail mix and Swedish Fish (thanks Mom), and last (but not least) a photo of my dog.

We hiked up and down, then up and down some more, crossed the Colca River and then hiked up and up and up and up some more until we arrived in Fure. We stayed the night in Fure (9,000ft) with no electricity and no road (except the one for mules and trekkers), but they had water from an elaborate aqueduct system that dates back to Incan times when they terraced the whole mountain for agriculture. We ate dinner - fried trout, rice and french fries - over candlelight. It was chilly at night but without lights we were all asleep by 8.



Day 3
Quick video in the morning on the third day of the Colca Canyon and Colca River.

The third day we hiked from Fure down to "the Oasis," also called Sangalle (7,100ft), where we stayed at El Eden, a hut with dirt floor, bamboo walls and a palm leaf roof but it had a sweet swimming pool and was surrounded by palm trees and avocado, papaya, banana, orange and other wonderful fruit trees and flowers. It really felt like an oasis compared to the Arizona-looking cactus-covered canyon surrounding it.

Josh feeling "bad ass" and at home (he went to U of AZ) in the desert with of eagles, snakes, lizards and picaflor (hummingbirds).

Day 4
The last day, Katie and I woke up at 4am to hike out of the canyon (up 3,600ft). We were passed by many mules but it only took us about two hours (most people do it in 3-4). We enjoyed a not-so-refreshing Coca Cola Zero and some eggs for breakfast and hopped on the public bus by 9 to Cruz del Condor to catch one last glimpse of the famous Peruvian Condors, which we did.


Each part of Peru that I visit (besides Lima) has a very unique culture and customs. This areas is known for it's embroidery and the hats are the finest example of this. The women work very hard in the fields but are always wearing elaborate vests, long silky shirts, thick dresses, long braids, beautiful hats (our guide said a whole outfit costs over 1,000 soles ($300), which is more than a month's pay for most people - can you imagine!
Overall we hiked around 33km (20 miles) and our legs were sore and much in need of a trip to the Chivay hot springs - six large swimming pools fed with HOT water of varying degrees. The sunset as we drove into Arequipa was great with the mountains/volcanoes surrounding the city.

I can't wait to climb the Volcano Misti (19,000ft) next week - it's only a two-day hike with 12 hours up and 2 hours down!

Arequipa and La Punta

Arequipa
A view of the main plaza in Arequipa with the Cathedral lit up at night.

Romina and I flew to Arequipa in the Southern Highlands of Peru on Friday in order to meet with Dr. Josefina Medina, a cardiologist and the principal investigator on the PREVENCION study. We departed the plane with a view of the full moon rising over the picturesque and dormant volcano, Misti. Dr. Medina is the sweetest Arequipenan woman that I have ever met and was very excited to show me all the technology that she has in her cardiology office. Thank goodness for Romina, my friend and translator, as my Spanish is improving but not sufficient to understand scientific meeting by myself. I was very impressed by Dr. Medina’s computer skills and by the wide array of cardiovascular prevention techniques that she uses in her clinic, including echocardiography, arterial pulse wave, sphygmography, and others.

La Punta
After our meeting we took a taxi on a winding mountain road with sheer cliffs down past Mollendo to La Punta, a small town on the beach where Romina’s family is from. We stayed at the Punta del Sur, the largest building in town besides the church. It didn’t take long for the gringos to become the talk of the town. Her uncle is a very prominent figure in the town and owns a lot of farm land and recently built the very nice hotel with solar panels for hot water which was a big bonus.
He drove us around in the back of his Toyota pickup truck up to the giant “Jesus Blanco” for a panoramic view of the beach and fertile green valley.


It was a stark contrast to the desert and dry brown mountains that we drove along.
Then, he took us along the beach and through his never-ending farms where he employs over 70 women to pick crops. Rice is his biggest crop and a close second are artichokes (photo below) since the value of sugar cane has dropped recently and export demands for artichokes have soared in the past few years. Next time you eat an artichoke heart, look at where it came from.


Next we went to the chicken coop where he keeps his prized roosters for cock fights.
There was even a cock ring where he trains these beautiful birds.
Photo of Josh and Tio (uncle) with the beautiful roosters.

Then he drove us through the valley to his prized possession – his bull. At nearly one ton it is an impressive animal and surprisingly friendly. He gave us kisses and let us rub his nose.

Later we went to lunch at this delicious restaurant with great views of the valley and river running though it where they catch fresh fish and crawfish. It was delicious until all of the gringos got sick the next day in which case I can only assume it was lunch.
Back to Arequipa
We returned to Arequipa and toured the city during the day. Since it is 7,800ft (2300m) above sea level, we undoubtedly felt a little altitude sickness upon our return and didn’t sleep much.
The city is nestled in the valley between towering, snow-capped mountains and it’s beautiful! The sky is always blue, the sun is always shining, the roof dogs are always barking, and the neighbor’s roosters are waking you up at sunrise. It’s weather and topography are similar to Arizona and nearby are the two deepest canyons in the world - Colca and Cotahuasi – that I will hike by the end of this year.

This colonial city is build of white volcanic rock, called sillar, and has largely withheld the test of time and numerous earthquakes. The Catedral de Arequipa is the largest building in town and forms one side of the popular Plaza de Armas. It was built in the 1544 and was reconstructed in 1844 after suffering much damage from fires and earthquakes. Recently, in 2001, a cathedral tower fell after a earthquake but has been restored. The streets are narrow and many are for pedestrians only and are lined with small tiendas (stores), cafes, and restaurants, while other restaurants have balconies that overlook the Catedral, Plaza and its central fountain.
Nearby is the Monastario de Santa Catalina (St. Catherine‘s Convent) that was established in 1580 shortly after the Spanish conquest. My proper name is Catherine Ann, after my great grandmother Catherine Youngquist and I believe she was named after this saint. I might start telling people my name is Catalina since when I say “Katie” everyone says “Que?” since it’s not a common name here.



At its peak, over 200 nuns and their servants lived in this city and since the nuns took vows of isolation it because a city-within-a-city. Currently 20 nuns still reside in a private part of the convent and the rest has been open to the public for 40 years. The narrow streets are beautifully painted with reds, blues, and whites, and flowers and fruit trees line the courtyards and streets. The nuns are famous for their baking and I enjoyed a delicious alfadore in the café after wandering this tranquil little city for over an hour.
I met my friends for another delicious meal at Tradicion – rocotta rellena (stuffed red peppers) and queso helado (yummy fresh ice cream) while a very talented band played traditional Peruvian music.



On our last night there were fireworks on this large bamboo structure in the main plaza but before the lit the big structure a man holding a bamboo toy on a stick with fireworks was in the street. My friend Jenni got caught on fire from sparks flying.


Romina and I about to board the plane back to Lima after a wonderful long weekend. I miss it already!