Health Bridges International

  • Who We Are
    • Mission
    • Model
    • Pillars
    • Our Team
    • Our Founders
    • Board of Directors >
      • Dr. Wayne Centrone | President
      • Dean Boyer | Vice President
      • Lee Centrone | Treasurer
      • Dr. Robert Gehringer | Medical Director
      • Benjamin Grass
      • Margaret Hendrix
      • Stephen Manning
      • Tracey Chernay
      • Patrick Flanagan
      • Monte Roulier
    • Partners
  • Documentary
  • COVID-19 Updates for Perú
  • Projects
    • Training >
      • NRP Train-the-Trainer Program
      • Programa de Reanimación Neonatal
      • Materiales de Programe
      • Blog de RCP Neonatal
    • Consulting >
      • Girasoles Home for Abandoned Youth
      • Girasoles Sanos Cycling Team
    • Connecting >
      • Anemia Prevention and Treatment Project
      • Ines Project for Medically Fragile Children
    • Serving >
      • Team Perú Outreach
  • Get Involved
    • Updates
    • Corporate Support
    • Qualified Charitable Distribution
    • Support the Girasoles Sanos Homes
    • Targeted Funding Requests >
      • Anemia Project
      • Guardian Angel Program
      • Compassion Fund - Vida y Compasión
      • NRP Train-the-Trainer
    • Volunteer
    • Events >
      • A Bridge to Change Event
      • A Bridge to Hope Event
      • 2020 A Bridges to Change Benefit Dinner
      • Adventure Run
    • Contact Us
    • Donor Impact Reports >
      • Donor Impact Report 2016
      • Donor Impact Report 2017
      • Donor Impact Report 2018
      • Donor Impact Report 2019
  • Blog
  • Donate
  • Who We Are
    • Mission
    • Model
    • Pillars
    • Our Team
    • Our Founders
    • Board of Directors >
      • Dr. Wayne Centrone | President
      • Dean Boyer | Vice President
      • Lee Centrone | Treasurer
      • Dr. Robert Gehringer | Medical Director
      • Benjamin Grass
      • Margaret Hendrix
      • Stephen Manning
      • Tracey Chernay
      • Patrick Flanagan
      • Monte Roulier
    • Partners
  • Documentary
  • COVID-19 Updates for Perú
  • Projects
    • Training >
      • NRP Train-the-Trainer Program
      • Programa de Reanimación Neonatal
      • Materiales de Programe
      • Blog de RCP Neonatal
    • Consulting >
      • Girasoles Home for Abandoned Youth
      • Girasoles Sanos Cycling Team
    • Connecting >
      • Anemia Prevention and Treatment Project
      • Ines Project for Medically Fragile Children
    • Serving >
      • Team Perú Outreach
  • Get Involved
    • Updates
    • Corporate Support
    • Qualified Charitable Distribution
    • Support the Girasoles Sanos Homes
    • Targeted Funding Requests >
      • Anemia Project
      • Guardian Angel Program
      • Compassion Fund - Vida y Compasión
      • NRP Train-the-Trainer
    • Volunteer
    • Events >
      • A Bridge to Change Event
      • A Bridge to Hope Event
      • 2020 A Bridges to Change Benefit Dinner
      • Adventure Run
    • Contact Us
    • Donor Impact Reports >
      • Donor Impact Report 2016
      • Donor Impact Report 2017
      • Donor Impact Report 2018
      • Donor Impact Report 2019
  • Blog
  • Donate

On the Road - Dr. Bob Gehringer

5/3/2018

Comments

 
Picture
We rushed through the workshop yesterday in Moquegua in order to be ready for a van pickup just after noon to haul us the 45 minutes to Ilo.  All consumed box lunches along the way as we lurched around highway curves.  Little styrofoam boxes full of spaghetti and a rather single large well done (tough) pork chop. Armed only with a small ineffective plastic knife and fork and buffered with a tiny 5 inch square of napkin, I was quite ineffective.  I managed to consume the spaghetti but declined the pork chop, needing to keep my dry-clean-only pants presentable for ten more days.  The Decana gladly took the chop off my hands.  Finger food.  Another trick (that I haven’t yet mastered) is drinking juice from small plastic bags.  No way in the van.  Overall, maybe less than a four star dining experience.

Ilo is about the same size as Moquegua but as one of Perú’s four ports, it’s thrived in recent years as the economy has boomed.  Totally different vibe.  As we drop into the city, everything slopes toward the water.  The fishing fleet is sprawled around the bay, but no bulk freighters at the moment.  Ilo is hot though there was a pleasant afternoon breeze off the Pacific.  No old colonial character downtown as everything seemed rather new and more prosperous, and also energetic with lots more activity, the Plaza de Armas full of people in the evening.  There were even a couple of food trucks outside my hotel.  We did our afternoon workshop, starting almost two hours late, in a building that had been closed up for a few days.  Though there was a cool breeze in the street it was at least a sweltering 85 inside as all participants wilted and we cut things short. 

This morning, Ilo shared its peculiar aroma as the onshore breeze came from the huge fertilizer plant.  As a fishing port there is an enormous harvest of anchoveta, a small fish in great abundance in the cold offshore waters, generally used to make fertilizer.  Ah, breathe deeply…..Thankfully, essence of anchoveta had dissipated by noon.  For lunch we went to a cevicherria (fish and ceviche restaurant) and as our ceviche arrived a couple of guys about my age showed up.  They uncased their guitars and rambled through 4 or 5 traditional criolla songs (think plaintive Spanish love song) with masterful guitar work.  Much better than my last inebriated restaurant singer a couple months ago.

To return to the airport in Tacna, I was in a little colectivo car, driver and only three others, along the coast highway in the late afternoon.  Initially, there were flat deserted beaches almost a quarter mile wide, then long stretches of huge black rocks in the surf, many crowned with white guano and hundreds of seabirds.  The marine life in this part of the ocean is incredibly rich, from plankton, little fish, big fish, seabirds, and even an abundance of sea lions.  In Spanish they’re known as “lobos del mar,” wolves of the sea.  Further south along the beach were expanses of salt marsh and hundreds of pink flamingos, all the while on the other side of the highway nothing but rocks and sand.  As we turned inland toward Tacna we passed miles of olive trees again and as dusk arrived, the moon was already well above the south horizon, brightening full.

Planes, trains, and automobiles morph to Planes, colectivos, and taxis.  I’ll sleep in Lima tonight, at least for a few hours.

Comments

    RSS Feed

    HBI Blog

    The HBI Blog is a rotating journal from our staff. Our Blog is a series of messages from the field, insights from our work, and lessons in service.

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

© COPYRIGHT Health Bridges International, Inc. 2019 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.