Serving at the Centro de Salud in Curahuasi
By Karen and Duane Sherer Stoltzfus
Peru SST Co-Directors, 2014-2015
When we arrived in Curahuasi, we dropped off our bags and made our way to the Centro de Salud, the public health clinic where Becca and Kourtney have been doing their service. We found them in uniform just outside the emergency entrance — thankfully, at that moment, there were no emergencies.
We did hear the voice of a boy inside calling out — “That’s our patient,” Kourtney said. He was there for a urinary tract infection.
They were free to take us on a tour of the clinic where they work most days from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. We soon met up with Dr. Sheyla Mosqueira, a physician who has been a friend and supervisor for Kourtney and Becca. From the emergency room, we walked to pediatric rooms and the birthing center.
On a joyful note, Becca and Koutney watched a delivery in their first week. On a sobering note, they also were present for a domestic abuse case, when a woman arrived in need of stitches to close a gash. Another patient arrived after being kicked by a horse.
Many of the patients speak Quechua as their primary language, and some doctors like Sheyla can switch effortlessly from Spanish to Quechua as needed.
That afternoon we joined their host mother, Eufemia Quispe Zevallos, and her niece, Delcy, for lunch. Eufemia, who raises some of her own fruit and vegetables, prepared a delicious meal of spinach, garbanzo beans and chicken in an aji sauce.
Eufemia, a pharmacist, also works at the clinic, which is conveniently only a five-minute walk away.
Earlier in the week Kourtney and Becca had traveled with Eufemia to Cusco, just under three hours each way, for the Inti Raymi festival, or “The Festival of the Sun.” The Incan ceremony, which falls on the winter solstice, draws tens of thousands of Peruvians and visitors. While there, nearly swallowed up by a huge crowd, they happened to run into Alberto, who is doing his service in Cusco.
We had our own delightful trip that our days in Curahuasi. Sheyla’s husband, Herberth, who is also a doctor at Centro de Salud, took us for a drive in his pickup truck — to see a canyon. We knew the Apurímac River Canyon outside of Curahuasi is said to be one of the deepest in the world, probably the deepest in the Americas, but we were unprepared for its stunning beauty.
We climbed dirt roads for about 45 minutes outside of town, arriving shortly before sundown. There is no entrance gate; there is no entrance fee. One simply walks up to the edge and peers. The spot we visited featured a huge rock that hung out over the canyon, offering an especially dramatic vantage.
The next day we all traveled with Eufemia up another mountain to see “la Piedra de Saywite.” The rock, two meters long and four meters wide, is believed to have been used by the Incas as a scale model to test water irrigation. The grounds, part of a larger archaeological complex, included terraces, fountains, stairways, stone benches, an intihuantana – or solar clock – and many other surprises. On our return trip to Curahuasi, we detected the aroma of anise for which the valley is known.
Following a visit to the main plaza and a lunch of arroz con pollo, Becca, Kourtney and Eufemia helped us into a combi that would take us on to Cusco – no more than a three hour drive away.
