Chris' Elderly Adventures: Trujillo, Peru January 2014

I had the opportunity to travel to Trujillo, Peru in January 2014 to participate in a Medical Nutrition Elective. This organization based out of Trujillo provides students the opportunity to take a Spanish classes for a portion of the day and work professionally the other part of the day. I flew to Lima from Denver on January 3rd arriving at midnight and slept on the floor in the airport until I could catch a bus to Trujillo the next morning. I managed to get to the bus station without incident and boarded my bus for a 10-hour ride up the coast to Trujillo. The intercity buses in Peru are fairly comfortable and I spent my time mostly looking at the sights and holding my breath as the bus driver seemed quite confident passing trucks and other buses on blind turns. The stretch between Lima and Trujillo is mostly a sandy desert with small towns that along the way that are very impoverished.

Even in the most remote area, gaseosas or sugar-sweetened sodas are advertised and consumed in large amounts.

Trujillo is a city of about 800,000 and I enjoyed my 2 weeks there taking Spanish classes, visiting an orphanage, consulting with hospital dietitians, and giving lectures at several local hospitals.

Church in the central square of Trujillo

Spanish grammar is certainly more complex than English

The area in Trujillo just outside the orphanage.

The children in the orphanage ate mostly starchy foods with little meat, fruits, and vegetables. Steps were being taken to improve this situation by soliciting additional funds and foods from government sources.

On a weekend, a medical student from Australia named Daniel, and I took a night bus to Huaraz to see the mountains in the Cordillera Blanca and to pay my respects to the family of Victor Sanchez Caldua, my friend and climbing guide who was killed in an avalanche while climbing and guiding on Alpamayo the previous May. (See previous post). Dan and I hiked to 2 high altitude lakes during the weekend and also spent time with Victor's family, Alicia, Edith, Vanessa, and Estefani. It was great to see them although it was tough on all of us to be gathered without Victor.

Laguna Churup at close to 15,000 feet.

This is a dicey section that required careful footwork as a slip would result in a fall of several hundred feet.

On our way to the second lake, Dan and I stopped to marvel at Huascaran Norte and Sur, the latter being the highest mountain in Peru at 22,000 feet. In 2011, I attempted to climb Sur and had to stop short at 21,000 feet.