My first night in Santa Clotilde, fighting a fever while acclimating to 90º F climate and 90% humidity, was restless. However, I felt infinitely better the next morning – so I took that as a win. Our hosts had prepared breakfast especially for us – although, apologizing profusely, I opted not eat as I was still not feeling that great.
Thereafter, we headed down to the dock. I have included a few pictures to show the local character of construction. Santa Clotilde is a very small community, with a population slightly above 1,800, while the village of Angoteros, our destination, has less than 800 people. At the river’s edge, we loaded into a “chalupa.” Now I know most of you are used to hearing chalupa as a food you eat and from the Taco Bell commercial about “dropping the chalupa” – but this chalupa is a narrow boat used for transportation. The boat was purchased by the Diocese for transporting patients and personnel between the clinics and el Centro de Salud Santa Clotilde (CSSC). This represented a much better means of transportation than yesterday. I was relieved to see that my seat was anchored to the boat this time.
Besides Brian, Leslie, and myself, joining us were Jens (pronounced similar to James), Bryan, and Frank. At first you would have to think that they were joking when they said their names – thinking perhaps they were just repeating ours. As it turns out, we had two Brian’s (spelled differently but pronounced the same) and two Frank’s in the boat. The ride was uneventful, but very long. I took out my laptop and rigged up my small suitcase into a desk on which to write. Gabriela, and Leslie also worked on their laptops, while Brian completed a CME activity on paper. During the trip, Gabriela, Jens, and Bryan took advantage of the extra space to spread out and take short naps. What was truly amazing is that we only passed one other boat the entire time and saw only a handful of people over the 7 hour journey.
Arriving in Angoteros, we walked over to the parish house. From the main sidewalk (there are no streets here) we took a branching pathway up to a long set of stairs, then down another set of wooden stairs toward the direction of the river. When we reached the house, there was the coolest set of stairs I’ve ever seen – hewn from a single log.
The parish house is run by Dommi (short for Dominique, I believe). Dommi, like Gabriela, is a missionary lay person from Poland. Remarkably, she has been in Peru for over forty years. She was effusive in her greeting – with a bubbly personality. Simply meeting her made it immediately evident that she is happy in her life and at peace in every moment. I am so impressed with people who can devote their entire lives to work improving the lives of others – truly inspirational.
Staying with her for a short period is young man named Baptiste (pronounce with a silent “p” and silent final “e”) from Belgium. He is volunteering for missionary work, as he put it, “as an obligation for everyone in his family once they finish college.” Baptiste is very loquacious so I had to laugh when he said he spent three months within an order of monks who practice silence.
Baptiste roasted chicken over an open fire pit in the house. This is an extravagant meal for this part of the jungle – and clearly was intended as welcoming hospitality for us after a long journey. Along with the roasted chicken, we had white rice and soda. At the end of our meal, Dommi announced that she had made a chocolate cake from cacao and introduced it to the table with great fanfare. She asked whose birthday was closest and then immediately broke into singing a version of “Happy Birthday” of which I caught only the second verse on video.
Afterwards, Gabriela brought us to the maternity house where we would be staying and performing the training. On the way over I looked to the distance and saw a rainbow – perhaps this is a sign for us. At the very least is was a reward for braving the humidity.
The Maternity house is built as a birthing center which allows a place to stay during the process for mothers and family. There are three bedrooms and a “delivery room”. Each room has a bathroom and shower – so this solves the issue of where we could stay, given that hotels do not exist in this rural community. I have included a picture of my room – with the only windows pointing into a courtyard part of the building.
About 8:00 PM, Gabriela called us over to the health clinic to meet with staff. We met too many people to recall all the names – but it was amazing to see the dedication of their team, willing to attend so late at night after beginning work at 7:00 AM. Gabriela, said farewell as early in the morning she was traveling further north up the Rio Napo to visit other clinics. She will ultimately be only an hour or so, by river, from the Ecuadorian border.
The power will soon be going out (only runs from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm). So time to get things in order and ready for bed. More to come. Thanks, as always, for sharing my journey.
Below are hyperlinks to the prior blogs on Bringing VSI Imaging to the Amazon of Peru:
BRINGING VSI IMAGING to the AMAZON of PERU (Intro/Chapter 1)
BRINGING VSI IMAGING to the AMAZON of PERU (Chapter 2)
BRINGING VSI IMAGING to the AMAZON of PERU (Chapter 3)
BRINGING VSI IMAGING to the AMAZON of PERU (Chapter 4)
BRINGING VSI IMAGING to the AMAZON of PERU (Chapter 5)
Frank Miele, MSEE , President of Pegasus Lectures, Inc. Frank graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College with a triple major in physics, mathematics, and engineering. While at Dartmouth, he was a Proctor Scholar and received citations for academic excellence in comparative literature, atomic physics and quantum mechanics, and real analysis. Frank was a research and design engineer and project leader, designing ultrasound equipment and electronics for more than ten years at Hewlett Packard Company. As a designer of ultrasound, he has lectured across the country to sonographers, physicians, engineers and students on myriad topics.
