Tuesday evening in Urubamba

It is Tuesday evening, and we are back from volunteering. Today they hired a bus to take everyone to this little village more than an hour's drive into the mountains. We drove through some breath-takingly beautiful countryside with the Andes Mountains rising straight up from the fields.

When we arrived at the rural health center, there were a bunch of people, mostly school children, waiting for us --- all dressed in bright red and orange woven ponchos decorated with llamas and other figures. Many also wore hats of the same color and design, but with unusual shapes.

The clinic operations were set up, with the eye glasses outside the building. This wasn't a problem because the weather was clear and the temperature pleasant, at least until the sun started going down later in the afternoon.

The morning was crowded with the school children, most of whom did not need glasses but who wanted them anyway. For the few who really needed glasses, we did our best to match them with the best prescription. There was one young fellow in particular who we fit with glasses.

In the afternoon we had more adults, some of whom needed reading glasses, which is my specialty. Having used reading glasses myself for many years, I have a special appreciation for them. There were also a couple of people with cataracts, who will have to wait for several months until some eye specialists come through the area to do cataract operations.

The rest of the clinic volunteers saw people with a variety of medical issues. All the children were given Vitamin A pills, in addition to whatever other care they received.