Fin de semana #4 - R&R vs R&B

I had planned to stay in Huancayo anyway, but when fever struck Thursday night, thoughts of fleeing the city for the weekend vanished. I was bummed to call in sick on Friday because a pancreas specialist was visiting for the weekend, events to include a dinner on Friday, rounds on Saturday and some teaching on the subject. So instead, I spent Friday sleeping/watching movies/sleeping and trying to pretend like I wasn't there. My host family finally discovered me late in the day and did their best to coddle me, which I resisted only half-heartedly.

Saturday saw much improvement and having reassured myself that I didn't have anything scary like TB or malaria, I headed over to my attending's house for lunch... or so I thought. As it turns out, he's somewhat of a gourmet and I arrived to find pork glazed in honey smoking in a homemade contraption in the back yard. His house is beautiful, with a garden in front and back with all kinds of interesting, edible plants that I can't begin to remember the names of.

However, for him, being at home on Saturday does not necessarily mean not working. Across his back lawn is the back entrance to a clinic that he shares with his wife, a dermatologist. Throughout the afternoon, patients would drop by for appointments or check-ups and he would duck out for a few minutes. Later in the day, he told me to come with him and we wound up in a private clinic doing a hernia operation on Saturday afternoon.

As I was watching, it gave me room for pause. My ideal career consists of working really hard some times and playing really hard at others, hopefully helping people along the way. His life is nigh consumed by surgery and patients, even in his free time. When I questioned how he manages this, he replied that he does what is necessary to support his family both here and in Cuba. It was quite sobering.

Saturday evening, I headed over to a gathering of a bunch of expats at the house of my friends from the jungle trip. It was a great night of hanging out, drinking wine (Romanian pinot?), eating lasagna made by my British rockstar friend (to be fair, he hasn't made it yet, but his music is fantastic) and hearing stories from all over the world. We had folks from France, Bermuda, England, Ireland, the U.S. and Peru all converging over dinner. Excellent.

Nighttime found us trying out a new discoteca, La Noche, which was a flop so we moved on to familiar haunts, a discoteca they frequent frequently and I'd been to once, Taj Mahal. In addition to a great night of dancing, later on, I was recruited to meet a couple of Peruvian gals with my British buddy. As is prone to happen, the girl I danced with asked why I was single, but when I started talking about my faith, instead of a blank stare, her eyes lit up. We ended up talking quite a bit and we have pretty similar stories and love for God.

Not that such coincidences are unheard of, but it is rare to meet some one in Peru that loves God but can still go out dancing and have a glass of wine or two. Anyway, it was super great to meet some one had a genuine love for God and was excited to talk about it! God must have known that my Monday was going to be really frustrating and I'd need some encouragement. More on that later.

Sunday I slept in and then headed back over to Dr. Montano's house for a lesson in making ceviche, a Peruvian delicacy. We hit up the market to buy supplies and that was an experience itself. He had fewer patients on Sunday and I slipped out a little early to spend time with the expat crowd. They'd had a barbeque that was winding down when I got there, but the music was winding up. I was treated to live performances by my British friend, the gal from Bermuda who sings some mean blues without accompaniment and the local on guitar and wooden flute, which is in a lot of Peruvian music.

I winded down the night with a walk to the central plaza. Snagged a burger and fries and sat down to eat and think and pray. Got accosted by a group of Peruvian gals on vacation who all wanted pictures with a gringo. Back to prayer & meditation. Reenergized. Back to the casa for a conference call with my college roommates over Skype to finish off the night and me.