bus ride to Lima

Yesterday was a very busy day because it was the day that they celebrated the life of St. Francis. We ate and danced all day. The kids stayed home from school and had a blast. There was special Peruvian food and delicious cake! It felt good to relax and dance our hearts out with the kids.
This morning Tyson was feeling ill with stomack issues and a headache so I fed him a cocktail of analgesics and put him back to bed for a few hours. He woke up feeling much better (don't worry)
I was asked to take a few kids to the hospital in Lima this morning after breakfast. So around 7:30 am a nurse who speaks zero English threw a baby into my arms and signalled me to follow her and several other kids with crutches and other walking aids. We walked accross the street to an area that was not a bus stop, there are no bus stops here. You stand where you see a few other people standing and it becomes a bus stop. A small bus slows down (does NOT stop) and a man by the door manually opens the door and screams out LIMA LIMA and the nurse rushes to the door of the bus and everyone starts throwing themselves onto the moving bus. It was an anxiety-provoking, dangerous event and I cannot believe we are all still alive. The two kids who are on crutches were lifted by the man who opens the doors and heaved onto the bus (which still hasn't stopped). Meanwhile the bus driver is yelling and honking and other cars are honking, it's chaos. The poor girl on crutches is laying on the stairs leading up to the bus and is being dragged to a seat. What seemed to me like a degrading and inefficient event seemed to be very normal for everyone else involved. So I went with it and jumped onto the moving bus with a baby in my arms. Luckily the other passengers were very polite and got up so I could sit. Interestingly enough, this was not the scary part of the bus ride, because as soon as the door was manually shut by the person who stands at the door, the bus driver swerves into moving traffic lays his horn and steps on the gas like he's in the race of his life. It turns out that the bus drivers get paid according to how many times the circle around their route, and they want to get paid! There are no set number of lanes, cars and busses squeeze into wherever they find space and leave about 1 cm of room between them and the next vehicle so no one can get through. And when its time to get off, the bus slows down, the man at the doors holds out his arm to stop traffic and you get out in the middle of the road. It is such a scene of organized chaos! It's madness, but I guess it works for them....
On the way home I had no baby so no one offered me a seat. I stood for about 20 minutes until a seat opened up. During these 20 minutes I was literally holding on with all my strength so that I wouldn't be thrown against the windshield. All in all it was an interesting experience and, if it comes up, I would do it again.
I am now considering adopting a peruvian child ( I already have a few picked out)
At the hospital, I was in awe for most of the appointment. We brought in about four children and the hospital was very old and damp and cold and felt more like an old warehouse than a place of healing. The stretchers looked like very old hard beds with attached railings that we broken and covered with rust. I couldn't believe it. I had to carry the baby the whole 7 hours because there were no strollers. While it did help that it was a very cute baby who I fell in love with, it was still heavy. Many of the doctors were seperated into tiny portables with barren walls except for the odd picture of Jesus standing over a sick child. The equipment was outdated, the floors were broken and I felt uncomfortable. Perhaps I am spoiled with our hospitals but I don't think I will be complaining about them again. Everyone would speak to me in Spanish first and I would respond that my Espaniol is pequito and so they would say "are you the father baby?" to which I would normally say, "yes". We left the baby who was covered in casts in the hospital for his umpteenth surgery at the tender age of 6 months. As I was waiting for his turn with the doctor I couldn't help but think that these children don't have the support of a family. I have people in my life who love me more than anyone else. They are always there to support me through anything I ask for. Imagine not having a mom or dad who would do that for you. A parent who hasn't bothered talking to you for most of your life, who left you for dead, or even worse, tried to kill you.
At coffee today the doctor told more stories about some of the children. One child (who won't let us photograph him because he says "the picture will scare people, I don't want to scare people") was left alone at 4 months of age and accidentally tipped over one of the many candles that was lighting up their small home. He is covered in such severe scars because the burning goes down to his skull. The home burnt down and the parents left their child for dead. They have no idea that he is doing well and living in this home. He is very sweet and it's a sad story.
Another child who was born perfectly healthy was dropped on its head as a baby by a drunk parent and now he has irreversable brain damage. He cannot even hold his own head up. The nurses tie him to the bed in a sitting position so he can see. His name is Christian.
Another kid born with a rare type of MS and watched his father commit suicide because he couldn't take the kid's illness.
There are countless stories like this. Another child named Victor was born with one leg and no arms. He does everything imaginable with his one foot. He uses every part of his body for a task. Its unreal. He uses his mouth to carry things and his foot to eat with. Tyson took him to the park today and he was playing in the water from the sewer (dirty) and then lost his balance and fell in slow motion as he moved his shoulders frantically to stop the fall. But since he has no arms he couldn't stop the fall and laid in the gross water and laughed uncontrolably. Tyson laughed with him and we have all been laughing at this story all day. It's sad but its important to laugh. These kids are happy here and while outside of the home people look at them like freaks, inside the home, they are safe. Its a life saving place for these children. I have only known these people for a few days but I feel so close to them, like family. I love every one of them.
Tyson pointed out something funny today. The woman who do the cooking for the house are called mamitas and all this time I have been calling them mamcitas (which actually means sexy mama), this explained all the wierd looks I have been getting in the kitchen.
In an unrelated story, scotia rewards points suck and they have the best ice cream here!